Installation of Ubuntu
Go to Ubuntu home page, download the software and burn into a CD. Insert the CD, and boot your PC or laptop from the CD, and follow the installation instruction.

You can opt to install a dual-boot system with Ubuntu and pre-existing Windows.

The installation CD can also be used for recovery: reinstall Ubuntu without erasing existing files in your home directory.
 
Installing Useful Software
Many useful software can be installed using Ubuntu Software Center, for example:
> Accessories: gnome-terminal, 7zip, medit, gedit, disk utility
> Development Tools: Qt 4 Designer, Qt Creator, Nemiver C/C++ debuggers, IDEs, libraries
> Fonts: Font viewer, additional fonts
> Graphics: GIMP image editor, Xfig diagram editor, MeshLab, Blender, other image viewers, pdf viewer,
 
Package Management
A useful command-line tool for installing software packages is Advanced Packaging Tool (APT). To update the list of packages, do

   sudo apt-get update

To upgrade the installed software, do

   sudo apt-get upgrade

To install a software package, e.g., build-essential, do

   sudo apt-get install build-essential

After installing, you may want to put it into the package manager for clean, easy removal later:

   sudo apt-get checkinstall

To uninstall a software package, e.g., packagename, do

   sudo apt-get remove packagename
or
   sudo apt-get purge packagename

To remove orphane packages, do

   sudo apt-get autoremove

To like all the packages installed, do

   dpkg -l

To look for certain packages, e.g., those related to Qt, do

   dpkg -l | grep qt
 
Useful Packages
To find appropriate Ubuntu packages, use the online package search.

The following is a list of useful packages that are not installed by default.

g++ Compiler

   sudo apt-get install build-essential

CMake and CCMake

   sudo apt-get install cmake
 
OpenGL

   sudo apt-get install freeglut3-dev

The package freeglut3-dev contains OpenGL utility toolkit development files. Installing freeglut3-dev also causes other dependent packages to be installed and upgraded automatically, including
* libgl1-mesa-dev: OpenGL API - GLX development files
* libgl1-mesa-glx: OpenGL API - GLX runtime
* libglu1-mesa: Mesa OpenGL utility library (GLU)
* libglu1-mesa-dev: Mesa OpenGL utility library - development files
* libx11-dev: X11 client-side library
* mesa-common-dev: Developer documentation for Mesa

To check whether OpenGL is using hardware acceleration, install mesa-utils and run glxgears.

VXL

   sudo apt-get install libvxl1-dev
 
Useful Information

Nvidia Driver

Newer nVidia GPUs for laptops, such as GT 525M and later models, come with Optimus technology for power saving. Unfortunately, nVidia drivers do not support Optimus in Linux. Installing these drivers can cause problems such as system freezing at booting, suspending, hibernating. One way to work around the problem is to use Bumblebee.
 
Global Menu Bar

Ever feel annoyed by Ubuntu's global menu bar? Here's an easy way to disable it:

   sudo apt-get autoremove appmenu-gtk appmenu-gtk3 appmenu-qt