The emails came flooding in. A couple were semi-abusive but most were helpful and encouraging. The problem it seems is that you need CD-ROM burning software that can handle the ISO images that you download for your Linux distribution. Oh gee, I wish Ubuntu would have written that somewhere visible on their site - like where they talk about downloading images.

And guess what? Windows Media Player, which comes with Windows XP and can be used for burning CD-ROMs doesn't handle ISO images. I wonder why? I would like to thank Microsoft for helping me waste 8 perfectly good blank CDs. Anyway, a very helpful gentleman from Berkley (who has documented this problem on Wiki at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IssuesAsNoviceUbuntuUser) pointed me the direction of the site at http://iso.snoekonline.com/iso.htm, where I downloaded a free CD-ROM burning program called Burnatonce, which writes ISO files. It took seconds to download and install and about three minutes to write the Ubuntu boot disk to CD

I inserted the boot disk into my Windows XP computer, rebooted and voila! There right in front of my eyes was the Ubuntu installation screen. However, I resisted the temptation to have my fourth 4am night in a row and removed the disk so that I could make a fresh start tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Ubuntu and all other Linux distros who haven't done so, please, for the benefit of Windows users who want to give you a try, document fundamental issues such as this on your site. Good night.