Wubi: Ubuntu for the Linux-Curious (Updated) 1

Wubi is the Windows Ubuntu Installer; it installs a stripped-down Ubuntu Linux in a container on a Windows system. Instead of installing a full office suite, for example, it installs a word processor and a spreadsheet application.

You need not repartition the hard drive or touch your Windows installation. Instead, Wubi creates a “virtual” hard drive in a container on the actual hard drive.

I started playing with it a couple of days ago and am typing this under Wubi. I wanted to verify that all the hardware in this here XP box would work fine with Linux, because I’m considering Linux-fying it, since I have a newer Windows machine at my disposal.* (Linux hardware issues are rare these days, but they can still happen, primarily with a couple of brands of wireless chipsets, some USB network adapters, and certain brands of printers: Lexmarks and Canons are notoriously cranky with Linux; HPs and Epsons usually work smoothly.).

If you are curious about Linux, but don’t have a spare computer to throw it on, aren’t ready to make a complete switch, or are hesitant about setting up dual-boot, Wubi will satisfy your curiosity.

You can get it here. I’m not going to go into how to install it: the Wubi site contains excellent how-to instructions; clicking the “Show Me How” link for each step displays clear screenshots of each step; and the Wubi Wiki contains even more information. Note the warning that, because Wubi uses a “virtual disk,” it is sensitive to improper shutdowns.

I will pass on a couple of hints from my own experiences with it:

• If you actually plan to use it, as opposed to sample it, select a larger virtual disk size than the default selection that the installer will present to you: the options go up to 30 GB.
• The installer will ask you to select a desktop environment. If Windows is the only OS that you have used, the “Ubuntu Classic” interface may be the one closest to what you are used to; I chose Xubuntu–Ubuntu with the XFCE desktop (The screenshot shows the XFCE desktop with a picture of Budapest’s Chain Bridge imported from another computer.).
• When you run the installer, it will download the software, then ask you to reboot. When it reboots, you will get a choice of Windows or Ubuntu; selecting Ubuntu allows the boot into Windows. Another reboot will be needed to select and start Wubi. On each reboot, the computer will default to Windows unless you select Ubuntu.

So far, I have successfully joined my two Wubi computers to my network, transferred files to and from them, and printed from them without incident.

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*As much as I have come to prefer Linux to Windows, I consider it wise to keep a Windows computer around for testing and learning purposes.

Addendum, the Next Day:

I threw Fedora 15 on the second partition of the hard drive and everything, including my old Logitech cheapo USB webcam (which I seldom use because I don’t want to frighten the children) works except the dual-boot. The computer manufacturer put some kind of freaky recovery software on it and, since it sees that the D:\ drive is gone, it keeps wanting to recover the C:\ drive.

I’ll deal with that later. Right now, I’m learning my way around Gnome 3, which I don’t like, but need to be able to navigate.