Ok here is a guide I wrote for installing & setting up Postgres in Ubuntu. It's in Spanish but you will find your way around: http://lobotuerto.com/blog/2009/0

Ok here is a guide I wrote for installing & setting up Postgres in Ubuntu. It's in Spanish but you will find your way around: http://lobotuerto.com/blog/2009/07/20/como-instalar-postgresql-en-ubuntu-9-04-jaunty-jackalope/ http://lobotuerto.com/blog/2009/07/20/como-instalar-postgres... It covers instalation, setting up the postgres user (the _root_ you want), changing the authentication schema so you can use it for Rails dev (or something else), and finally how to install the Postgres gem for your Ruby.