Installing Xubuntu on a CD

[tell-me-more]

Hello. I downloaded Xubuntu last night.

It's now on my hard drive, but I want to transfer it onto a CD.

I tried dragging and dropping to that drive in Explorer - which seems to work for every other file type and every other storage medium I've ever tried - but not this time. I get an error message, access denied, might not have permission, disk might be full, could be anything really, but don't pass go and don't collect �200.

Do I have to use Infrarecorder or xfburn as recommended here? https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto

I really wanted to not use windows at first, but I'm starting to wonder if it can be worth the hassle.

[LeMarchand]

You can use any software that handles .iso burning, but Windows will not do this natively by dragging and dropping. Have a look in the options of your existing burning software (if you have some), otherwise I like the free CDBurnerXP which is fairly easy to get to grips with.

[tell-me-more]

Thanks. I'm going to be lazy and download the thing they suggest. In the meantime, what's this "verify the md5 sum (hash) of the .iso file" I couldn't make up a less accessible technical sounding thing to have to do.

If Xubuntu is really worth it, someone please encourage me. I'm only continuing at the moment out of sheer bloody minded determination.

[Gormless]

Better and simpler to apply online for a free CD by post, then you can boot up from the CD and experiment with ubuntu without the need to alter your hard disk (which always carries an element of risk)

[tell-me-more]

I've downloaded the file already. I'm planning on getting the PC to read the CD first, which apparently is lower risk.

[Gormless]

I'm just saying so much simpler to get a booting CD

https://shipit.ubuntu.com/

Mine arrived within 5 days

[rojash]

"verify the md5 sum (hash) of the .iso file"

In English: "Check that your file is genuine, and was not corrupted during the download"

Have you tried double-clicking the file? If you already have suitable burning software installed, then double-clicking it should cause your burner to start automatically.

[fo3nix]

Just follow the steps they recommend.

You can't use Windows' own tools, because it can't do what you want to do (Mac OS X and Linux both can out of the box, natch).

Or, get a free CD sent to you --- though it can take some time, and burning your own optimal.

On a side note, why Xubuntu and not Ubuntu? If your computer is more than 5 years old, go for Xubuntu, but otherwise, get Ubuntu. It's more widely supported.

[tell-me-more]

Thanks for your answers.

Xubuntu is only because the machine's from the last millennium.

I'm following the instructions on https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto

and by my reckoning, the first thing I should do is verify the md5 sum hash of the .iso file.

[tell-me-more]

That leads me to this page https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM

then this page http://releases.ubuntu.com/

then ultimately to this page http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/8.1 0/release/

where there are 4 MD5sum files at the bottom, but I don't know what to do with them.

I think maybe I'm just too stupid for all this, but it would be nice not to have to have to rely on microsoft for everything.

On a lighter note, in Xubuntu, will I still be forced to answer OK/Cancel to Yes/No questions?

[LeMarchand]

TBH, I never bother to check the hashes (very bad of me). You can get programs to make it easy: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/File-Manag ement/MD5-Checker.shtml (for example, as stated I've never used it).

I think that (even with Ubuntu) you may find that you'll be spending a lot of time looking up how to do things at first.

[fo3nix]

OK then Xubuntu is the one you want.

I assume you have downloaded this file:

xubuntu-8.10-desktop-i386.iso

This is likely the one you want, anyway.

This is the md5 hash for this file: 53c50ff06f4ad659f0abf6474b58c8e6.

So what you need to do is download the program LeMarchand links to above, which you can run on your .iso file that you have downloaded. It will give you a md5 hash back. Check that your hash calculated is the same as the hash I've just written above. If it is, then it means the download is correct, so there should be no bit-level errors on a CD you burn. If the hash is different, something went wrong when you downloaded the .iso file, so it may not work properly.

Having said all this, the hash check is optional. The downloaded file is probably ok, so you're probably safe to just burn it to a CD. This hash check is just to make sure.

[tell-me-more]

Thanks again fo3nix.

I have downloaded the Xubuntu file you mention.

My confusion came because I thought from the first paragraph of the HowToMD5SUM page that md5sum was the _program_ I needed to confirm the file integrity and authenticity, not the string of characters.

Can I use Cygwin and WinMD5SUM on a machine operating Windows Me?

Thanks so much for your help.

[fo3nix]

md5sum is a program to do just this, but it's a Linux program.

You can install cygwin, which is a set of tools to make Windows more like a Unix system. This includes md5sum.

However, instead of bothering with cygwin and md5sum, just download the program LeMarchand links to. It's a proper windows program and will have a simpler interface to use.

But really, don't bother with this step. Just use infrarecorder to burn the disc image to a blank CD, and try booting from it. It'll almost certainly work. md5 hash checking is just to be extra-sure.

[tell-me-more]

The Ubuntu website seems to think that the md5sum is quite important.

Downloading cygwin was just too complicated.

No idea why I had to choose a "mirror" that I trust to download the thing from a list of websites I've never heard of.

I don't understand how anyone understands all this stuff. Sometimes I just think it's deliberately designed to sound difficult to understand.

[tell-me-more]

By the way, even when I did go through the whole thing, it didn't work. There was an error of some sort.

[tell-me-more]

It also doesn't appear that Xubuntu (as opposed to Ubuntu) is available on the free CDs they send out.

[fo3nix]

If you have downloaded the above linked .iso file for Xubuntu, then do the following:

Use your CD burning program to burn the disc image (the .iso file) to a CD. Nero, infrarecorder, whatever.

With the disc in the machine, restart, and boot from the CD drive (you may need to change boot order in your BIOS to make sure the CD drive is checked before the hard drive).

One of the options will be to check the CD for errors. Do this, and it'll tell you if it's good or not without having to do the md5 thing.