Hello World,

This is the time of the year where we are starting looking into the new release of Ubuntu.  In April 2015 (the 23), Canonical will release version 15.04  of the Ubuntu operating system. As you know, Canonical is trying to achieve desktop convergence through all devices providing the same user experience whatever the device in use.

Canonical has been more focused on the phone version than on the desktop version.  Yes, we finally got Ubuntu phones on sales and more will hopefully come.  We still do not have  Ubuntu Tablets yet.  On the desktop side, the Ubuntu 15.04 is again a minor update.  After reading some reviews, nothing really new or exciting seems to be shipped in this release.

The next release (16.04) seems to be more promising. Indeed, this should be the release where the new unity and converged desktop will kick in.  Canonical should not drop investment in desktop area especially today. Microsoft is transforming itself and its business model.  Microsoft is also aiming to the converged desktop and windows 10 seems to achieve this goal.  Microsoft is also making Office application available on Linux/Android/Mac Users.  Finally, Microsoft might sell next releases of the operating system not as a product but as a subscription model.

Rather than being a negative thing to have Microsoft transforming itself, this might be a big opportunity for Canonical and Ubuntu (and Linux).  The desktop platform will not matter anymore in the future.  If I can run the MS Office apps from my desktop and consume web services, It would not matter if I’m running Linux or Windows.  If Windows goes for the subscription model, I will definitely move to Linux for my desktop and still be able to work with the most used Office suite.  In this future, Users would simply pick their preferred OS.

Let’s go back to the present and let’s check if the Ubuntu installation process has changed or not.

Step by Step Installation Guide

Fresh Install of Ubuntu 15.04

Note :

We are using for this post the beta 1 version of Ubuntu 15.04. Note also that we have performed the installation as a virtual machine on an Hyper-V server. 

Step 1 – You first need to download the latest source files from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/

Step 2 – When you have downloaded the iso, you can decide to burn the iso or to perform the install from a usb stick (preferred method) or mound the iso to your hypervisor host machine.  When you are ready, you can start your installation process.

Step 3 – in the Welcome Page, select the install ubuntu option

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Step 4 – In the preparing to install, you can simply press continue or you can tick the check-boxes to download the updates and codec (if you have internet connectivity)

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Step 5 – In the installation type, select your installation type.  When you have selected your options, Press Continue

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You might need to confirm you choice. Press Continue

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Step 6 – In the Where are you ? page, the wizard will try to detect your location.  If this is not correct, locate your location on the map. Press Continue 

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Step 7 – In the keyboard layout, select your keyboard and Press Continue.

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Step 8 – In the Who are you ? page, provide the requested information (computername,username,password).  You can also decide to encrypt the disk if needed

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Step 10 – The installation process will start.  wait for completion 

Note : You can see that i’m using a beta version, the Ubuntu 14.10 mascot is still displayed on the dialog box

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Step 11 – When installation is complete, you will see the prompt asking you to reboot the machine

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Step 12 – After the reboot, you should see the login page for Ubuntu 15.04

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Final Notes

Voila !  You have performed a basic installation of Ubuntu 15.04.  Like the previous version, the installation process is quite straight forward.  There is no major changes in the process.

Next post will be dedicated to Xrdp in Ubuntu 15.04…

Till Next Time

See ya