If you're looking for a safe and easy way to test out the switch from Windows to Linux, Wubi might be the program for you. Wubi's dialog interface requires users to select a mere six options to install Ubuntu, but don't expect direct help with this utility. Users are expected to have a basic understanding of Linux and booting into alternate operating systems, and you'll have to rely on the Wubi FAQ and forums for assistance.
Selecting the install drive, hard-drive space, language, username, and password is quick with pull-down selectors. The most difficult decision is choosing the environment from Ubuntu, Kbuntu, Xubuntu, and UbuntuStudio, and you should do your research before making a selection.
While this is truly a one-click install of Linux, it isn't fast. The first step downloads an almost 700MB ISO image used to install Linux. After the download, the app takes a considerable time unpacking and installing the operating system. Boot into Ubuntu, and there is another wait as the OS completes setting preferences and options. It is all without user intervention, though, and the numerous preinstalled and preconfigured apps make the switch to Linux about as painless as you can get it.
Is Linux becoming more compatible with Microsoft Windows?
(Credit: CNET Networks)The alternative, open-source operating system Linux has been making news recently. Last week, Dell began shipping PCs with the Linux distribution Ubuntu pre-installed, and on Friday I took a look at Wubi, free Windows software that lets you install and run Ubuntu on your Windows machine without creating a boot CD or partitioning your hard drive.
According to recent stats from W3Counter, Linux still holds only a tiny fraction of the personal-computing market share (slightly less than Windows 98!), but there's definitely a convergence going on within Windows, Mac, and Linux software development. The excellent personal-finance software GnuCash was recently ported from Linux to Windows, and the Lina project plans to soon release software that will let Windows and Mac users run Linux software on the OS of their choice.
Are you curious about Ubuntu or Linux? Have you had any personal experience with Linux software, or could you not care less? Tell me about it in the comments.
Wubi
(Credit: CNET Networks)Computer giant Dell made big news yesterday when it began shipping desktops and laptops pre-installed with Ubuntu, a popular Linux distribution. I'm not sure who the heck is going to buy a Linux Dell, but it certainly marks a sea change in retail computing. In terms of prepackaged operating systems, users have basically been stuck for a long time with the solitary choice of Windows vs. Mac. The fact that consumers can now purchase a Linux machine with support from the distributor certainly validates the open-source movement and Ubuntu in particular.
Yet if you're curious about Linux or Ubuntu, it hasn't been very simple to install it on your Windows machine. Up until recently, the process has usually involved partitioning your hard drive for the Linux install and creating a boot CD from a downloaded ISO file.
Luckily, for those of us who are Linux-curious and either too lazy or too inexperienced to install a distro on our own, beta software called Wubi literally takes all of the hassle out of running Ubuntu on your Windows machine, and it can be removed from your system as easily as any other Windows application. All it takes to run Wubi is a recommended 1GHz CPU, 128MB RAM, and 3GB of disk space for the initial Ubuntu installation.
Wubi is a front-end installer for the loop installer Lupin. Without getting too technical (and over my head), Lupin is back-end software for installing Debian-based Linux distributions inside of a specific file, without affecting any existing partitions on the hard drive. In conjunction with Wubi, it installs Ubuntu into a file in your Windows system.
Getting started with Ubuntu using the Wubi front-end interface is as simple as running any other self-extracting Windows installer. Double-click the "Wubi-7.04-test2.exe" file and you'll be presented with only a few options. Enter your language of choice, your new Ubuntu username and password (twice), and hit "Install." That's literally all you have to do to install Ubuntu, but there are a few options that you should consider.
The Advanced Settings dialog lets you specify the location and type of your Ubuntu install.
(Credit: Wubi)Hitting the Settings button from the Ubuntu Setup dialog will provide you with a few more choices. You can tweak your system size, home size, or swap size, as well as select the local drive where you'd like to install Ubuntu. The default selections are 6GB, 1GB, 1GB, and the C drive. If you have a foreign keyboard, you can specific that in the Advanced Settings as well. You can also decide to install Kubuntu, Xubuntu, or UbuntuStudio, three Ubuntu derivatives. If you don't know what any of those are, I'd recommend sticking with the vanilla Ubuntu installation.
Now, before you hit Install, a quick warning: you may want to download the Ubuntu ISO file from a different source than the one that the Wubi installer uses. Right now, Wubi downloads the ubuntu-7.04-alternate-i386.iso file from releases.ubuntu.com, and depending on your connection, it can be very slow. When I installed it on my laptop computer, the 698MB ISO file took over nine hours (!!) to download at an average of 25Kbps on a 300Kbps Wi-Fi connection.
From the CNET corporate network (a fat pipe), I'm still seeing that file downloading at 100Kbps, which isn't horrible, but it will still take a few hours to download. If you can acquire the Ubuntu ISO file separately, you can skip the Wubi downloading process by placing the Ubuntu ISO file in the same directory as the Wubi installer before you run it.
Once the long download process completed, installation was extremely quick. I accessed my bootup menu during startup and immediately noticed an "Ubuntu" selection under the usual Windows XP. I selected Ubuntu, and a blue screen quickly ran through a series of steps such as formatting the virtual disk, detecting system hardware, configuring the DHCP connections, installing the base system, and installing the application suite. Ubuntu comes prebundled with a variety of software, including Mozilla Firefox and OpenOffice.org.
The final stage of the installation process only took about 15 to 20 minutes. As the developers say on their Web site, go grab a cup of coffee and come back to Ubuntu. After that, I was off and running, using Firefox to cruise the Web for cool software for Ubuntu and setting up my e-mail and document preferences.
Replacing Windows with Ubuntu is a major step, and I'm not going to get into the pros and cons here. Suffice it to say that my experiences trying to install Java to run the CNET corporate VPN software on Ubuntu have convinced me that I'm probably going to need Windows for a little while longer. However, it's wonderful to have a dual-boot system, and I didn't even have to partition my hard drive to do it. Thanks, Wubi!
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