Tasks to Perform Immediately After Install

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Importance of Connecting to the Internet

It is essential that you get your Linux system hooked up to the Internet...

Allowing your system to connect up to the Internet allows you to:

  • Install Critical Linux Updates
  • Install Applications
  • Check Your E-mail
  • Use the Web-browser
  • Perform online Chats
  • Play online games
  • Etc...

Therefore, the first thing I would do after installing Ubuntu Linux is to get connected to the Internet...

Challenges of Getting Connected to Internet

The process of getting your computer system connected to the Internet from your Linux system can range from easy to tricky.

The reason for this depends on the network card manufacturer, and the availability of open-source drivers for that network card. As time goes by, the process can become easier (I have adopted the slogan, "If there are problems, wait until they are solved by the next release"...).

Even if there are no "open-source" drivers for the network card, there are "restricted" drivers that may be used to solve the problem.

It is usually easier to connect to an Ethernet card than a Wireless card, so if you are having problems with your wireless card, you can connect to your Wired card to connect up to the Internet to download "restricted" drivers, and then tackle the problem with your Wireless card. You can use a web browser to test if you are connected to the Internet.

Here is a link to a webpage that lists network cards that are supported by Ubuntu Linux:

Also, here is the link to the general Hardware Support by Category: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport

Getting Connected (via Wired Ethernet Card)

Here is a link to help connecting to a Network via an Ethernet card (click right arrow button at bottom of screen for next page...):

https://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/internet/C/networking-enable.html

Getting Connected (via Wireless Card)

Here is a link to help connecting to a Network via a Wireless card (click right arrow button at bottom of screen for next page...):

https://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/internet/C/wireless-connecting.html

Check for System Updates

Ubuntu releases a stable version to be downloaded and burned onto a CD. As time goes by, there are fixes that are made to that version. Instead of making a newer version of the distribution to be downloaded and burned, those fixes can be updated via the Internet.

The longer the stable version has become, the more updates are required to make that version up-to-date. For example, I recently installed Ubuntu 9.04 in October 2009 (prior to the release of Ubuntu 9.10), and there were over 240 required updates. The Ubuntu distribution will after a short period of time indicate to the user of updates.

It is a good idea to immediately update your Ubuntu distribution after you can connect to the Internet. Below are the procedures to manually check for updates for your Ubuntu system.

Steps To Check for Updates:

  1. Click SYSTEM -> ADMINISTRATION -> Update Manager
  2. The Update Manager dialog box will appear.
  3. If the message "Your system is up-to-date", then you do not need to download and install updates (although it may be a good idea to click on the "Check" button just to make certain)...
  4. If updates appear, then click on the button "Install Updates".
  5. The update procedure will first download all updates, and then install them.
  6. When completed, the system will re-check for updates, which should then give the message "Your system is up-to-date"
  7. Close the Update Manager Dialog box.

NOTE: Sometimes, you may be required to reboot the Ubuntu system for the updates to take effect...

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