2024/10/28 - Jihwan Shin
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Here’s a short and descriptive guide on how to install Linux on your computer. This page is dedicated for the ROS project held in the second semester of 2024. For more detail, visit
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For this semester, we’ll be using Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish). This is because we’re going to be using ROS2 Humble and the best ubuntu version happens to be the Jammy Jellyfish.
For general installing instruction, please view the video below to get started.
https://youtu.be/zE7OYNkuQ1w?si=bJ8MfyUJGGVyAowf
Before we start, for beginners, there could be so many questions regarding what this all is.
The best way and the way I would recommend is that you install a second SSD on your laptop or computer with a capacity of 100Gb+. Since this is not available to everyone, there are some other ways you could do this.
Add a second SSD
As mentioned above, this is by far the easiest and best way to install Ubuntu. There’s no need to worry about your main storage, and since it’s separated, there’s an added security when something goes wrong with Ubuntu. Installing is also a breeze since you can easily identify which storage is which. Although this method assumes that 1. There’s an extra storage space in your computer/laptop and 2. You have the money to buy another SSD.
Split your current storage device
This is another method people use often. It’s not too bad but the process itself is a huge PITA (pain in the ass) and there’s a chance that you select the wrong storage space and completely wipe your entire computer. Please refer to the following video for more information: Video
Using a removable device
Another common practice for people who do not have the luxury for an extra storage onboard. This practice is good, although sometimes very annoying. First of all, the storage device that will be used for this should be pretty fast. A normal USB device or HDD will work but is NOT recommended due to it’s slow speed and unreliability. I would recommend an SSD for best results. While this practice combines the pros of adding a second ssd and splitting your current storage, it’s sometime very annoying since you can only use your OS when the external device is plugged in and it’s especially annoying for laptop users since they can’t move around freely. Do keep in mind that it’s very not ideal for the external device to unplug while Ubuntu is running. It could damage the OS and your unsaved files will be gone.
Using a virtual machine
This is what most people would like to use since this is the method used in University classes and it’s the easiest since it does not need any extra hardware. While this method is pretty okay for writing code for university assignment, I highly do NOT recommend this method as I’ve tried this so many times and failed. You’ll run in to all sorts of different issues and bugs during development and you’ll spend way more time trying to fix issues rather than just investing some time using the first 3 methods. You could try to use this method if you’re all out of options but I’ll say it again, it is NOT recommended.