Installing Ubuntu on Toshiba Satellite L755G

Intro:
- This is just my method - modify it as you like !

Purpose:
- To quickly install Ubuntu/Lubuntu/Kubuntu/etc on Toshiba Satellite L755G laptop

What do you need (or may need):
- Toshiba Satellite L755G laptop (I know - obvious)
- Ubuntu ISOs (Download links below.)
- Already installed OS + burning software. (My laptop had Windows 7 64-bit pre-installed and had, I think, 3 burning applications.)
- Blank CDs (A USB storage device may be used instead of optical disk, but I have never used such method - not going to explain. )
- Wired or wireless Internet connection is NOT necessary during installation, but is HIGHLY recommended.
- Maybe an hour or 2 of free time ?

Downloading Ubuntu ISOs:
- Ubuntu (the one with Unity desktop environment):
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
- Lubuntu (LXDE desktop):
http://lubuntu.net/
- Kubuntu (KDE)
http://www.kubuntu.org/getkubuntu/download
- Xubuntu (XFCE) (Didn't try this. Desktop - LiveCD.)
http://xubuntu.org/getxubuntu/
- Other flavors can be found here: http://www.ubuntu.com/project/about-ubuntu/derivatives
* I have used LiveCD ISOs. They are very good to show that your PC will actually run Ubuntu. Excellent way to test your Wifi also. The Wireless chip set is supported, by the way.
* Choose 64-bit, as we are using 64-bit AMD processor in our machine and we want to take advantage of 64-bit processing and more than 4 GB of RAM. (Of course, PAE - Physical Address Extension allows you to use up to 64 GB on 32-bit system. It is not the same as running on 64-bit though - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EnablingPAE .)
* Choose 32-bit only if you have a reason for it. What is the point of missing 64-bit features otherwise ? One reason would be if 64-bit doesn't work for some reason. (Than again you can just switch ISOs.) A good reason is if you want to run some 32-bit applications which are linked to 32-bit libraries. (There are other ways to have 32-bit applications - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/32bit_and_64bit , but, honestly, this one is the easiest.) I wanted to have at least one 32-bit system to be able to run ePSXe without any problems. (ePSXe depends on some old 32-bit libraries.)
* Download with torrent client when possible

Making LiveCDs:
- Look here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto
- We just need to burn the ISO onto a blank CD in a specific way. Easy. One thing to remember though: You are burning the ISO using a special burning software. So, you DO NOT extract the ISO file and you DO NOT burn the ISO directly, like you burn movies.
- Windows 7 should have some burning applications pre-installed. You just need to: insert a blank CD, right-click the ISO and choose the burning application. The application should burn the ISO and verify the disk.
- On Win 7 you can use this guide: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/burn-a-cd-or-dvd-from-an-iso-file

So, how do we start our Ubuntu CD ?
- It is straightforward enough.
1) Boot into your default system (most likely Win 7), if you are not there already.
2) Insert the CD, if it is not inserted already. No need to run anything.
3) Restart - now, pay attention to what you see on the screen.
4) When you see TOSHIBA splash screen - press F12 button quickly. This will open the Boot Menu.
5) Most likely, the first option will be "HDD/SSD". We need the "ODD" (Optical Disk Drive) option. Using up/down keys choose this option and press ENTER:

(This is my Boot Menu. As you can see, I have put "ODD" as the 1st choice - makes more sense. If you use USB storage devices to install OSs - use USB. Later I will show how you can change the boot priority/sequence, i.e. what is booted first. But this is BIOS staff, not Linux.)
6) Then you will see black screen with some white characters, or something like that. After a while a Ubuntu splash image should appear (at least for LiveCD), showing that Ubuntu is loading ...

LiveCD has loaded - what is next ?

Ubuntu (with Unity)
1) You will be greeted with this screen in Ubuntu:

2) Choose "Try Ubuntu". (Why not "Install Ubuntu" you might ask ? Well, this way we can first connect to a wireless router for example and have connection. This will than allow us to download staff during installation.)
3) Wait while the system loads. This will take some time. After that you will see the Unity desktop. There should be a "Install Ubuntu XX.XX" icon.
4) You should first make sure that you are connected to the net. If not - connect now. Then, when you are ready, double-click the installation icon.
5) A window pops-up and you can choose your system language ... Well, the rest is more or less straightforward.Visit this page for instructions:
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/help/install-ubuntu-desktop

NOTE: For Ubuntu 12.04 LTS I didn't have to do anything extra to get it working. GUI (Graphical User Interface) started perfectly, which means either:
- The GPU (Radeon HD) was detected correctly and a certain open-source graphics driver started successfully, or
- the VESA (very simple driver - no 2d, 3d staff) loaded automatically.
6) After the system has been installed, it will ask you to restart. Press restart, remove the disk when it is ejected, close the tray and press ENTER to continue.
7) The system should boot up without any surprises.
8) Now, lets install the property ATI Catalyst driver to get 3d and 2d acceleration. Go to: System -> Administration -> Additional Drivers
9) Install the "ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver". (NOT the one with "post-release updates" !) The updated one will most likely fail to install/work. (Failed for me.)

10) Restart again. Now you should have 3d acceleration. To test that it is actually working, lets run "glxgears" command from the terminal. (Install it by running: "sudo apt-get install mesa-utils"). This is what I get:

11) Enjoy !


Lubuntu
1) In Lubuntu, you are will see the following:

2) Choose your language and press ENTER. You will see the following:

3) Don't press any of these yet ! Instead, press F6:

4) Now we can see some boot options. Press Esc. You will see the string of options. Remove the last 2 characters "--", change "splash" to "nosplash", change "quit" to "noquit" and, after that, add: "radeon.modeset=0 xforcevesa". So, the last 4 options will be:

noquit nosplash radeon.modeset=0 xforcevesa

5) "Try Lubuntu without installing" should be highlighted and the code should be shown as in the picture above. Press ENTER.
6) After a while a Lubuntu splash screen will be shown. Then, the LXDE desktop will appear. You will see the installation icon:

7) Double-click and the window will greet you. Choose language, etc ... Visit this page if you need help: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Lubuntu/InstallingLubuntu
8) After the installation has finished, you will be prompted to restart the computer. The CD will be ejected, take it out, close the tray, press ENTER to continue the restart process.
9) As the system boots up, you will something you do not expect - black screen with white characters - no GUI (at least I got it with Lubuntu 12.04 LiveCD). Check whether you can type - if you can, follow next step. If you can not type, press the Ctrl + Alt + F1 combination. This will take you to Command Prompt.
10) At the command prompt, type your username, press ENTER, your password, ENTER. You must be connected to the Internet at the point. We need to download GPU drivers. Now we are ready to run some commands.
11) Type:

sudo apt-get install fglrx

press ENTER, type your password again, ENTER. The Apt program will then install the fglrx (Catalyst) driver for our ATI Radeon HD GPU. This will take few minutes or so:

12) After the fglrx driver has been installed, type and run the following code:

 sudo aticonfig --initial -f

This will provide the basic configuration for our video card.
13) Reboot:

sudo reboot

After the system has booted, you should be able to login normally (with GUI). Now you also have 3d acceleration !
14) To test that you have you 3d staff, just install "mesa-utils" package and run "glxgears" in the terminal window.
15) Enjoy !

Kubuntu
- Should work the same way as Lubuntu
- Didn't work fully for me, as it could not download fglrx drivers for some reason :(