Linux

One popular Linux distribution is Ubuntu.

Installation

Download the desktop edition iso image and burn a CD.

Dont' forget to plug in the network cable before you continue, Ubuntu will detect the network and configure the packet manager Apt-Get and Synaptic to use the online package repositories.

The Ubuntu installation is very simple. Just make sure from the BIOS setup that you will be able to boot from the CD Drive.

Hard Drive Partitioning

When asked on how to partion the hard drive, choose "Guided partion, use entire hard drive". The computers you get from system support may have something installed etc but you don't worry, you can ignore this. NOTE: if you install on your private computer you probably want to handle the partiton differently.

Network

If you are lucky, you will have a working internet connection after the installation. You can check this by launching the web browser Firefox or by open up a terminal console (Applications --> Accessories --> Terminal) and give the following command as in the example above:

$ ifconfig

If you have a working network connection, you will get something like this:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:08:74:A7:74:9B  
          inet addr:130.238.11.167  Bcast:130.238.11.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::208:74ff:fea7:749b/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:70431 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:38523 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:100 
          RX bytes:71855834 (68.5 MB)  TX bytes:5552125 (5.2 MB)
          Base address:0xecc0 Memory:ff8e0000-ff900000 

If you don't get a working network connection, the response from ifconfig will look similar to this:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:08:74:A7:74:9B  
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:70854 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:38765 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:100 
          RX bytes:72170440 (68.8 MB)  TX bytes:5605212 (5.3 MB)
          Base address:0xecc0 Memory:ff8e0000-ff900000 

The difference compared to when you get a working network connection is that the network card will not be assigned a network address, ie, the lines

          inet addr:130.238.11.167  Bcast:130.238.11.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::208:74ff:fea7:749b/64 Scope:Link

are missing.