First you need to install Ubuntu on your computer, as a dual boot.
It's very important that all your data are backed-up before going further. Normally, things go well, but as we'll handle partitions on the hard drive, we might have difficulties. Better safe than sorry.
We will take off 20GB from your hard drive to give it to Linux. You need to access Disk Management. Then, right click on the biggest partition and select Shrink Volume. You want to get 20000
MB of space.
For this step, there is a full tutorial you can follow.
If you are running Windows 8+, you need to disable Fast Startup:
- Right click -> Download this: turn_off_fast_startup.bat.
- Right click on the downloaded file and click Run as administrator
OR
Go to Energy Settings -> Power Button. Click on "Change settings that are currently unavailable** if needed then you should be able to disable FastBoot or untick the Turn on fast startup (recommended) option (depends on the Windows version).
One of the teacher or TA should give you a bootable USB stick with Ubuntu 16.04. LTS 64 bits. If not, you can create one yourself from OSX or from Windows.
- Plug-in the USB stick, and restart your computer holding the shift key. A blue screen wil appear. If this does not work, follow this procedure to get to the "Other startup" setting.
- Once the computer has restarted, you need to select the startup mode. Choose Other options
- Choose Use a Device. You should see the USB stick in the list (EFI USB Device). Select it, this way, Windows will restart using the Linux key.
Ubuntu should boot in live mode. Time to install it!
- Install Ubuntu in english and alongside with Windows. Do not tick Third-Party and do not tick Update ....
- Keyboard settings: press @ # / to check they are working correctly.
- Fill in User Information.
- Restart your machine and unplug the USB stick.
When it's done, check you can still boot on Windows. The idea is that every time you boot your computer, you now have a menu to choose if you want to boot Windows or Linux.
Once again, restart the computer, boot on ubuntu, and follow the UBUNTU setup guide to install Ruby & all the software we need!