Ubuntu

UBUNTU OPERATING SYSTEM
 Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian

GNU/Linux distribution and is distributed as free and open source
software with additional proprietary software available.
 It is named after the Southern African ethical principle Ubuntu

("humanity towards others"). Ubuntu provides an up-to-date, stable
operating system for the average user, with a strong focus on
usability and ease of installation. Web statistics suggest that
Ubuntu's share of Linux desktop usage is about 50%, and upward
trending usage as a web server.

Ubuntu is composed of many software packages, of which the vast
majority are distributed under a free software license (also known
as open source). The main license used is the GNU General Public
License (GNU GPL) which, along with the GNU Lesser General
Public License (GNU LGPL), explicitly declares that users are free
to run, copy, distribute, study, change, develop and improve the
software. Ubuntu is sponsored by the UK-based company
Canonical Ltd., owned by South African entrepreneur Mark
Shuttleworth. By keeping Ubuntu free and open source, Canonical
is able to utilize the talents of community developers in Ubuntu's
constituent components. Instead of selling Ubuntu for profit,
Canonical creates revenue by selling technical support and from
creating several services tied to Ubuntu.
Canonical endorses and provides support for three additional Ubuntu-derived

operating systems: Kubuntu, Edubuntu, also known as Ubuntu Education
Edition, and Ubuntu Server Edition. There are several other derivative
operating systems including local language and hardware-specific versions
Canonical releases new versions of Ubuntu every six months and supports
Ubuntu for eighteen months by providing security fixes, patches to critical
bugs and minor updates to programs. LTS (Long Term Support) versions,
which are released every two years, are supported for three years on the
desktop and five years for servers.The latest version of Ubuntu, 10.04 (Lucid
Lynx), is such an LTS version, and was released on April 29, 2010.
History and development process
Ubuntu is a fork of the Debian project's code base.The original aim was to
release a new version of Ubuntu every six months, resulting in a more
frequently updated system. Ubuntu's first release was on October 20, 2004.
Ubuntu releases are timed about one month after GNOME releases. In
contrast to other forks of Debian, which extensively use proprietary and
closed source add-ons, Ubuntu uses primarily free (libre) software, making an
exception only for some proprietary hardware drivers.
Ubuntu packages are based on packages from Debian's unstable branch:
both distributions use Debian's deb package format and package
management tools (APT and Synaptic). Debian and Ubuntu packages are not
necessarily binary compatible with each other, however, and sometimes .deb
packages may need to be rebuilt from source to be used in Ubuntu. Many
Ubuntu developers are also maintainers of key packages within Debian.
Ubuntu cooperates with Debian by pushing changes back to Debian, although
there has been criticism that this does not happen often enough. In the past,
Ian Murdock, the founder of Debian, has expressed concern about Ubuntu
packages potentially diverging too far from Debian Sarge to remain
compatible. Before release, packages are imported from Debian Unstable
continuously and merged with Ubuntu-specific modifications. A month before
release, imports are frozen, and packagers then work to ensure that the
frozen features interoperate well together.
Ubuntu is currently funded by Canonical Ltd. On July 8, 2005, Mark
Shuttleworth and Canonical Ltd. announced the creation of the Ubuntu
Foundation and provided an initial funding of US$10 million. The purpose of
the foundation is to ensure the support and development for all future
versions of Ubuntu. Mark Shuttleworth describes the foundation as an
"emergency fund" [in case Canonical's involvement ends.
Ubuntu 10.04, which was released on April 29, 2010, is the current Long
Term Support (LTS) release. Canonical releases LTS versions every two
years, with Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat as the next normal version for
release on October 10, 2010.
On March 12, 2009, Ubuntu announced developer support for 3rd party cloud
management platforms, such as for those used at Amazon EC2.
Features
Ubuntu focuses on usability. The Ubiquity installer allows Ubuntu to be
installed to the hard disk from within the Live CD environment, without the
need for restarting the computer prior to installation. Ubuntu also emphasizes
accessibility and internationalization to reach as many people as possible.
Beginning with 5.04, UTF-8 became the default character encoding, which
allows for support of a variety of non-Roman scripts. As a security feature,
the sudo tool is used to assign temporary privileges for performing
administrative tasks, allowing the root account to remain locked, and
preventing inexperienced users from inadvertently making catastrophic
system changes or opening security holes. PolicyKit is also being widely
implemented into the desktop to further harden the system through the
principle of least privilege.
Features
Ubuntu comes installed with a wide range of software that includes
OpenOffice.org, Firefox, Empathy (Pidgin in versions before 9.10),
Transmission, GIMP (in versions prior to 10.04), and several lightweight
games (such as Sudoku and chess). Additional software that is not installed
by default can be downloaded and installed using the Ubuntu Software
Center or the package manager Synaptic, which come pre-installed. Ubuntu
allows networking ports to be closed using its firewall, with customized port
selection available. End-users can install Gufw (GUI for Uncomplicated
Firewall) and keep it enabled.GNOME (the current default desktop) offers
support for more than 46 languages. Ubuntu can also run many programs
designed for Microsoft Windows (such as Microsoft Office), through Wine or
using a Virtual Machine (such as VMware Workstation or VirtualBox).
Installation
Installation of Ubuntu is generally performed with the Live CD. The Ubuntu
OS can be run directly from the CD (albeit with a significant performance
loss), allowing a user to "test-drive" the OS for hardware compatibility and
driver support. The CD also contains the Ubiquity installer, which then can
guide the user through the permanent installation process. CD images of all
current and past versions are available for download at the Ubuntu web site.
Installing from the CD requires a minimum of 256 MB RAM.
Installation
Users can download a disk image (.iso) of the CD, which can then either be
written to a physical medium (CD or DVD), or optionally run directly from a
hard drive (via UNetbootin or GRUB). Ubuntu is also available on ARM,
PowerPC, SPARC, and IA-64 platforms, although none but ARM are
officially supported
Canonical offers Ubuntu and Kubuntu installation CDs at no cost, including

paid postage for destinations in most countries around the world (via a
service called ShipIt).
Installation
A Microsoft Windows migration tool, called Migration Assistant (introduced in
April 2007), can be used to import bookmarks, desktop background
(wallpaper), and various settings from an existing MS Windows installation
into a new Ubuntu installation.
Ubuntu and Kubuntu can be booted and run from a USB Flash drive (as long
as the BIOS supports booting from USB), with the option of saving settings to
the flashdrive. This allows a portable installation that can be run on any PC
which is capable of booting from a USB drive. In newer versions of Ubuntu,
the USB creator program is available to install Ubuntu on a USB drive (with or
without a LiveCD disc).
Installation
Wubi, which is included as an option on the Live CD,allows Ubuntu to be

installed and run from within a virtual Windows loop device (as a large image
file that is managed like any other Windows program via the Windows Control
Panel). This method requires no partitioning of a Windows user's hard drive.
Wubi also makes use of the Migration Assistant to import users' settings. It is
only useful for Windows users and it also incurs a slight performance loss.
Wubi (Ubuntu installer)
Wubi (Windows-based UBuntu Installer) is an official Windows-based free

software installer for Ubuntu.
Wubi was born as an independent project and as such versions 7.04 and 7.10
were unofficial releases. Since 8.04 the code has been merged within Ubuntu
and since 8.04 alpha 5, Wubi can also be found in the Ubuntu Live CD.
The goal of the project is to assist a Windows user unacquainted with Linux in
trying Ubuntu without risking any loss of information due to disk formatting or
partitioning. Wubi can also uninstall Ubuntu from within Windows.
It is not a virtual machine, but creates a stand-alone installation within a

loopmounted device, also known as a disk image, like Topologilinux does. It is
not a Linux distribution of its own, but rather an installer for Ubuntu.
While Wubi does not install Ubuntu directly to its own partition this can also be
accomplished by using LVPM, the Loopmounted Virtual Partition Manager, to
transfer the Wubi-generated Ubuntu installation to a dedicated real partition,
including a bootable USB keydrive. The advantage of this setup is that users
can test the operating system and install the drivers before they install it to a
dedicated partition (and avoid booting and functioning risks).
Wubi adds an entry to the Windows boot menu which allows the user to run
Linux. Ubuntu is installed within a file in the Windows file system
(c:\ubuntu\disks\root.disk), as opposed to being installed within its own
partition. This file is seen by Linux as a real hard disk.Wubi also creates a
swap file in the Windows file system (c:\ubuntu\disks\swap.disk), in addition
to the memory of the host machine. This file is seen by Ubuntu as additional
RAM.
A related project, Lubi, uses Linux as the host system instead of Windows. A
version for the Mac OS as host, Mubi, "will eventually be supported."
Desktops
Users can select the desktop environment within Wubi. But, because each
desktop environment is also available as an application package, it is
recommended that users install Ubuntu (default option) and from there
install the other desktop environments. When users log in, they can choose
the desktop environment to use.
Limitations
Compared with a regular installation, a Wubi installation faces some

limitations. Hibernation is not supported and the filesystem is more vulnerable
to hard reboots. Also, if the Windows drive is unmounted uncleanly (most
commonly because of a Windows crash), Ubuntu will not be able to mount
the Windows drive and boot until Windows has successfully booted and shut
down. If the Windows system cannot be booted after the crash, the user also
cannot boot Ubuntu.
Performance related to hard-disk access is also slightly slower, more so if the

disk image is fragmented, on a Wubi install compared to a normal one.
Influences
It relies on other open source projects: Debian installer, Migration-
Assistant, Grub4Dos, NTFS-3G, NSIS and Metalink.
Development
The lead developers are Agostino Russo, Geza Kovacs, Oliver Mattos and
Ecology2007. The main development occurs at Launchpad and is led by the
Lupin Team (Lupin is the loop-installer, handles everything that happens after
reboot) through the original Ubuntu blueprint page and the new Wubi, Lubi,
Lupin,and LVPM project pages.
Hardware support
Both the i386 (32-bit x86) and x86-64 releases of Ubuntu are supported by
Wubi and Lubi, although this was a recent change.In versions before 8.04,
only the x86 release of Ubuntu was supported.
GNU GRUB
GNU GRUB (short for GNU GRand Unified Bootloader) is a boot loader package from
the GNU Project. GRUB (shortened form of GNU GRUB) is the reference
implementation of the Multiboot Specification, which enables a user to have multiple
operating systems on his computer, and choose which one to run when the computer
starts. GRUB can be used to select from different kernel images available on a
particular operating system's partitions, as well as pass boot-time parameters to such
kernels.
GNU GRUB was developed from a package called the Grand Unified Bootloader (a
play on grand unified theory). It is predominantly used on Unix-like systems. The GNU
operating system uses GNU GRUB as its boot loader, as do most Linux distributions.
Solaris has used GRUB as its boot loader on x86 systems starting with the Solaris 10
1/06 release.
GNU GRUB
GNU GRUB
Features
GRUB is dynamically configurable. It loads its configuration at startup, allowing boot-

time changes such as selecting different kernels or initial RAM disks. To this end,
GRUB provides a simple, bash-like, command line interface which lets users write
new boot sequences.
GRUB is highly portable. It supports multiple executable formats, and is geometry

translation independent. Although Multiboot compliant, GRUB supports non-multiboot
operating systems such as Microsoft Windows and OS/2 via chain loading. GRUB
supports all commonly used Unix file systems, VFAT and NTFS used by Windows, as
well as Logical Block Address (LBA) mode. GRUB allows users to view the contents
of files on any supported file system.
GNU GRUB
Features
GRUB can be used with a variety of different user interfaces. Most Linux distributions
take advantage of GRUB's support for a graphical interface to provide a customized
boot menu with a background image, and occasionally mouse support.[citation
needed] GRUB's text interface can be set to use a serial link to provide a remote
terminal boot loader access.
GRUB can download operating system images from a network, and thus can support
diskless systems. GRUB supports automatic decompression of OS images prior to
booting from them
GNU GRUB
Features
GRUB differs from other boot loaders by being able to communicate with a user
directly via a GRUB command prompt. A GRUB prompt is the stage before GRUB
loads an operating system and can be triggered at a text-mode GRUB booting screen
(which is controlled by the configuration file "menu.lst" (or "grub.cfg": see below)) by
pressing the "c" key. A command prompt can also be obtained by booting GRUB
without an operating system attached, or in a GRUB installation with an operating
system where the file "menu.lst" is absent. From there, a user can manually select
and control booting from any installed operating system by using console commands.
To boot an operating system automatically, the appropriate commands are placed in a
configuration file named "menu.lst" in a designated subdirectory.
GNU GRUB
Features
GRUB has a rich set of terminal commands that allow a user at the GRUB prompt to
view the hard disk partition details, alter partition settings, temporarily re-map the disk
order, boot any user-defined configuration file and view the configuration of other boot
loaders in file formats GRUB supports. Thus, without prior knowledge of what is
installed on a computer, one can use GRUB from an external device such as a floppy
disk, USB device or a CD-ROM to boot up an installed operating system.
GRUB uses a scrollable screen for operating system boot selection. This means 150
or more boot choices can be easily controlled by GRUB by adding them to the
"menu.lst" configuration file. The arrow keys are used to select which operating
system to boot.
GNU GRUB
Features
One boot loader can run another boot loader by chainloading. GRUB uses the same
two to three lines of command sequences to boot any DOS, Windows, Linux, BSD or
Solaris system, making it very easy to work with.
Although GNU GRUB can be pre-packaged or retro-built into Unix-like operating

systems, there are also specific GRUB implementations for DOS and Windows.
GRUB can also be installed stand alone, unattached to any operating system. Its
implementation requires one file for booting from a CD and two files for booting from
a floppy, hard disk or USB device. These files are available from any Linux Live CD
that supports GRUB, making it easily and freely obtainable.
GNU GRUB
Boot process
When a computer is turned on, the computer's BIOS finds the primary bootable
device (usually the computer's hard disk) and loads the initial bootstrap program
from the master boot record (MBR), the first 512 bytes of the hard disk, then
transfers control to this code.
The MBR usually contains GRUB stage 1, but can contain another bootloader which
can chain boot GRUB stage 1 from another boot sector such as a partition's Volume
boot record. Given the small size of a boot sector, Stage 1 does little more than load
the next stage of GRUB (which may reside physically elsewhere on the disk). Stage
1 can load Stage 2 directly, or it can load stage 1.5. GRUB Stage 1.5 is located in
the first 30 kilobytes of hard disk immediately following the MBR. Stage 1.5 loads
Stage 2.
GNU GRUB
Boot process
When GRUB Stage 2 receives control, it presents an interface where the user can select which
operating system to boot. This normally takes the form of a graphical menu. If this is not
available, or the user wishes direct control, GRUB has its own command prompt. The user can
then manually specify the boot parameters. GRUB can be set to automatically load a specified
kernel after a user defined timeout.
Once boot options have been selected, GRUB loads the selected kernel into memory and
passes control to the kernel. Alternatively, GRUB can pass control of the boot process to
another loader, using chain loading. This is the method used to load operating systems such as
Windows, that do not support the Multiboot standard. In this case, copies of the other system's
boot programs have been saved by GRUB. Instead of a kernel, the other system is loaded as
though it had been started from the MBR. This could be another boot manager, such as the
Microsoft boot menu, allowing further selection of non-Multiboot operating systems. (This
behavior is often automatic when modern Linux distributions are installed "on top of" an existing
Windows installation. This enables retention of the original operating system without
modification, including systems that contain multiple versions of Windows.)
GNU GRUB
Installation
A key feature of GRUB is that it can be installed without being attached to an
operating system. However, it needs a copy of a Linux image for such an installation.
Working as a stand alone system it is virtually a mini system in its own right and able
to boot all the installed major operating systems by chain loading, as described
above.
Unlike LILO, there is no need to reinstall GRUB to the MBR or a partition after
changes to the configuration file.
In Linux, the "grub-install" command is used to install stage1 to either the MBR or a
partition. GRUB's configuration file, stage2 (usually), and other files must be in a
usable partition. If these files or the partition become unavailable, stage1 will drop
the user to the command line interface.
GNU GRUB
Installation
The name and disk location of the GRUB configuration file varies from system to
system. For example, in openSUSE and (for GRUB legacy) in Debian GNU/Linux the
file is stored in /boot/grub/menu.lst while Fedora, Gentoo Linux, and (for GRUB 2)
Debian uses /boot/grub/grub.conf. Fedora also provides a symbolic link from
/etc/grub.conf to /boot/grub/grub.conf for FHS compatibility reasons.
GRUB can be installed on removable media such as an optical drive (bios access,
and el-torito), floppy disk or USB flash drive in order to bring up a system which may
not have or cannot boot from a hard disk.
Package classification and support
.
Ubuntu divides all software into four domains to reflect differences in licensing
and the degree of support available. Some unsupported applications receive
updates from community members, but not from Canonical Ltd.
Free software includes only software that has met the Ubuntu licensing
requirements, which roughly correspond to the Debian Free Software
Guidelines. Exceptions, however, include firmware and fonts, in the Main
category, because although they are not allowed to be modified, their
distribution is otherwise unencumbered.
. Non-free software is usually unsupported (Multiverse), but some exceptions

(Restricted) are made for important non-free software. Supported non-free
software includes device drivers that can be used to run Ubuntu on some
current hardware, such as binary-only graphics card drivers. The level of
support in the Restricted category is more limited than that of Main, because
the developers may not have access to the source code. It is intended that
Main and Restricted should contain all software needed for a general-use
GNU/Linux system. Alternative programs for the same tasks and programs
for specialized applications are placed in the Universe and Multiverse
categories.
.
The -updates repository provides updates to stable releases of Ubuntu and
are generally installed through update-manager. Each release is given its own
-updates repository (e.g. intrepid-updates). The repository is supported by
Canonical Ltd. for packages in main and restricted, and by the community for
packages in universe and multiverse. All updates to the repository must meet
certain requirements and go through the -proposed repository before being
made available to the public.Updates will continue to be available until the end
of life for the release.
In addition to the -updates repository, the unstable -proposed repository

contains uploads which must be confirmed before being copied into -updates.
All updates must go through this process to ensure that the patch does truly
fix the bug and there is no risk of regression. Updates in -proposed are
confirmed by either Canonical or members of the community.
Releases
.
There are two Ubuntu releases per year, using the year and month of the
release as the version number. The first Ubuntu release, for example, was
Ubuntu 4.10 and was released on October 20, 2004. Version numbers for
future versions are provisional; if the release is delayed the version number
changes accordingly.
Releases
.
Ubuntu releases are also given alliterative code names, using an adjective
and an animal (e.g., "Dapper Drake" and "Intrepid Ibex"). With the exception
of the first three releases, code names are in alphabetical order, allowing a
quick determination of which release is newer. Commonly, Ubuntu releases
are referred to using only the adjective portion of the code name.
Releases
.
Releases are timed to be approximately one month after GNOME releases

(which in turn are about one month after releases of X.org). Consequently,
every Ubuntu release comes with an updated version of both GNOME and X.
Selected releases (such as 6.06 Dapper Drake and 8.04 Hardy Heron) have
been labeled as Long Term Support (LTS) versions, indicating that they are
supported (with updates) for three years on the desktop and five years on the
server, as compared to the 18-month support period for non-LTS releases.
The current release is 10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx, released on April 29, 2010.
Releases
.
The next release will be 10.10 Maverick Meerkat, to be released on October

10, 2010. This is a departure from the traditional schedule releasing at the
end of October to get the perfect 10. This is also intentionally done to appeal
to the fans of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who all, of course, know
that the ultimate answer to "life, the universe and everything" is 42; which is
(in binary) 101010 (10.10.10).
Version Code name Release date
4.10 Warty Warthog 2004-10-20
5.04 Hoary Hedgehog 2005-04-08
.
5.10 Breezy Badger 2005-10-13
6.06 LTS Dapper Drake 2006-06-01
6.10 Edgy Eft 2006-10-26
7.04 Feisty Fawn 2007-04-19
7.10 Gutsy Gibbon 2007-10-18
8.04 LTS Hardy Heron 2008-04-24
8.10 Intrepid Ibex 2008-10-30
9.04 Jaunty Jackalope 2009-04-23
9.10 Karmic Koala 2009-10-29
10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx 2010-04-29

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UBUNTU OPERATING SYSTEM

 Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian

 It is named after the Southern African ethical principle Ubuntu

Canonical endorses and provides support for three additional Ubuntu-derived

Canonical offers Ubuntu and Kubuntu installation CDs at no cost, including

Wubi, which is included as an option on the Live CD,allows Ubuntu to be

Wubi (Windows-based UBuntu Installer) is an official Windows-based free

It is not a virtual machine, but creates a stand-alone installation within a

Compared with a regular installation, a Wubi installation faces some

Performance related to hard-disk access is also slightly slower, more so if the

GRUB is dynamically configurable. It loads its configuration at startup, allowing boot-

GRUB is highly portable. It supports multiple executable formats, and is geometry

Although GNU GRUB can be pre-packaged or retro-built into Unix-like operating

. Non-free software is usually unsupported (Multiverse), but some exceptions

In addition to the -updates repository, the unstable -proposed repository

Releases are timed to be approximately one month after GNOME releases

The next release will be 10.10 Maverick Meerkat, to be released on October

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