Give Ubuntu a Test Drive

My first attempt at Linux was 5 years back when I had given it up with a 'too difficult to handle' tag. Just installing the operating system was a big event in itself with tons of caveats and configuration changes. The release of Ubuntu made things a lot better, but still, I wanted a safe and easy way to experiment without making any significant changes to my PC configuration.

I read about Wubi - a program for installing Linux on a virtual drive in a Windows computer and allowing it to be loaded at boot time. I craved for more ease. My efforts led to VirtualBox - a virtualization software that can install and run Ubuntu in a window within Windows XP. Virtualization is a method of creating a virtual computer for an operating system that makes the operating system believe that it is working in a computer of its own, whereas it is actually working in an environment created by another operating system. You can do whatever you want to inside the environment without affecting the main operating system. To see the results, click on the screenshot.

Here's a step-by-step of getting your own Ubuntu system up and running:

• Download and install VirtualBox from here (choose the Windows x86 binary if you are running an Intel based PC)
• Download an Ubuntu ISO (I would suggest the Desktop version) from this page (it will be ~700 MB in size)
• Run VirtualBox, click on the New Virtual Maching button and give it a name (I chose Feisty after Ubuntu's current release codenamed Feisty Fawn), select the type as Linux 2.6
• On the next screen choose how much RAM to offer to Ubuntu (I chose 256 MB on my 512 MB RAM laptop, and it worked wonders - Ubunty was quite breezy :)
• In the next screen, click on 'New' to create a virtual hard disk for Ubuntu to use
• You can create one that is 'Dynamically increasing in size' in the screen that follows
• I chose to make the drive 6GB in size - this left a good 4 GB for me to experiment in
• Back in the Virtual Machine screen, 'Finish' to create the drive
• Your drive should appear in the main VirtualBox screen
• Next, click on the settings button, and then select the 'CD/DVD-ROM' tab
• Check the 'Mount' checkbox, select the 'ISO image file' radio button, and navigate to the Ubuntu ISO you downloaded
• That's it, click on OK, and double click on 'Fiesty' to start Ubuntu's installation.

You'll go straight to the Ubuntu Live desktop. Click on 'Install' and just follow the instructions. When asked for hard disk options, let Ubuntu take the entire virtual hard disk you created. The installation will take some 20 minutes - so you can grab a cup of coffee in the meantime (or play Jetman!).

Once the installation completes, do remember to unmount the Ubuntu CD-ROM ISO so that 'Fiesty' goes to the installed OS and not the live OS the next time you start the virtual machine.

Wasn't that easy? I hope to open a world of Linux applications with this soon. Let me know if there is any particular application that you want me to cover by leaving a comment below. Also, do let me know if you run into a problem installing Ubuntu.