Words, words, words.

First off, why?

Seeing we're all doing Git and other platforms and open-source work that usually started out from a Linux environment, it may be wise if you could try deploying it from a familiar environment as well, since most guides would always point to either a Linux installation or a Mac OSX installation. Another reason is because we're all drenched in using a bash terminal anyway, and UNIX systems have those by default.

Either way, as much as I do like Windows, you'll notice that it's all unstable or difficult to perform from Windows. If you do prefer working in Windows though, well, I'm sure there are guides out there that can help.

Finally, I'm doing this because I'm using a Linux environment anyway, and I do find it easier to set up all what we have to do in VERTSOL, despite the terminal mess.

tl;dr

• It's all in Linux, from how they made this stuff, to even setting things up.
• Linux has bash built-in
• Linux has a package manager that can do all the installs for you. 
• Be honest, it's quite messy if you install lots of stuff on your current Windows installation.
• Linux is awesome in ways, heck you can do the stuff in this video.

So, what is Linux?

Linux is an open-source operating system. Like most open-source projects, it's notable for its collaborative community development (anyone can contribute freely) and the fact that it's free. Linux has many derivatives out there (called distros or distributions, think "forks") because of that, and they all work similarly.

Setting up Linux on your PC

There are many ways to set up Linux. You can install it on your hard drive like you did on Windows, you can run a virtual machine that has Linux in it, heck, you can even run it from a flash drive so you can use it anywhere you want (like say, the comlab, hehe.). There are also many Linux distros that you can choose. They all have their flavors and styles on how they work, but I'll just discuss one particular way just to make things simple and consistent.

I. Installing Linux through VirtualBox

A virtual machine allows you to install an OS while using your own at the same time. If you've used emulators before, it's like emulating another operating system (in this case, we're going to do Linux)

Here's how a Virtual Machine looks like. I'm using Windows 7, and yet I have Mac OSX on a window. Perhaps I'll teach that someday.

Moving along...

You'll need these:

• Sun Oracle VirtualBox - it's the Virtual Machine that I use.
• Ubuntu Desktop Edition 10.10, 32 bit. - here's the Linux distro. Take note, this thing is huge. (CD-size as it is meant to be)

You should have two files after this, the VirtualBox installer, and the Ubuntu image file (an .iso file)

Step 1: Install VirtualBox

Just grab the Windows version and install it! Should be easy peasy.

Step 2: Setting up your Virtual Machine

1. Run VirtualBox then click New
2. Keep going next and follow instructions
3. Once you reach the Virtual Hard Disk section, select Create new hard disk. A popup should show up. 
4. Choose Dynamically expanding storage. The name and how large it is is up to you. I suggest something about 10GB.
5. Next, next, finish!

Step 3: Settings.

1. Highlight your newly made VM and click Settings
2. Go to Storage
3. Under IDE Controller, click Empty, then click on the Folder icon next to it (see below)

   

4.  You should see a Virtual Media Manager. Click Add.
5. Go to your Ubuntu image file that you download earlier, then use it.
6. Select it. Empty should now be labeled as your Ubuntu file.
7. Ok, ok, close!  

Step 4: Installing Ubuntu

Be observant!

1. Select your Virtual Machine and click Start.
2. Press F12 once you see the screen changing. You should get something like this.
3.  
4. Select CD-ROM
5. You should see the Ubuntu screen. It's user-friendly from there, so you can just install and follow instructions.
6. Once it's done and it does a "reboot", go back to #3 and revert it back to Empty.
7. Run the system again. You now should have a fresh Ubuntu install.
8.  

Step 5: Install the Guest Additions

1. Go to Devices -> Install Guest Additions
2. In Ubuntu, go to Places then click VBOXADDITIONS
3. Once the window pops up, click  Open Autorun Prompt, then select Run
4. You'll get this. Enter your user password from the Ubuntu installation setup before. 
1. Note: That password is your sudo / administrator password. You'll use that to install software packages such as Ruby and Heroku later.
5. Let it run, finis and restart Ubuntu.

II. Setting up SSH, Git and Ruby

By this point, Ubuntu Linux is already set up. You can play with it as much as you want and you won't need to worry about it breaking up (if it did, you can just reinstall, or restore from a backup in VirtualBox).