Part III) Add a Desktop to your Ubuntu LAMP server
Ok, you now have a dual-booting Ubuntu LAMP server and Windows system. The GRUB boot loader allows you to choose which system to start. The topmost listed operating system is the Ubuntu server, and if you do nothing, it will load up by default, whenever you power up your computer.
After it boots up, you should get the command line prompt:
vistaserv1 login:
(The server runs in "command line" mode until you install the desktop).
Enter your administrator login name (fido) and password (fountain2468).
Now we must enable a root user. Ignore anyone who says you don't need or shouldn't have a root user in Ubuntu. That is pure nonsense. You have to do lots and lots of things as the root user.
At the command prompt , enter
sudo passwd root
then enter a password when prompted.
For now, I would use the same password as the administrator "fido" uses, such as "fountain2468". There is no point in trying to remember multiple passwords at this stage. Later, when the system is completely functional and you have multiple users, we will change the root user password to something different.
Now become the root user by entering
sudo -s
and entering your password.
Whenever you enter sudo -s at a command prompt, everything you do after that will be as the root user until you enter "exit." When you enter exit you will quit being the root user (also known as the superuser) and go back to being the user you logged in as.
Now, as the root user, enter at the command prompt:
apt-get update
This will update your Ubuntu server.
Now enter
apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
Now go do something else for awhile, while the desktop is being installed.
When it is finished, it will ask you to reboot. If it doesn't, then reboot anyway.
If everything went well, you should again see the GRUB boot loader loading your system.
You should see the startup files being loaded, and then there should be a login screen.
Enter your login name (fido) and password (fountain2468).
You now have a lovely dual booting Windows and Ubuntu Server/Desktop with a shared FAT32 partition.
However, the desktop is comprised of a lot of modules that need to be downloaded as part of the automatic installation. If some major files were not downloaded properly, you will still only get the command line prompt when you reboot.
In that instance, you should re-install the desktop with the command:
apt-get install ubuntu-desktop --reinstall
Fortunately, this does not do everything all over again, but only retrieves the missing files and now installs them.
Basic instructions on apt are available at:
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/apt-howto/ch-apt-get.en.html
(I only had to do this once, when my Internet connection was briefly interrupted during the download of the desktop modules. After this step, the desktop login screen appeared normally.)
In the next section, we will add a few essential utilities to the Ubuntu Desktop, learn some basic tasks, and add some fun components.
| Home page
| Introduction
| Chapter I: Installing Windows on a dual-boot computer
| Chapter II: Installing Ubuntu Linux Server on a dual-boot computer
| Chapter III: Adding the Ubuntu Desktop on a dual-boot computer
| Chapter IV: Spiffing up Ubuntu Linux
| Chapter V: Ubuntu/Windows shared networks
| Chapter VI: Setting up a Web Site on Ubuntu
| Chapter VII: Ubuntu/Apache Virtual Hosts (Multiple web sites, single server)
| Chapter VIII: Installing Drupal Content Managment System
| Chapter IX: Installing Vista Office EHR
| Chapter X: Installing an Office Surveillance Security System with Ubuntu
| Chapter XI: Installing an open source Groupware Server
| Chapter XII: Installing a non-linear video editor for presentations
|