Believe it or not, Windows is not the only operating system you can download. Mac users know this, but any guesses what the third most popular OS in the world is?
You guessed it, Ubuntu. Techies love, technophobes don’t get it – but is it any good? Well yes and and no. It’s easy to install and has some nice features, but as Charles Orton-Jones describes here, it not as polished as it might be.
How to use it:
1. Download from Ubuntu.com. The file is a .ISO.
2. To check the download is uncorrupted perform a checksum test. This reads the file and creates long string of digits. For example: 24ea1163ea6c9f5dae77de8c49ee7c03
Compare your checksum to the official checksum. If they match your file is A1. If they don’t, download again. Full list of checksums is here.
To perform a checksum, download MD5SUM and unzip. Then drag and drop your ISO file onto the MD5SUM icon. It will generate the checksum. Compare the result with the official checksum.
3. Burn the ISO onto a CD using a free programme such as CD Burner XP. Install, open and click “burn as ISO”. Select the ISO file and burn onto a blank CD at a slow speed to ensure a perfect write.
4. Now reboot (Non-nerds: this means switch your machine off and on again). You may need to alter the order in which your machine boots. To do this, as your PC starts up, hit F2 or F12 or Tab or Delete to enter the boot menu. Select CD as the first boot option.
