Installing Ubuntu and using it remotely.

Looks like there are a couple of people who would like to see a bit more about Linux going by the poll on my other thread.

So, it makes sense to make a thread on installing my Linux of choice. I use Ubuntu when I have to use Linux, for no other reason apart from its the one I can work my way around the easiest. Lots of people like it, but lots also dont like it.

Ubuntu is managed by a company called Canonical, you can download all the versions of Linux from here: Ubuntu Home Page | Ubuntu. One of the cool things about Ubuntu is that you dont need to install it to your PC to try it out. You can burn the image to a disc and simply run it from there as a live spin. When the disc boots, you are given a bunch of options, so just choose from one of those.

Now, for most people, I would imagine that Linux wont be the OS that you want on your desktop, so installing it could be a pain in the arse. As this is a Linux, you dont need to have it connected to a keyboard, mouse and monitor all the time. You can just put it on any old machine, hook it up to your network and use it remotely.

There are a couple of ways you can use it remotely. If you have the Desktop version and you need a GUI, you can use VNC. Or, you can be hardcore and use the command line (its just as easy). There are two methods here you can use, telnet or SSH. They pretty much do the same thing - give you access to the shell, but SSH is the more secure method.

Once you have Ubuntu install, then its a good idea to get at least one remote control method going. I am not going to bother with Telnet, you can if you want, but I am going with SSH.

All you need to do is install it, go to Applications - Accessories - Terminal and type the following on the commandline.

sudo apt-get install ssh

You will be prompted for a password, so enter yours when you need to. Once it completes, thats it - you have an SSH server up and running. To test it out just type ssh localhost on your commandline, you should get a response back about a key. The acid test is seeing if your windows machine can do the same. So, download a copy of puTTY from here: PuTTY Download Page and enter the IP of your Ubuntu box on it to connect. You should get a window up about accepting the key, this is good.

The command you have just run looks a little odd, sudo is the command you use in Debian Linux (of which Ubuntu is) to run a command as a superuser. apt-get followed by install simply grabs the application you want to install from the Internet and then installs it for you. No need for any discs etc. Applications like this are held in repositories out on the Internet, you can configure Ubuntu to use others if you need to get a specific thing.