I'm still very new to linux and learning as I go - mostly on my own.

I'm running linux (rhel) on my dell laptop and I want to change to and install ubuntu-6.10 on it. I've had a couple people say that life is much easier with ubuntu.

I downloaded ubuntu-6.10-desktop-i386.iso on my Windows pc at work and burned it to a cd. www.ubuntu.com says this is for desktops and laptops. I'm hoping this is what I need to install it on my laptop. I want ubuntu only on my laptop. I'm not installing it into a windows os. I was told that the I could run ubuntu or install ubuntu from this cd. I was also told that this cd would run and my laptop would look like it would under ubuntu. There would be an icon I could click on to start the install onto the laptop.

I put the cd in my linux laptop and I get a cd-icon on my desktop. I dbl-click the icon and an archive manager window opens. I dbl-click the ubuntu-6.10-desktop-i386.iso icon in this window and I see all the stuff that is on the cd.

What do I do now? I'm lost. I've never run anything from a cd in linux. I don't know what to click on or what to type into where, etc...

I tried rebooting to see if it would boot from and install from the cd. Not!!

Can someone tell me how to get this started? ubuntu.com is no help.

An ISO file is a byte for byte image of a CD. Windows can not natively create a bootable CD (i.e. drag/drop to the writer icon). You need a utility like Roxio or Nero. There are free utilities like isorecorder too. If your laptop has a cdwriter you can burn a bootable CD via GUI like k3b or command line with cdrecord.

Thanks for the reply. I've found a couple articles that echo your comments. But, I did use Roxio cd creater on my windows machine to burn the cd. Is there something I need to do in Roxio to tell it to become a bootable cd?

Thanks for your help.

Have you checked your BIOS to make sure the laptop boots first from the CD-Rom, rather than the Hard Drive?

You need to select the create from image under the file drop down menu. The burned CD should contain all those files and folders and not a single xxx.iso file.

I had just had an issue creating a bootable CD. I discovered that I needed to use CD-R to create a bootable CD. Not CD-RW. That change worked for me.