Linux Enthusiast - Latest release of Ubuntu & easy way to Install it

Hello Friends,

Considering the features and Learning opportunities what Linux provides to its user, every developer loves to work and explore Linux.....
But what i have personally felt the hurdles which every one faces are :

Installation on Linux over windows (managing partitions and Free space )
Problems faced if u have ever decide to remove Linux , coz the grub loader cant easily be cleared.
Getting Device drivers personally I faced lots of problem to make the infamous Broadcom wireless (lots of Compaq,hp & even Dell laptops have it )driver working
Here i would like to address some of the above mentioned problems and a few more:
The first problem is no more a issue after the WUBI project


Wubi (Windows-based Ubuntu Installer) is an official Windows-based free software installer for Ubuntu, licensed under the GPL.

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.

I suggest to download it from http://wubi-installer.org/


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 rather, it 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.

Users interested in directly installing to a dedicated partition, like a standard Ubuntu install does, without needing a CD should use UNetbootin instead.

Wubi adds an entry to the Windows boot menu which allows you 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.

Limitations
Hibernation is not supported

Wubi filesystem is more vulnerable to hard reboots (unplugging the power) than a normal filesystem.

Since Wubi installs Ubuntu on the same file partition as Windows, Ubuntu may see a slight degradation in performance over time due to FAT32/NTFS file fragmentation, which could be alleviated via defragging the disk.
Benefit of latest Version of Ubuntu (Ubuntu 8.0 - the Hardy Heron )

Its a 64 bit OS so it will take full utilization of ur processor if it is also 64 bits.
Normally if you use Widows XP which is 32 Bit OS, it uses only 32 bits of ur processor.

But - Some softwares for 32 bit OS will create problems while installation.

AS i faced installing skpe written for 32 bits.

But it can be solved by updating the 32 bit Libraries in ur current Ubuntu version. And once this lib is installed most of ur 32 bit application will be installed

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

and then use the debian package of skype for 32 bit Ubuntu

sudo dpkg --install --force-architecture --force-depends skype-debian_2.0.0.72-1_i386.deb

check this page for more Informations

http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Hardy


Getting ur Broadcom Wireless Driver Working :


First step, you must uninstall ndiswrapper & bcm43xx-fwcutter

sudo apt-get remove ndiswrapper-common ndiswrapper-utils-1.9
sudo apt-get remove bcm43xx-fwcutter
Add bcm43xx to the /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist file

sudo vim /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
add this line "blacklist bcm43xx" (without "")
Reboot

Download driver for BCM94311MCG wlan mini-PCI here

tar -xzvf WLANBroadcom.tar.gz
move the folder WLANBroadcom to your home directory
mv WLANBroadcom/ /home/yourname/
Install ndiswrapper from source :(if unable to install ndiswrapper & its utils from here, it can be done from synaptic package manager also)

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r`
sudo ln -s /usr/src/linux-`uname -r` /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build
mkdir -p ~/bcm43xx/ndiswrapper
cd ~/bcm43xx/ndiswrapper
sudo wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.49.tar.gz
tar xvzf ndiswrapper-1.49.tar.gz
cd ndiswrapper*
make distclean
make
sudo make install
Install windows driver (BCM94311MCG wlan mini-PCI) with ndiswrapper

cd /home/yourname/WLANBroadcom/
sudo ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf
ndiswrapper -l
sudo vim /etc/modules
add this line "ndiswrapper" (without "")
sudo modprobe ndiswrapper
sudo ndiswrapper -m
Reboot





Nice working with ubuntu :)