Starting a New Adventure#
During my internship, I mostly used the company's computer, so my own computer rarely suffered from tinkering (reinstalling the system due to various problems is really exhausting). After careful consideration and several attempts, I decided not to install dual systems and instead make Ubuntu my main operating system. After going through various reinstallations and organizing my thoughts, I decided to record the process here, as it might come in handy in the future. (The steps may be too detailed, so experienced users can skip through them. This configuration can also be used for dual systems.)
Creating a Bootable Disk#
You can directly download the ISO image file from the Ubuntu official website. I used UltralISO to burn it to a USB drive.
Link: UltralISO Extraction code: 99ge
Starting the Installation#
After inserting the bootable disk into the computer, choose the boot option during startup. For my Lenovo, I press F12, but it may vary depending on your computer. Choose the option that is not your computer's operating system (I really forgot the name), and you will enter the Ubuntu system on the USB drive. Then, a few options will appear. You can enter directly without downloading the system first (recommended, it's the first option, sometimes there are issues with downloading). After loading the system, there will be a download icon on the desktop. Double-click it to start the installation, and then follow the prompts to complete the installation.
Partitioning#
Whether you are installing a dual system or a single system, it is recommended to choose the option for manual partitioning! After entering manual partitioning, all the disks on your computer will be displayed. For example, mine is SSD120G and a 1TB mechanical hard drive. If you want to use Ubuntu as your main operating system, you should partition it properly. Here is my partitioning plan:
| Mount Point | Size | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| /boot | SSD-2G | Related to booting |
| /home | SSD-40G | Some software installed in home directory |
| /var | SSD-5G | Files that frequently change in the system |
| /usr | SSD-35G | System applications |
| /boot/efi | SSD-1G | Must be independent, related to booting |
| / | SSD-36G | Other files, now I realize I don't need much |
| /tmp | HDD-50G | Some temporary files |
There is still a lot of space on the mechanical hard drive, which can be mounted separately in a directory later. After completing the partitioning, wait for the installation to finish. Oh, by the way, it's better not to connect to the internet at the beginning. If your internet speed is not fast, the updates during installation can be really slow. You can connect to the internet and update after the installation is complete.
Booting#
After the system is installed, you can uninstall some unnecessary software first to save time for future updates. You can change the software source to a Chinese server for faster updates.
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
Applications#
After the installation, install the software you are familiar with. TIM, DingTalk, Thunder, Baidu Cloud, VScode, Netease Cloud Music, WPS, Chrome, and many commonly used software have Linux versions or are supported by Wine or have web versions. You should be able to find these software by searching online. If you can't find them, you can ask me.
Basic Customization#
The newly installed system may not look very appealing, but it can be greatly improved with a few configurations. Here is what I did:
I followed this tutorial to configure it:
Ubuntu Mac-like Configuration
First, install the optimization tools:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions
After that, you can open the optimization application and make some basic configurations. For detailed instructions, please refer to the link above.
End#
I'm starting to like Linux more and more. I hope I can find a related job in the future. Keep going! (Feel free to ask if you have any questions.)