How to install a minimal Ubuntu

Sometimes you do not want to install anything more than a working command-line Ubuntu Linux system. Maybe you want to use another Desktop environment than GNOME, KDE, or XFCE. I have been trying out Openbox recently, but I wanted to get a completely fresh install of Ubuntu to work with. When I first started searching the net to find how to install a minimal Ubuntu system I came to dead ends. After digging deeper into search reults and forum posts I was able to find the answer. Here are the steps to get a minimal system from Ubuntu.

1. Download the Alternate install ISO.
2. Burn this to a disc and pop it into your computer to boot from it (unless you are doing this virtually, then you just need to make the virtual computer see the ISO).
3. When you get to the initial boot screen do not press enter right away. Instead press F4 to bring up a menu where you can select "Install a Command-Line System".
4. Now you press enter and follow the install process like normal.

Once you reboot you will be greeted by a friendly text prompt login. From here you can customize your system however you want it.

Installing VMware Tools in 8.10 Beta

Following the advice of a couple of different posts I was able to install VMware Tools in Intrepid Ibex. Make sure you have the virtual machine up and running. Click on Install VMware Tools... in the VM menu. This will mount an iso that contains the VMware Tools package. Go ahead and close the Nautilus window that popped up and open a terminal. Execute the next lines of code to install VMware Tools on your 8.10 guest. Please note that the * is a placeholder for your version of VMware Tools.

sudo aptitude isntall build-essential linux-headers
cp -a /media/cdrom/VMwareTools-* /tmp/
cd /tmp/
tar -vxzf VMwareTools*
cd vmare-tools-distrib/
sudo ./vmware-install.pl

Make sure you pick the resolution that you want the virtual machine to run in. When I ran these lines it did not compile the network and file sharing driver. When I am able to get those two parts of VMware tools working then I will edit this post with the method. At least for now I have a better display driver.

Test Driving Ubuntu 8.10 Beta

There are many great features available in the next release of Ubuntu. Since I have been using 8.04 since its release I wanted to check out the next release. I chose to do this through the virtual interface of VMware. I know there other solutions available such as Virtualbox, Parallels, etc. I already had VMware Server installed and I didn't want to install another solution.



The features are listed on this page. I tested out the tabs feature and the eject button of nautilus. I also set up encrypted private directories which work very well. All of the features can be read on that page mentioned above. I can't wait for the release of Intrepid Ibex. I will certainly be downloading this release on the day that it is released.

The Beginning

There is always a first time for everything. This is going to be the first post in a long series of posts about the Linux distribution Ubuntu. I personally have used many of the Linux distros, but I have recently switched to using Ubuntu. Obviously this website is in no way official documentation from Ubuntu. I will post different types of set-ups and various technologies that I will try out along the way. Hopefully someone will find this site useful in their dealings with Ubuntu.
I have found with my dealings of other distros that documentation and even web searches yield little results to help. My only purpose is to help every day users make the most out of Ubuntu. I want to contribute as much as I can back to the community that has helped me out as well.