I have come to the conclusion that there is no computer geek that can help me put what I want onto my Dell D610 Latitude.
Currently, I have a version of Puredyne that my brother(the most computer-geek person I know) installed while trying to put Linux Mint on my computer(idk how that happened), but I want the latest version of Linux. I downloaded the file "ubuntu-12.04-desktop-i386.iso" from ubuntu.com, which is the latest Linux I believe, and put it onto a 2G usb drive, though I just clicked and dragged it into the drive's file, which I think is incorrect. I could not find a "usb creator" program for this flash drive to make it able to boot to my laptop, and when I try to boot from the flash drive as is, it "could not find the kernel image: linux". I have tried to make this work several times to no avail, and I'm not sure what to do. If someone could give me very detailed, explicit instructions detailing every little baby step that will get linux onto my flash drive, and installed onto my laptop, it would be much appreciated. Assume you're explaining this to a child who's good at reading, because that's essentially as much knowledge as I have anymore, except a little accumulated knowledge about the terminal thing. I am done with trying to google the answer because no one is detailed enough and I get confused. Please and thank you!

You're right. That is not the way to do it and it won't work.

Where were you expecting to find it? If all you did was download the Ubuntu iso, you will need to either burn it as an image to a CD/DVD or use some program to install it to a flash drive. The two most popular programs to do that are "unetbootin" and "pendrivelinux". If you google either, you should be taken to a page where you can download the software and run it. You should be able to do it if you have another Linux distribution installed or if you have windows. Different software for each so download the correct one. Definitely read any instructions before beginning. What operating system are you using?

I downloaded the unetbootin thing(pendrivelinux was only available as a .exe file, which this operating system won't do), but it needs to be open with an application and I can't find the right one to use. I have Puredyne operating system, which so far is not very good but better than what I had before, Fedora 12.

I'm not sure what the problem is there although I'm not at all familiar with Puredyne. It seems to be created specifically for multimedia use but you should still be able to run unetbootin. Do you get this message when you click the unetbootin icon? Did you make unetbootin executable? Right click unetbootin and click properties and check permissions and make sure the executable box is checked. You can also do this from a terminal. You would first have to navigate to the directory where unetbootin is. If you have it in your /home/user directory do:

cd /home/user/

Then do: sudo chmod 755 unetbootin. You need the complete name of the file in the command to the left.

There is no box to make the file executable under the permissions section of the file's properties. All that's there is the owner, me, the owner's access(read and write), the group(my username), the group's access(read and write), and the access of others(read and write). I followed the terminal instructions, though. Once I was in the downloads directory, where the file is, I entered "sudo chmod 755 unetbootin_471-2_i386.deb" into the terminal, but nothing happened. And yes, I remembered to hit enter, lol.

I see it is a .deb package. I'm not using Ubuntu so didn't download a deb package. You might try the following command in a terminal and in the directory in which the unetbootin file is:

sudo dpkg -i package.deb

Then check the permission on the newly created unetbootin program file which should not have the deb extension.

Nothing is supposed to happen when you do that. After running the command above and while still in that directory, run the ls -l command to check permission of the file.

I have Ubuntu 11.04 installed and booted it and went to the unetbootin site, clicked the Download for Linux tab at the top center and it downloaded unetbootin-linux-575 so I'm not sure why you got a .deb file? The unetbootin I downloaded was not executable but right clicking the icon and properties then permission showed a checkbox where I could make it executable. Might be that because it is Puredyne it didn't detect the OS but I really don't know.

Not familiar with PureDyne but

1) Linux is not Ubuntu, Ubuntu contains Linux
2) Try searching for Linux install from USB key

.deb files are packages for use with Debian (and derivative) package managers such as apt.

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Personally, I think the easiest route to take is to down-load the ISO of the Linux distribution you want, burn it on a disc, then use the disc to install the system on the computer. With that method, there is no need to install extra applications, change permissions or anything else that might be difficult for someone unfamiliar with Linux.

I also suggest that you do a little research into what Linux is. Even a little knowledge will be tremendously helpful. There are many Linux systems. Visit the websites of several distributions. The information provided concerning each system will give you an idea of what each system is like. Down-load the ISOs and burn discs for the ones that appear to be best suited to your needs and tastes. You would then have more than one system to try out.

No need to change permissions. Install the package you have downloaded with "sudo dpkg -i packagename.deb" as shown above.
It must work because of Puredyne is Debian (and Ubuntu) derivative distro.
After installation you can launch unetbootin using "sudo unetbootin" command

Go back to unetbootin site & download the linux version right-click on it & go to Properties & check the box that says "allow executing as a program"

Have you googled "Dell D610 Latitude ubuntu 12.04" yet? This will give you valuable information about any compatibility/hardware issues you can expect.

In my opinion your hardware (Pentium M, Intel 915GM, 256mb base RAM upgradable to 2gb) is on the low end for Ubuntu. It may be time to upgrade to a newer system.