Installing the Open Source Operating System

Posted by Ariel E. Isidro on July 25th, 2009

EXPERIMENT NO 3

Installing the Open Source OS

Objectives:

1. To simulate how an open source OS is installed
2. To discover different modes of installing an open source OS

• Methods
• Start
• Partition
• Finish
• Exercises

Methods
There are three (3) methods of installing the Operating System:

1. Single OS. This is the easiest and least risky among the installation method. The user simply has to boot the installation cd, then follow the prompts that will be displayed on the screen.
2. Dual-boot. This is the most risky method of installing the operating system, as this may erase or format the hard disk if the procedures and prompts are not answered correctly. I had this experience once when I was starting to learn the various flavors of open source operating system, when, accidentally, I formatted my hard disk, erasing all my important files. There are, however, recommended strategies in order to avoid this unfortunate incident.
   1. Backup everything that’s important to you.
   2. Defragment windows
   3. Acquire knowledge on disk partitioning
      1. if the hard disk is partitioned with all partitions already used, I suggest acquiring a new hard disk
      2. if additional hard disk cannot be acquired, an alternative method is to free a partition for the new operating system. A third party software, partition magic should come in handy. It is a software that repartitions the hard disk and allows to create a new partition without the need to delete existing partitions.
      3. if partition magic, or a partition utility is not available, the only alternative is to repartition the hard disk. Backup the contents of a partition, not the system partition. Delete the partition, then create two partitions from that partition.
   4. Run the live cd version (without installing) for at least two weeks. LiveCd’s allow user to test and evaluating operating systems without installing them.
3. Virtual Machine. With the introduction of this technology, installing an operating system becomes less risky as the user do not have to format or to reformat the hard disk. Virtual machines allow installation of various operating and make it run on top of the host operating system. Various companies have already developed virtualization software among them are VMware and VirtualBox. Please see How to install Solaris in VirtualBox

Start
Starting the Installation

1. Set the computer’s BIOS to boot from the CD.  To get to the BIOS, you normally have to press any of these keys during boot-up: ESC, F1, F2, F12 or DEL.  You computer will tell you which key to press.
2. Once you have configured your computer to boot from the CD-ROM, insert your UBUNTU Desktop installation CD in the drive and boot your computer.
3. You should see the screen below.  Select Language, then select Install Ubuntu
   
4. Then, you should see a progress bar as the CD prepares to launch the installer.
   
5. The succeeding screens asks questions which should be self-explanatory.  Answer them to the best of your knowledge.
   
   

Partition
Dealing with Partitioning.
After answering the easy questions above, a disk partitioner which gives you four option will come up:

1. The first option (Guided resize and use freed space) is ideal for users who want to set up a dual-boot (where you can choose whether you want to use Windows or Ubuntu each time you boot up your computer) but know very little about setting one up.You can simply drag the division between Windows and Ubuntu to make the Windows installation as small or large as you want, and Ubuntu will fill up the rest of the spaces.
2. The second option (Guided – use entire disk) will erase Windows completely and install Ubuntu over it.
3. The third option (Guided – use the larges continuous free space) will make Windows as small as possible and install Ubuntu in the remaining empty space.
4. The fourth option (Manual) allows you to manually configure the partitions as you see fit.  This is for intermediate to advanced users.



5. Read the warning and make sure understand it. Then click “continue” to confirm the changes. Note: it is recommended to use an extra hard disk drive to install Ubuntu

Finish
Finishing the Actual Installation

1. More easy question to answer



2. If you want to migrate settings from Windows, check the users you want to have settings migrate from



3. Click “Install” and wait for the installation to finish. When it’s finish click on “Restart Now”



4. When the installer shuts down, remove the Ubuntu Installaton disc and hit “Return”.



5. When the computer reboots, a menu to select the operating system to boot Windows or Ubuntu will be displayed on the screen.



6. When Ubuntu is selected, user enters username and password, then start Ubuntu after authentication.

Exercises
Exercises

1. List at least 5 open source operating systems and give corresponding properties.
   1. ________________________
   2. ________________________
   3. ________________________
   4. ________________________
   5. ________________________
2. Group project, download and burn the latest installation discs of the Open Source Operating Systems listed below. Document the process that you did until the discs are created. At least one member of the group must have a DSL Internet access.
   1. CentOS
   2. Fedora
   3. Debian
   4. Solaris
   5. OpenSuse
   6. Mandriva
   7. FreeBSD
   8. OpenBSD
3. Enumerate and describe the directory structure of most Open Source Operating Systems.
4. Enumerate and describe the different file types used in Linux/Unix operating environment.

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Posted in Linux, OS023L1, Operating Systems Tags: installation, open source

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2 Responses to “Installing the Open Source Operating System”

1. Benbol Del Pilar says:

   October 10, 2009 at 1:06 pm

   Nice Post Sir

   Reply
2. Comsat says:

   December 5, 2009 at 1:37 pm

   Sir Thanks

   Reply