The first thing we want on our target is an Operating System. Nowadays, the easiest and the most disposable option for installing Ubuntu is from a bootable thumb drive(4GB+). For that purpose, all we need is an image of the OS, a thumb drive, and we are ready to go.

[WARNING:] Make sure to back up any data on your thumb drive, it is going to be formatted during the process

Download the Disk Image

First and foremost, we need a copy of the disk image of the OS. You can download the latest ISO from here.

Create a Bootable USB key

Plug in the thumb drive. If you want, you can format it before you proceed further. Now you need to create a bootable USB stick. If you are using Windows, you can use Rufus to help make it easier. If you are using Linux, you can use Startup Disk Creator. You can find this on your list of installed applications.

Modify BIOS settings

Now that you have created the bootable USB key, you would want to insert the key into an empty USB port, and boot up your system. When you get to the BIOS screen (Depends on make of laptop, for my Acer laptop it is the F12 key), you would like to go into the BIOS, and change the boot order so as to boot from the USB key before the actual OS on your system. Once this is done, you can restart the system to boot into your Ubuntu live USB key.

Start the installation

When you restart the system, now you will be taken to the Ubuntu installation screen, with two options - Try Ubuntu, and Install Ubuntu. You want to select the “Install Ubuntu” option. From there on, the process is guided pretty easily - you have to click the options you want, such as downloading third party software while installing, which will save time post-boot.

Install Ubuntu on the System

Once you reach the screen saying “Installation Type”, you would want to choose the option “Erase disk and install Ubuntu”, if you want a clean install with Ubuntu as the only Operating System, or choose “Install Ubuntu alongside the other OS”, if you want a dual-boot setup. If you have some experience with installing any Linux based OS, or you have some hard-bound specifications for memory allocations, you can choose the option “Something else”, which will allow you to resize the partitions according to your need. An ideal convention to follow in such a case would be to allow twice the amount of memory(RAM) in the system for the swap partition, which is particularly recommended for systems with 2GB RAM or less.

Setup User Account :

Once the partitions been created, you just have to configure some basic things like your time zone, your keyboard layout, the username and the password, before you can begin the actual installation process. This installation should not take too long, the upper bound being an hour. The system will generate a prompt to “unplug the removable installation medium and press Enter”, so that is when you will have to unplug the USB key and press the Enter key. This will make the system reboot.

Boot into Ubuntu

Once the system reboots, you will be greeted with the Ubuntu login splash screen, where you will be prompted to enter your password. You can then enter your password to log in.

This concludes the process of installation of Ubuntu on your target system. In the next step, we will focus on Installing ROS on this system.