Ubuntu: ( http://www.ubuntu.com/
)
- Created by Canonical - A UK company that markets commercial support for Ubuntu
- Desktop version vs Server version
- Desktop is perfectly fine - any additional packages that might come preinstalled on a Server can be added.
- For our class purpose, the desktop version is fine. If you are building an actual server for test purposes or for production, definitely install the Server. This way you have a standard image that you can always go back to with a reinstall.
- Version: we are using : Ubuntu 16.04 Long Term Support
(LTS)
- Should always be able to find the Latest desktop
- 32 vs 64 bit - at this point, we should only be interested in installing 64 bit systems.
- Any software that might be installed that will only work as a 32 bit program can be built in 32 bit mode.
- Or if there is old code, you can create an appropriate 32 bit Guest VM
- Version of stuff installed :
- $uname -a ;
- Using apt-cache...many ways to learn what is installed with this command
Sources of help for command lines
- the man pages (read details: $man man)
- Other commands:
- help - most GNU utilities support this: $help type
- Some utilities/commands might provide similar information if given a -h or -help parameter
- info - provides access to detailed help text.
- pinfo - slightly easier to use version of info
- Or...google or bing
- Siri or 'Ok Google'
- On an Android device, I asked 'Ok Google, On Linux, what are the parameters to the ls command?'
- Audio response "here is information from RapicTables.com" and then it showed a brief summary of the syntax for 'ls'.
Lineage...
- Top three distributions: Debian, Ubuntu and CentOS
- Ubuntu is derived from debian. Is a good choice for desktops - especially when running on laptops.
- Debian - very large range of support for different platforms. Many embedded Linux platforms run Debian.
- CentOS is cloned from Red Had Enterprise Linux - seems to be preferred for cloud or hosting usage.
Installation
- Select which installation and download the ISO
- ISO : An 'image' of the CDs that hold the installation
files. ISO comes from the standard image disc image
(file system) format used on CD-ROMs (ISO-9660)
Misc. items to point out related to Ubuntu
- Building your own kernel
- The desktop (i.e., a GUI) is based on GNOME but modified to
provide a simpler user interface. It it referred to as
Unity.
Last update: 2/5/2017