This is by far the simplest(in theory) project for the class and something that everyone should be able to do. Due to some minor issues related to my dual monitor setup and lack of proper drives, my install was a little more complicated than usual. Under normal circumstances a basic install would go something like this:

First find the device you wish to install the operating system to, specifically in this case a desktop

Next you will determine which operating system and version you wish to install, linux was predetermined but there are many versions of the operating system. I personally like Ubuntu 10.10.

Now that you have the desktop you wish to install to and the operating system, you want to now decide on HOW to install. There are several different ways you can install an operating system. USB drive or optical storage are often used but in this project we are going to do a network install.

Ok, so we have our desktop all hooked up and connected to the network, now we want to boot up the computer and tell it to boot from the network, this is usually done by hitting f12 and then selecting the netboot option.

In our environment, we have several operating systems to chose from, I chose Ubuntu 10.10.

With most popular operating systems it is at this point that the install takes over and most things are done automatically. However some basic things will be asked of you, time zone and networking options for example. The most important questions you will be asked is where to get OS updates and how you want the OS installed to the hard drive.

When prompted to 'Find a mirror' use the arrows to move to the top selection of the list 'enter information manually' and enter the hostname “mirror”. This will now let the OS know right where to go for its updates.

If you are doing a multiOS system you could partition the harddrive multiple times but in our example we are going to use the entire hard drive for the install. Linux also prefers to have a swap partition. So take the amount of physical memory you have in your system and double it to make the linux swap partition. The rest of the harddrive can be used for the operating system partition.

When prompted simply hit enter on 'use entire disk'

Now the OS will start to install to the drive

Once the OS is installed there is usually a first time startup routine to go through asking you questions about a user name and password and some other basic options

At this point the desktop is ready and usable so I suggest running an update, which can be accessed vai the system→administration menu.

Now go ahead and have fun with a great operating system.

Thanks to Brian Ewanyk and Matt Haas for their help.

Couple of sidenotes from my own experience in the lair. I had actually tried installing several other operating systems but had a lot of issues. I have a dual monitor set up which the new ubuntu 11.10 simply did not like, so then I tried installing mint 12 from cd, which installed ok but had the same problem with the dual monitor, so thats when I defaulted back to what I knew would work and was comfortable with. The lesson is even the simplest things can sometimes become more complex than usual so always be ready for critical thinking to solve problems.