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How to Install Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) on Your PC

Feb 26, 2011 11:17 AM

This tutorial will walk you through the steps required to install the Ubuntu 9.10 operating system (Karmic Koala) on your computer. I have a Suzuki Kuiper 1411 HKS notebook computer with 2.1 GHz Intel Dual Core processor, 4GB RAM and 320GB hard drive. It has a dedicated 256MB Nvdia GeForce 9300M GS graphics card and 1270++MB of VRAM in SLI mode.

Search Google for Ubuntu 9.10 and download the ISO CD, or just go directly to the download page here.

Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) installation guide screenshot

I used the Intel x86 32bit desktop CD and burnt it onto a blank CD. Be sure to set it at the slowest burn speed possible to avoid errors. Perform an MD5 check to verify your CD is free of errors.

Tip

For dual boot with Windows, defragment your hard disk before you start installing Ubuntu.

Go to your computer's setup page during boot (For my PC, I pressed F2). Then change the boot order to read your DVD drive first.

BIOS settings screen displaying boot priority order and device options.

Load your Ubuntu 9.10 CD and proceed to boot. As the screen appears, select your language. There will be a bunch of options: install on hard disk, boot from first hard disk etc...

Text selection menu for computer system settings.

Select Install Ubuntu.

Ubuntu installation menu with options to install, check for defects, test memory, boot from hard drive, and rescue a system.

Choose your installation language.

Time zone selection menu on a computer screen.

Select your region and time zone.

Country selection screen with various options.

Select your keyboard settings (I picked USA).

Ubuntu Installer main menu with keyboard layout selection prompt.

Configure DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol). I choose "Do not continue the network at this time".

Network configuration options for DHCP setup.

Choose guided partitioning. If you want to dual boot, choose "resize SCSI, partition #1 and use freed".

Partitioning disk options menu for guided and manual disk partitioning methods.

Choose the partitioning method.

Partition size entry interface for disk management.

By percent

Contrary to what is said, it did the opposite! I recommend to put 70-80% if you have a 250-320 GB hard disk,. It will shrink your existing partition to 70-80% of its original size and make use of the freed up space (about 20-30 GB of your hard drive) for Ubuntu.
By size

Indicate the size you want left on your hard drive. Roughly speaking, for a 80GB space, put 60GB so that 20GB will be used by Ubuntu.

Write changes to disk.

Disk partitioning warning and confirmation screen.

When finished partitioning, it will ask for your username.

Username selection screen for a new account setup.

Enter your password.

Password setup screen with instructions for creating a secure password.

Verify your password.

User setup screen for entering and verifying a password.

Type your "real name" if you want to.

User account creation interface displaying fields for full name input.

Indicate your computer name or host name.

Do you want to encrypt your home directory?

Text interface displaying a prompt for entering a home directory during a setup process.

Let it finish installing until "Configuring grub-pc" appears. If you have Windows already installed, it will ask to modify your master boot record. Choose "Yes".

After the installation is complete, remove the CD and restart your PC.

Installation complete message on a computer screen.

On Boot GRUB menu, choose "Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.31-14-generic" and press Enter. It will look somewhat like this.

Screenshot of a GRUB bootloader menu with various operating system options.

I've upgraded my system to 10.04 Lucid, so I have 2 Ubuntu boot loader kernels (remove unused kernels through Synaptic).

To learn how to upgrade this version of Ubuntu to 10.04 (Lucid Lynx), visit my other tutorial.

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