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Curious about Ubuntu, downloaded the ISO image and don't know where to start? Then this guide is for you. This article purports to be an "Ubuntu Level Zero" for people who are just off Windows and don't know where to start, so sit back and relax, because the mysteries surrounding this OS will start to get clearer for you from now on.

This is a basic guide for Ubuntu beginners, not a manual for users who are already used to the system, so don't be sad or upset if you don't find the information you need or data about your preferred system function.

What is an operational system?

Think of the computer as a car and the operating system as all the gears that allow you to control the car. Without the operating system, the computer is just an extremely expensive paperweight, and with the operating system the computer gains functionality

What is GNU/Linux?

Many people confuse Linux with the operating system, which is still partially correct. Linux is actually the kernel, which is the layer of the operating system that sits between the pieces and the rest of the computer system. It's a piece that, regardless of the system (whether it's Linux, Windows, Mac OS or BSD), is at the heart of it.

GNU/Linux was the first Linux operating system. In 1984 Richard Stallmann started to develop a completely free operating system, where users could run it, distribute it, copy it, study it and improve it freely. This system should be compatible with the Unix operating system, but it should not use the source code of the former. by 1992 the system was almost complete, but the operating system kernel was missing. Then a young Finn named Linus Torvalds changed the license of the kernel he had developed so that it was compatible with the GPL license, releasing it under the name Linux (Linus + Unix). The project was adopted by the GNU community, which attached it to their own, creating the first GNU/Linux system.

Ubuntu is a Linux system because it has the Linux kernel inside it. Other Linux operating systems follow the same precept, such as Mandriva, Arch, Fedora, and several others. Even Android is a Linux operating system. They are systems built on a solid and reliable foundation, so much so that large corporations use Linux systems (mainly on their servers).

Why Ubuntu?

Ubuntu is an operating system derived from Debian and maintained by the Canonical company and is known for being one of the most popular distributions in the world. Its strengths are precisely the stability of the system, the support and the strong community.

LTS

Ubuntu versions are divided into the trial version, which has only a few months' support, and the LTS (Long Term Support) version, which has a support of up to five years. For the common user, it is always recommended to get an LTS version, to avoid problems with support. Now, if you are a more experienced user, you can try using the trial versions without any problem. Have a good time ;)

Live CD

You can try Ubuntu without installing it on your operating system. When you put the disk or pendrive in your computer, you will see a screen like this:

Then just click on "Try Ubuntu" and use Ubuntu on your machine normally. When you restart your system, your previous operating system will remain there for you to use at will.

Home screen

When you open your operating system you will see a screen similar to this one:

From there we have some screens to highlight. Let's start with the "dock":

This area is one of the ones you'll use the most on your system, and it includes your open apps, your favorite apps, and the equivalent of the Windows "start" button. You can see that I have Google Chrome open and I have my favorite LBRY app on my system. Click the dock start button:

This will open a screen like this:

This is the screen that shows all the apps on your system. You can divide them into folders by dragging one over the other to be able to organize them better, if you prefer, or just let them hang there according to your preference.

Notifications Menu and Calendar

When you click on the current time, you will see something like this:

On the left you will see the minimized media controls and system notifications, while on the right is the system calendar showing the current date.

Adjacent menu

When you click on the "off" icon on the upper right edge, you will see a menu similar to this one:

The options on this menu correspond, respectively, to:

• Volume settings
• Network settings, wifi connection, etc.
• System settings menu where you can customize the system and solve problems
• Option to lock the system (so, when you go to the bathroom, no one can move without having the password)
• Shut down the system and other related options (such as switching users)

Office pack

Ubuntu comes by default with the Office LibreOffice package installed, but it is possible to install other packages, as we will see later.

The apps shown above correspond to standard MS Office applications, and the functions of each one are:

• Calc: equivalent to Microsoft Excel, used to create and edit data sheets
• Draw: the equivalent of Microsoft Publisher and Microsoft Visio, allows you to edit PDFs and build vector drawings and diagrams
• Impress: equivalent to Microsoft Powerpoint
• Writer: equivalent to Microsoft Docs

You may notice that the system does not have the full Office suite installed by default. This is because on Ubuntu the packages for each part of LibreOffice can be installed separately, which allows you to install only what you really need.

App store

Ubuntu and its derivatives have an app store by default, as do Android and iOS for mobile phones. Look inside the programs screen for an application called "Ubuntu Software":

When you open it, you'll notice that the store's appearance is very similar to Google Play's appearance:

If you want, for example, you can open the Brave browser page. In it, you'll see a short description of the application, some details, images of the program running, and the install button, which I purposely highlighted:

Nothing more intuitive than that, right? No need to worry, a lot of distros, like Puppy Linux and Manjaro, have similar stores, so you'll hardly be overwhelmed.

Virtual Desktops

Ubuntu uses a system of virtual desktops, where you have the current screen and all other screens. Hit the ⊞ Win key and you will see something like this:

To create a new virtual area, just click on the bottom screen and place something on it (open an application or move an existing one there), and to open one of the screens, just click on its icon on the right.

To switch without opening to this screen, there is a simpler way: press Ctrl + Alt + ↑ up key to go to the top screens, and Ctrl + Alt + ↓ down key to go to the bottom screens. You can also move the current app to the top screen by pressing Ctrl + Alt + ⇧ Shift + ↑ Up key and Ctrl + Alt + ⇧ Shift + ↓ down key to move to the bottom screen.

About the terminal

Most of the tutorials out there talk a lot more about using the terminal. To understand why this is, you have to keep in mind that Linux emerged and became popular long before there was a graphical user interface for it, long before it had a user screen. This is not a good thing or a bad thing, it is just a feature of the system. However, this ended up bringing some "heritage" to the community, and one of them is that the vast majority of installation and configuration tutorials are focused on using the terminal.

There's not much mystery here either, but it takes a little practice. Let's see how Google Chrome is installed by the terminal using the apt program:

$ sudo apt install google-chrome-stable

Let's break this command down into parts to better understand it:

• sudo: run the command with superuser permissions. The superuser, or sudo, has special permissions, such as changing registries on the system (don't run all commands with sudo, as you might break the system or give an attacker access to the system)
• apt: is a system package manager. In Ubuntu there are several other managers, such as snap and flatpak, but apt is still one of the most popular
• install: is the command to install the package you want
• google-chrome-stable: is the name of the package you want

Let's now go to a brief introduction to terminal commands:

Basic commands

• cd: you use it to switch directories. Ex: cd my_folder
• mkdir: you create a folder. Ex: mkdir my_folder
• rm: you remove a file. Ex: rm my_file
• rm -r: you remove a file or folder recursively (if it's a folder, remove everything in it). Ex: rm -r my_folder
• cat: show data from inside a file. Ex: cat my_file.txt
• htop: if HTOP program is installed, this command will show active processes and data about RAM consumption, processing and system swap usage. It's very useful
• nautilus: nautilus is Ubuntu's default folder manager (similar to Windows Explorer). If you run nautilus in the terminal, you will open your home folder in graphical mode, while running nautilus . you will open the current folder in graphical mode
• ls: show files inside the current folder

apt

apt is an extremely popular package manager in Ubuntu. Some examples of the most popular commands are:

• apt search [package]: search for a specific package
• apt install [package]: install a specific package (may need sudo, depending on package)
• apt purge [package]: uninstall the selected package (may need sudo, depending on package)
• apt update: updates the list of available packages
• apt upgrade: upgrade installed packages

man

Shows the manual of the selected program. The syntax is:

$ man [program]

To display the apt manual, for example, you would run the following command:

$ man apt

dpkg

Serves to install packages. Let's say you have downloaded the skype.deb package. You can install it by double clicking on it and pressing "next" until it finishes the installation (just like a .exe on Windows), or open the terminal on the page you downloaded Skype and run the following command:

$ dpkg -i skype.deb

So, was something missing? Leave your opinion there in the comments ;)