Running the Live CD

Firstly the computer BIOS needs setting to enable booting from the CD/DVD drive.  To do this reboot and press DEL (or F1) or whatever key enters the BIOS Setup - the screen will tell you.  Once in the BIOS Setup find the Boot Sequence and set it to boot from CDROM first.  Then Save and Exit the BIOS Setup (usually F10 but the screen will say). Some computers have a different system for choosing the boot device - this will be apparent on startup.

Reboot the computer with the Ubuntu CD in the CDROM/DVD drive and it should now boot from the CD rather than HD.  You will be presented with a menu of start options and a list of function key setup options.  See Screenshot
A countdown timer will timeout and use the top option unless the highlight is moved to another option with the up/down keys.

Along the bottom of the screen there's a list of function key options :-
F1 Help  F2 Language  F3 Keymap F4 VGA  F5 Accessibility  F6 Other options

Defaults :-
F2 - Language is English
F3 - Keymap is US - so UK users may want to change this to UK
F4 - VGA screen resolution - users may prefer something higher
F5 - Accessibility - for users with disabilities

F1 gives help - particularly if problems are encountered starting Ubuntu.  Various boot options are listed.
F6 enables these boot options to be applied.

The first menu option (default) - Start or install Ubuntu - is the normal startup to run Ubuntu from CD in memory.  However, before doing this it is recommended to run the Check CD option to ensure that no files are corrupted possibility causing strange problems later.  Also, if the computer memory hasn't been checked recently, the Memory test is recommended.  This will take half an hour or more depending on computer speed and amount of memory.  After completing one pass it will start over and do it all again - this will repeat until stopped by the user.  

If you change your mind or left the CD in the drive by mistake then the last option - Boot from first hard disk - will boot from the HD as if there were no CD present.   ie. normal HD bootup.

If the system freezes during normal startup from the first option, it may be a graphics card mode problem.  This is evidently a common problem and the second option - Start Ubuntu in safe graphics mode - avoids advanced graphics and allows the system to start up with minimal graphics support.  A special graphics card driver may be installed later if wanted.

Install with driver update CD asks for a driver CD before starting Ubuntu.  (I have no further info at this time.)

If all goes well starting Ubuntu from either of the first two options a working desktop will be displayed with menu and several quick run icons and info.  See Screenshot

The Ubuntu Live CD Desktop

The screenshot shows all the default standard desktop items plus two icons representing the 2 partitions on my USB memory stick (Removable).  This is where I saved the screenshot for transferring to my main Ubuntu system for uploading to website.

Along the top panel are the main menu in 3 groups, then icons to run Firefox browser, Evolution email client, and Ubuntu Help.  At the right-hand side, from the right are :- shutdowd/restart/logout button, date and time, volume control and network icon.  The bottom panel contains a button to minimise all windows and show the desktop in LH corner and trashcan in RH corner.  Next to the show desktop button is the main space showing open windows on the desktop (similar to Windows). Unlike standard Windows XP, Ubuntu has multiple desktops (also called workspaces) allowing different tasks to be kept separate.  The two grey little square boxes next to the trashcan are buttons to display different desktops.  Miniature icons appear within these representing the desktop contents.  Click on one of these to display a different desktop.  The default number of desktops in Feisty is two but this number may be increased by right-clicking in this area and choosing Preferences > Workspaces.

One icon appears on the Live CD desktop that isn't present on the installed version - the Install icon.  This allows installation to HD from wiithin the Live CD system.  This is described in the section on Installing Ubuntu.

Using the Live CD system

Most actions are available with the Live CD system as with an installed system including running applications and installing new software - but installation is to memory, so space is limited and anything set up with Live CD will be lost on reboot except for files saved to external drives.  It is possible to open the hard disk partitions for read/write so you have access to your data.  However, writing to NTFS (Windows) drives requires enabling NTFS write support.  Writing to FAT formatted drives is fine.

Persistence

To overcome some of the disadvantages of the Live CD there is a system called Persistence whereby setup info and other data can be saved to a USB memory stick (or a hard drive partition).  This is rather complicated to set up but for anyone a bit computer literate but not happy to install Ubuntu properly to HD, the information can be found HERE


Updated 27 January 2008