I need help installing Ubuntu Budgie. The installer window appears briefly and then closes after a few seconds. My laptop is i5 m460 4go ram ddr3 and ati mobility r1deon 5470.
Hi @09917032ss
Maybe the RAM is a little tight.
Which version of UB are you trying to install?
What program did you use to flash your USB drive?
hmm - this was release around 2010 which makes your computer around 16 years old now. Not sure about the supportability of such an old graphics card. In general Ubuntu supports graphics as old as the requirements of GNOME requires - which is around 10-12 years I believe. Anything older is basically on a suck-and-see basis. The flutter app which the installer on 26.04 has been created on needs relatively modern graphics to run with otherwise it crashes.
4GB is the absolute minimum - if your graphics card steals memory to run then it won’t leave enough for the installer to run with.
Im trying to install the lastest one 26 . And the software im using to boot is ventoy.
So, what would you recommend? Should I upgrade from 4 GB to 8 GB (that’s the maximum my laptop supports), or should I switch to another distro?..By the way, I’ve tried many Linux distributions, and Ubuntu Budgie is the first one where I’ve had this issue.
8GB is fine. It might just be a memory issue. I’ve installed on 4GB in the past though just fine.
If the installer is struggling with your graphics card, another approach would be to install 24.04 and then upgrade to 26.04 (when the point release is available at the end of the month).
I used to be a Windows user, but I really appreciate Ubuntu and Linux overall for everything Windows doesn’t have. I thought Linux wasn’t as restricted by hardware requirements as Windows is. I forgot to mention that the GPU has 512 MB of GDDR3 VRAM. Could that be an issue
Upgrading a laptop to 8GB is basically a price of a couple cups of Coffee. So a good investment.
You mentioned its a laptop so you don’t really have an option to change your graphics.
16 years is a very very long time in computer terms - things have massively changed and modern software requires fairly new hardware.
As I mentioned, if you are willing to wait - try 26.04.1 at the end of the month - this has the latest graphics drivers and kernel that may fix issues with your hardware.
If you can’t wait - a 24.04 to 26.04 upgrade can be forced to happen now. The 24.04 installer is very different from 26.04 and doesn’t have the same graphics requirements.
If you are still looking around 24.04 is a perfectly viable solution since it is supported by both ourselves and Canonical themselves.
Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it 
Sorry for jumping back into the conversation a little late, but what you’re saying confirms what I was thinking: Ubuntu 26.04 is said to use more RAM, so it would be best to upgrade your RAM to 8 GB if it’s crashing so early on.
Otherwise, I’d suggest you start by trying to install Ubuntu 24.04, and, if possible, flash the USB drive with Balena Etcher: I’ve noticed several times that the technology used by Ventoy causes various installation issues that a simpler software like Etcher resolved.
If you want to try another distribution built on a different foundation than Ubuntu, just to see how it goes, I’d recommend trying something different: Manjaro + Cinnamon, for example, which is based on Arch Linux. Again, that might work.
Give these a try and let us know how it goes.
I would like to thank you, JLB, for your help. I will first install Ubuntu Budgie 24 and then try upgrading to version 26.
I don’t want to switch to another Linux distribution, even if it’s Cinnamon. In my opinion, none of them are as beautiful, modern, and user-friendly as Budgie, except maybe Deepin or Zorin OS Core. Budgie is probably the number one desktop environment when it comes to combining a modern look with low RAM usage
With pleasure, @09917032ss!
Actually, it might work: if there isn’t enough RAM to install UB 26.04, there might still be enough for it to run, but you’ll have to wait until that’s possible to upgrade, which gives you time to get a RAM module to bring it up to 8 GB — which will be necessary in the short term, even with Budgie.
Let me know if you were able to install Ubuntu 24.04.
I’ve installed Ubuntu Budgie 24, and everything is working well. Now I’m going to try upgrading it using the terminal. If things get worse, I’ll stay on Ubuntu Budgie 24 and wait for Ubuntu Budgie 26.04.1.
Thanks for the feedback!
As for me, I’m still using UB 24.04 for my day-to-day work. 