#3: Formatting A USB Stick

Not too long ago, I found this program which makes formatting things in Ubuntu much easier. The program is called gparted, and can be found in the Synaptic Package Manager (System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager).

WARNING: Make sure any important information on the USB drive is taken off before formatting, you will lose all information on the USB drive.

Once gparted is installed, open up the Terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal), and type in the command "sudo gparted". Sudo is a command which gives you root priveleges, which can spell bad news if you mess with important files, which is why you should know exactly what you are doing before using it (or using information from a trusted source).

This should bring you to the main page of gparted, which looks like this (click for bigger picture):



From here you will want to find the exact thing you want to format, in this case we want to format a USB stick. Look under the Size column, to find a partition that is ~ the size of what you want to format (a USB stick would typically be much smaller than your hard drives). If your USB stick is not listed there, try to look through all the menu choices under GParted -> Devices.

Before you can format your USB stick, you will have to unmount it. Right click the USB stick, and press "Unmount." Now, pay close attention to the Filesystem column, usually USB sticks are FAT16 or FAT32. You will most likely want to format it in the same format, unless you know what you are doing.

Next, right click the USB stick -> Format To -> choose the same format as the stick was before. Now you click the apply button at the top of the window, a progress bar will move fairly quickly, and your USB stick should be as good as new.

#2: GetDeb.net

Many Linux distributions include a Package Manager, which allow you to choose which programs and packages you want to install. This brings us to one of the huge advantages of a Linux distribution, one click updating which allows you to update all programs and system files.

.deb files are just like .exe files (for those familiar with Windows), which allow you to just double click and install a program. GetDeb.net gives you .deb files for an assortment of different programs. The advantage of installing things from GetDeb is that you could have newer versions of software than is given to you in the Package Manager. A disadvantage is that you will have to manually update to newer versions of those programs you install, but I think the costs outweigh the benefits.

Two of the applications I recommend updating/installing through GetDeb:

Brasero: (Link)

Brasero is an application used to burn CDs/DVDs, data disks/audio disks, burn ISOs, and copy disks.

Pidgin: (Link)

Pidgin is the ultimate IM program, go check out their website (Link) and install it even if you are on Windows.

#1: Installing Ubuntu

There are many distributions of Linux available to choose from, my favorite one is Ubuntu Linux. The newest version is version 8.10, otherwise known as Intrepid Ibex. You will have to download the iso and burn it to a CD, or you can order one for free from Ubuntu's website (Link).

I would recommend installing the 32 bit version of Ubuntu first, because it will be slightly easier to do things if you are a first time Linux user (like installing Flash and Java... which will be covered in later articles).

Let us cover the different ways you can install Ubuntu, and this will help you choose which version you want to install.

There are two different download choices, normal, and alternate CD. Then you have multiple ways of downloading each, you could use the normal Ubuntu download (Link), or you could use torrents (Link).

First, we will cover the normal install CD. This allows you to install two different ways: Live CD and Wubi. Many Linux distros have Live CDs (this means you can install them on a CD/USB and run the OS without installing anything onto the computer.

Wubi was brought in with Ubuntu 8.04, and allows you to install a Linux partition right inside of Windows. This might be best for someone who wants to keep Ubuntu, but doesn't know how to partition a hard drive. The disadvantages of installing in Windows is that you will get slightly slower performance, but if you want to head back to Windows it is very easy to do.

In order to install using Wubi you will burn the .iso to a CD, and insert the CD while inside of Windows. This will launch Wubi, and will lead you through installing Ubuntu inside of Windows. At any time if you wanted to uninstall Ubuntu, you could go into your Add/Remove programs, and remove it.

In order to install using the Live CD, you would insert the CD, and restart your computer. The CD should automatically boot up, and it will put you on a menu. Choose "Boot as Live CD". It will take its time loading, and then you will be in Ubuntu.

You can play around with the menus, run some programs, check everything out, but the real power will not come until you actually install the OS.

The third way to install is using the alternate CD. This gets rid of Wubi, and the Live CD, and allows you to install only through a text based installer. This is good for installing Ubuntu fast, and if you are having graphics problems with the Live CD version.