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Below is a selection of common questions with answers that may help you if you are new to Ubuntu. Choose a topic from the table of contents or search this page by pressing Ctrl+F in your browser and entering a search term.

About Ubuntu

Ubuntu and Debian?

What is the relationship between Ubuntu and Debian?

Please see https://ubuntu.com/community/debian, and consider reading some of the Mark Shuttleworth wiki page for more information.

Canonical

What is Canonical?

Canonical is a private company founded by Mark Shuttleworth for the promotion of Ubuntu and other free software projects. See also http://www.canonical.com/

Recognized Flavors

Which Ubuntu based distributions are supported by the Ubuntu community?

The following projects are recognized for their immense contributions to the Ubuntu community. See also the official derivatives page.

Kubuntu

Kubuntu uses the Ubuntu base and the KDE Desktop Environment; it combines ease of use, contemporary functionality, and outstanding graphical design.

Xubuntu

Xubuntu uses the Ubuntu base and the Xfce desktop environment; Xubuntu is light, but has enough features for efficient, daily usage. It works well on older hardware too.

Edubuntu

Edubuntu provides a customized school environment with an Ubuntu base; though it uses the GNOME desktop environment, it includes applications from both GNOME and KDE by default.

Ubuntu Studio

Ubuntu Studio provides an enhanced GNU/Linux application suite for creating and editing audio, video, and graphics.

Ubuntu Kylin

Ubuntu Kylin is localised for China. It uses the UKUI desktop environment.

Lubuntu

Lubuntu uses the LXQt desktop environment. It works well on older hardware.

Ubuntu MATE

Ubuntu MATE uses the Ubuntu base and the MATE Desktop Environment.

Ubuntu Releases and Version Numbers

How does the versioning system of releases work? What is the next release of Ubuntu?

The version number comes from the year and month of the release; the version names are made by Mark Shuttleworth.

LTS stands for Long Term Support; these versions of Ubuntu are supported for longer than usual - 5 years on the desktop and 5 years on the server. LTS releases before 12.04 (Precise Pangolin) were supported for only 3 years on the Desktop. If you are unsure of the version you are using, go to System > Administration > System Monitor, and go to the System tab or open a terminal and type: 

~$ lsb_release -a

A list of development, currently released and past releases can be found at the Releases page on the Ubuntu wiki.

Release announcements are posted on the ubuntu-announce mailing list.

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Get Ubuntu

How can I get a copy of Ubuntu?

Copies of Ubuntu can be obtained by downloading the disc images directly from the Ubuntu website, internet mirrors and via BitTorrent.

How can I verify what I am installing is authentic?

To verify the integrity of the install media, you can compare the SHA256 checksum to that published by a trustworthy source. See How to verify your Ubuntu download for instructions.

Install Ubuntu

What methods of installation are there?

Refer to the Ubuntu Community Installation page for complete guides and instructions on different methods of installation.

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Using Ubuntu

Installing software

How do I install things on Ubuntu? Why shouldn't I compile? Why does ./configure give errors?

For the vast majority of applications that you will ever use, you should never need to compile them. Ubuntu provides over 20,000 packages in all of its repositories. Please see the SoftwareManagement (and, specifically the InstallingSoftware sub-category) page for instructions on how to gain those packages, and the CompilingSoftware page if you are convinced (after viewing the previous page) that you do indeed need to compile.

See: Free Software Alternatives.

Repositories and sources.list

What is a repository? What is the sources.list file?

Repositories are particular locations on the web that contain the thousands of packages (each containing programs, applications, etc) that you would need on your computer. The sources.list file contains the list of all the repositories that will be used to download packages in Synaptic (see SynapticHowto) and APT (see APTPage); it is located in /etc/apt/. Since /etc is the directory for system-wide configurations, you will require root privileges to edit it (see RootSudo).

For a full walk-through on how to add extra repositories please see AddingRepositoriesHowto. For an explanation of the methodology between the different repository components (main, universe etc) please see http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/components.

Can I browse and search the Ubuntu repositories?

You can access the source code of all Ubuntu packages, as well as view which ones are available for a particular release of Ubuntu at http://packages.ubuntu.com.

Upgrading

How can I upgrade to the latest version of Ubuntu?

  • See UpgradeNotes.

  • Skipping a release while trying to upgrade (e.g. trying to upgrade to Dapper from Hoary, or from Warty (Ubuntu 4.10) to Breezy), is not supported, except for LTS -> LTS upgrades (eg. Dapper to Hardy).

Use the command do-release-upgrade or do-dist upgrade -d for alpha versions.

Administration: Root vs Sudo

I didn't set a root password, what is it? What is sudo? Root Ubuntu uses the sudo model for administrator and user actions, in contrast to the traditional user/root bifurcation. Check out the RootSudo page for all the information.

MP3/Divx/DVDs/Quicktime/Realmedia/Flash/Java

How can I play MP3/Divx/DVDs/Quicktime/Realmedia files or view Flash/Java web pages?

See the RestrictedFormats page.

Meta-packages: ubuntu-desktop

What is a meta-package? Is it safe to remove the ubuntu-desktop package?

A meta-package is a package that doesn't contain applications within itself, but depends upon particular versions of other packages, so that when it is installed, they are installed as well. The package manager uses it to know which particular packages to install. For example, the ubuntu-desktop metapackage installs the full GNOME desktop environment, with all the other packages that are in a default Ubuntu install. The existence of meta-packages makes it very easy to install other Ubuntu derivatives on your desktop; see below for more information.

It is fine to remove a meta-package, if required, and this shouldn't cause any problems. However, it is strongly recommended that you reinstall that package if you decide to manually upgrade to another version of Ubuntu. The package manager requires those packages to be installed for it to successfully perform the upgrade.

Updating programs

A new version of a package I want has been released, but it's not in the repositories. How can I get it?

The stable versions of Ubuntu will only get security updates. This means no new versions of packages. The current development version will get updates until 2 months before release. The last two months are spent solely on improving stability. You may however, be able to find the new package in backports or in 3rd party repositories. Details can be found at UbuntuBackports.

Xgl/Compiz

Where can I find out more information on Xgl/Compiz? Can I install Xgl/Compiz on Ubuntu?

Please see CompositeManager for more information and installation instructions.

Problems Booting Ubuntu

I installed Windows (or another Operating System) and now I can't get into Ubuntu!

See the RecoveringUbuntuAfterInstallingWindows page.

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Hardware

Supported Hardware

What hardware is supported/works on Ubuntu?

See HardwareSupport.

Other Partitions

How can I view my Windows/Mac partitions from Ubuntu?

Please see AutomaticallyMountPartitions.

Wireless

How can I get my wireless set up on Ubuntu?

Check HardwareSupportComponentsWirelessNetworkCards first. If your card is not supported out-of-the-box, then consider reading the WifiDocs for guides.

Screen Resolution

The resolution of my monitor was not detected appropriately, what should I do?

See the FixVideoResolutionHowto page.

Video Cards

How do I setup my video card?

Please see the Video page

How do I install ATI/nVidia drivers for my video card?

Please see the BinaryDriverHowto page.

The Ubuntu Community

Getting More Help

Where can I get support from?

Reporting Bugs

I think I found a bug, where can I report it?

The Ubuntu bugtracker command is ubuntu-bug (app)

Contributing to Ubuntu

How can I contribute to Ubuntu?

Please see http://www.ubuntu.com/community/, HelpingUbuntu or EasyWaysToHelpUbuntu.

CommonQuestions (last edited 2024-07-25 03:24:18 by inclusive-disjunction)