What is the best way of testing Ubuntu on my computer?

I'm a little confused as to whether I should install Ubuntu on its own partition on my hard drive, use VirtualBox or another virtualization package to install it, or use Wubi to install it directly on top of my current OS (Win 7). I definitely want to learn and use Ubuntu, so this is not just for playing around with it.

Also, if I choose to partition, should I partition the hard drive myself or should I let the Ubuntu installation menu do it for me? I understand that I am going to need a main partition, for Ubuntu's core components, and also a swap partition. Then there is the option to add a partition for "home"- I don't understand what combination of these partitioning options I should choose, or whether it is better to partition in Windows before I install Ubuntu or just partition my hard drive when I install Ubuntu itself

Solution 1:

If you are starting with Linux and you would like to give it a go then VirtualBox is the best option:

Pros:

• No modifications to your system;
• No harm done if something goes wrong and you mess up Ubuntu completely;
• Ability to create snapshots and restore them on the fly, ie: Create a snapshot before issuing a weird command that you are not sure about, if something goes wrong you can restore the snapshot and continue with your life;
• Mappings can be done so that the file from your Windows system are shared with Ubuntu without the worry of mounting file systems, its easy pie;
• If you find that you do not like Ubuntu and you want to remove it from your system you can simply remove VirtualBox and delete the virtual machine files and your system will be back to were it was, no harm done.
• No partitioning mistakes! The disk Ubuntu is going to install to is just a file inside your Windows system, delete the file, Ubuntu is out and you can start over.
  • Create as much partitions as you like;
  • Play with mount points as you desire;
  • When in doubt go back and re-do it as you like
  • No harm done to your Windows installation

Cons:

• Not as a fast as a live installation, still bearable and great to try and use;
• Eye candy supplied from accelerated graphics is not present or is not as fast as it could be, depending on the system. It will still look imba, but not the same.

The 2 points that would make it a bad choice to install it in a virtual computer do not overcome the pro points, just the simplicity of it should be the main reason to use Ubuntu in VirtualBox if you are using it for the first time.

Later, when you are confident that you want to use it and you are ready to do a real installation you will have all the steps covered and you will feel confident on what to do.

Other best options are:

Wubi

• Ubuntu is installed in a file in a Windows directory (normally c:\ubuntu\root), GRUB will replace your Windows boot manager and will let you choose between booting Windows or the Ubuntu system inside that file;
• Its a good option because you are actually booting to Ubuntu directly
• It makes partitioning easy since everything is done to the file keeping Ubuntu, not really modifies your hard disk partitions
• Its bad because if GRUB for any reason gets messed up you will need to go trough some work to restore it, not hard, but for a newbie nothing is simple.

Windows partition resize

• Resize your Windows partition using the Ubuntu LiveCD or the Ubuntu installer and install Ubuntu in to its rightful place!
• It allows your to keep Windows and Ubuntu on the same computer, allows you to fully play with partitioning and choose mounting points directly in your hard disk space
• Installs GRUB to manage the dual boot between Ubuntu and Windows;
• Its bad because it installs GRUB and for the same reasons as a Wubi install, if GRUB gets broken you need to fix it. Also resizing can be dangerous (normally is not), make a backup before you do it. Careful so you don't accidentally overwrite any Windows data!
• Can be a problem if you somehow destroy Ubuntu or mess up your Windows system from Ubuntu and then you can't boot anymore.

Other options

LiveCD booting

Just download and burn the Ubuntu CD from the downloads site, boot from it and use it as a LiveCD. It will be slow because it is using the CD as the system but it wont harm your system or require installation. Once you reboot everything that was not saved in to your Windows disk or a removable media will be lost.

Install to a USB drive

Most systems now a days allow you to boot from a USB drive. You can install Ubuntu to a USB drive and use it as a spare. GRUB will be installed to the USB drive, it will be a real system and act like one.

Good thing about this is that you do not modify your Windows install.

Bad thing is you need to select the USB drive each time your need to boot in to Ubuntu, or you need to modify GRUB to recognize Windows and give you the option to boot to it.

This is a good option if you have a spare USB drive around and your system allows you to boot from USB.

For a newbie it is always better to have it installed in a way that what ever happens your previous system is safe and that no big changes are done. For the moment stick with a VirtualBox install and when you are more confident move on to the next step. Better a slow start that a fast and disastrous one.

Solution 2:

Virtualbox:

Ubuntu will run inside your existing Windows operating system. You'll be able to simultaneously run Ubuntu while using other Windows applications. However, Ubuntu will run quite slowly, in its own box (which albeit can still be maximised) and it won't be representative of an actual Ubuntu installation - not making full use of your hardware. It will be frustratingly limited, IMHO, if you want a full desktop experience. It may, however, be useful if you want to use Windows as your primary operating system but you need to run one specific Linux program, or a Linux server, for testing purposes.

Own partition:

Ubuntu will run natively on your machine, separately from Windows. You won't be able to run the two simultaneously, but you can choose which one to run when you boot. This is a good option if you want to get a full desktop experience, as long as you are able to resize some existing partitions to make space and you are reasonably confident in doing so (that is, you won't trash your existing partitions, and you are good with backups). If you are thinking of moving to Ubuntu permanently in the future, this is the only option of the three that will let you do that smoothly, since you will be able to remove or shrink your Windows partition later without affecting Ubuntu.

Wubi:

Once installed, this is fairly functionally the same as running Ubuntu in its own partition: you won't be able to run Ubuntu and Windows simultaneously, Ubuntu will have full access to your hardware and you get to choose Ubuntu or Windows when you boot. This option, however, is for when you don't want the permanence of re-sizing any existing partitions. It is good for if you want to try Ubuntu temporarily without changing any partitions. The trick here is that special magic allows you to create the Ubuntu partition as a virtual partition inside your existing Windows partition, rather than creating a real, on-disk partition. Ubuntu will see it as its own partition though, and Windows will see it as a normal file. You won't be able to delete your Windows partition though, which is why I said it's good if your use of Ubuntu is temporary. It is plausible that disk access might be slightly slower using this method than having Ubuntu in its own partition, but this may not be noticeable and in all other ways Ubuntu will run just as fast.

Also, if I choose to partition, should I partition the hard drive myself or should I let the Ubuntu installation menu do it for me?

This in itself is a rather broad question and ten different people will have ten different opinions on this. In my opinion you may as well let Ubuntu choose its own partitioning. This will result in small partition for swap and a larger one for everything else. Some say it's worth having a separate /home partition. You can do this if you like, though if you don't know you need it, though, you probably don't really need it. The benefits of a separate /home to some people is that they can trash everything but keep the /home partition, so their files remain, when they want to do a clean reinstall. Of course, if you have backups of your files, then you could choose to restore from backups instead.

Solution 3:

I think the best and easiest way to test Ubuntu is to take the tour. You can test Ubuntu in your web browser, fast and easy.

• Ubuntu online tour

If you still want more and don't want to install it, try it via a Live-CD. Then you will know what it's like to use on your computer.

• Ubuntu 12.04 download site

I would suggest to download the Desktop 32-bit, it's the most likely to work without any issue. Also download Unetbootin and install the live cd on a Usb-stick.