Installing UBUNTU 7.10 on a system with BIOSTAR GF7050-M7 motherboard

For long, I had a desire to install windows vista on my PC… my dream came true last month as I brought a new comp! Out of sheer excitement, I went on searching for a Linux flavor which could stand a chance to compete with vista graphics.. Especially the aero view.. Guess what, I found UBUNTU!!!!!
Do you want to know my real inspiration? check this video... :

What is ubuntu?

Ubuntu is an African word which means 'Humanity to others'. Technically speaking, Ubuntu is a free, Debian derived Linux-based operating system. one can either request for UBUNTU Free CD or download the ISO. refer to this link: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu for more info.

Unlike other operating systems, we dont need to install the OS to enjoy it. just burn the ISO on to a disk and boot through that CD. thats it!. u have the OS. if you feel that the OS is good enough and u need to install it on ur hard disk, click on the 'install' icon on the desktop and go thru the install process.

UBUNTU 7.10 on a system with BIOSTAR GF7050-M7 motherboard

Processor : Core 2 Duo 2.2 E4500
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce 7050 / Nvidia nForce 610i
Sound Card: Realtek ALC662 6-Channel HD Audio

i had a tough time installing ubuntu on my system as there was very less info available (drivers for soundcard, video card etc etc) over the net for my motherboard. i could boot thru the ubuntu CD and get a look and feel of the OS.. but ubuntu was unable to get the right driver for my soundcard or my graphics card. so here is what i did to fix the same:

1. Install ubuntu using the ubuntu CD. you will notice that when u boot, u will get a error message saying 'Ubuntu was unable to detect your graphics card' and 'ubuntu will now login with safe graphics mode'. Boot with 'safe graphics mode'

2. go to synaptic package manager (System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager). synaptic package manager is like "add or remove windows components" in windows XP. uncheck the "nvida-glx" which is the default Nvidia driver shipped with ubuntu. and click on "apply".

3. in synaptic package manager, search for libc6-dev and install it.

4. download the latest nivida drivers. you can download it from this site: http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_amd64_169.12.html. keep it on your desktop.

5. logout from ubuntu and press Ctrl+Alt+F1

• you may be prompted to enter your login name. just do it
• type "sudo killall gdm". This will kill any process w.r.t the GUI running in background
• Type "cd Desktop" to go to the desktop folder (if u r not already in)
• Type "sudo sh [driver name]". replace with the name of the driver that you have downloaded from the nvidia site.
• Type "sudo gdm" to start the graphical user interface. you will notice a nvidia pic when GUI starts.

Installing Sound card drivers

you can refer to this website: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HdaIntelSoundHowto for steps. its a bit complicated. But its worth the effort.