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Ubuntu for extreme beginners

Matija Obreza, Software Development Service

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Session overview

• Duration: 2h– Presentation– Hands-on training

• What is Ubuntu

• Ubuntu desktop

• Applications

• Installing software

• Software alternatives

• Installation

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Ubuntu

• Is an operating system– What?– DOS: Disk Operating System

• Is a distribution of GNU/Linux– http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/– Distribution?

• Is a variant of Debian distribution– Very powerful package management– But focused on end-users– Linux for masses

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Reasons to use Ubuntu

• Free software, no licensing fees– Free as in freedom, not only free as “free beer”

• Solid alternatives to software you use daily– PDF generation built in– Gimp instead of Adobe Photoshop– OpenOffice.org for MS Office– MonoDevelop instead of MS Visual studio– Eclipse for Java, C, C++ development

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Ubuntu LiveCD

• Allows to try out Ubuntu

• No changes to existing system

• Ubuntu Desktop edition

• Booting Live CD– ISO → Burn to CD → Boot from CD– ISO → Convert to USB → Boot from USB

• Ubuntu Desktop edition running

• LiveCD does not require login– Username ubuntu, no password

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Ubuntu Desktop

• Panels

• Applets– Menu bar– Notifications– Window list– Workspaces– Trash– Session indicator

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Ubuntu desktop basics

• Navigating the desktop– Ubuntu menus– Logout

• File management– Where's my stuff? Places. Home folder.– Nautilus– The rest of the file system

• System– Screen resolution– Network settings with NetworkManager– System configuration and administration

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Give it a try!

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Hands-on training

• Boot into Live CD

• Change desktop background to solid color

• Change screen resolution to 800x600 and back

• Create a text file on Desktop

• Find text file using Nautilus

• Browse http://www.iita.org

• Open a MS Word document

• Generate PDF

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Moving on!

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Users, groups and permissions

• User accounts

• Groups– Easier permissions management

• Root account– Possibly disabled, must use sudo

• “Root access” to the system means entire access to system

• Act as super-user– Prompted for own password– Must be member of group admin

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Installing applications

• Ubuntu Software center

• Software sources– Repositories: main,

universe, restricted, multiverse, backports, PPAs

• Installing from shell– aptitude, apt-get

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The Usual Suspects

• Word processor: OpenOffice.org Writer• Mail client: Evolution• Browser: Firefox• Spreadsheets: OpenOffice.org Calc• Presentations: OpenOffice.org Impress• Bittorrent: Deluge, Transmission• Photo management: F-Spot• Music collection: Rhytmbox

• Live CD has limited number of installed applications

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Hands-on training

• Add account for yourself to the system

• Switch user

• Try installing an application

• Find other user's home directory with Nautilus

• Protect your home directory (Permissions)

• Switch back to ubuntu user

• Grant yourself system admin rights

• Switch to yourself and install something

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Shell basics

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shell

• This is the scary bit

• Can do everything

• Looks like DOS

• “Terminal”

• sudo – do something as super-user

• Most instructions on Internet will involve executing some commands through shell

• Commands: ls, ps, top, cd, pwd, kill, reboot, poweroff, man, cp, mkdir, rmdir

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Hands-on training: Navigation and files

• Start the terminal

• What's the current directory?

• Create a folder “training”

• Navigate to folder

• Create “README” file in “training” folder

• Create “deleteme.txt” file

• Remove deleteme.txt file

• Wipe “training” folder

• Find help for using command rmdir

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Hands-on training: aptitude, apt-get

• Launch aptitude– Install “bsdgames” package– Remove “bsdgames” package

• Install “bsdgames” package using apt-get– Find instructions for apt-get– Install the package with apt-get– Remove package with apt-get

• Updating available software– Update with apt-get

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Hands-on training: Processes

• Using terminal, find running processes with ps command

• Launch gedit from the menu

• Find PID (process ID) of gedit

• Kill gedit process using kill command– Signals: TERM, HUP, KILL, USER1, USER2

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Ready to install?

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Installing Ubuntu

• Ubuntu editions– Netbook: for small screen computers– Desktop: no LVM during installation– Server: no GUI during installation

• Installing from CD/DVD– ISO install images, Live CD – Burn and boot from CD

• Installing from USB– Convert ISO to bootable USB– Boot from USB

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Installation process

• http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu

• Follow instructions

• Installation worries– To dual-boot or not to dual-boot– Partitioning

• Dual boot– Separate Windows and Ubuntu partitions– Boot loader (Grub)