Ubuntu 17.04
It’s Ubuntu time again. Twice a year, large numbers of Linux users look forward to the new Ubuntu release. As regular as clockwork, every April and October, DVD burners are warmed up around the world in anticipation of its latest incarnation. Despite the occasional wrong turn, and even managing to alienate a substantial portion of its regular users with Unity, Ubuntu has managed to remain extremely popular with grass roots Linux users. There’s a good reason for that: it just works. For those unused to anything but Windows, Ubuntu is different but still easy to use (this isn’t to say other distros aren’t) and once people find something they get on with, they are unlikely to change without a good reason.
We have the vanilla (in terms of adornment rather than colour) Ubuntu 17.04 in both its 32-bit and 64-bit incarnations on this DVD. We had to stretch our production deadlines to breaking point to achieve that, so there was no time for a desktop remix. The 32-bit version will run on any standard PC hardware (that supports PAE) from the last 20+ years. That makes it the most portable, but it is unable to take advantage of modern processors. For those you need the 64-bit version, and this is the variant you should use if your hardware supports it. If you are not sure what is inside your computer, boot it from the DVD. If the boot menu for the 64-bit version shows a warning that it will not work on 32-bit hardware, 32-bit hardware is what you have. The warning is only shown when it applies to your system. If you don’t see that message you are free to boot the 64-bit version.
The DVD should boot to a Unity desktop from where you can do whatever you want. You can use Ubuntu in this live mode, but any changes you make will be lost when you reboot, or you can install it to your hard disc. Note that when running from a DVD the system will appear slow at times, this is purely due to the time taken to read data from the DVD. If you copy the DVD to a USB stick, as detailed in the FAQ on the DVD, it’s much faster.
Login details: username ubuntu, and the password is blank.