I have just got Ubuntu 7.10 cd and i tried to run it on my Toshiba satellite 1.7ghz, 256mb ram, 80gb sata, it first showed ubuntu screen then I opted for the first option and then it started booting up. Then it came to an orange screen where it freezed and nothing came up. The cd and the processor keeps working but nothing happens.

I then tried to run it on my Dell optiplex with 1 ghz, 192mb ram, 80gb sata and it booted up without any problem, just some lines on the desktop.

please help me out as i want to install ubuntu on my Toshiba with dual boot option with Windows XP.

Use the alternate CD.
The desktop is still loading. System differences mean that it is taking much longer than it should. You'll note that the toshiba is much different. You could try altering the kernel options.

what is alternate cd ? i am new to linux

how can i alter kernel options ?

i tried again and this time i pressed ctrl alt F2, then the processing is seen there. everything is getting OK and it stopped at the place where it was written "Running Local Boot Scripts (etc/rc.local) OK"

see: http://releases.ubuntu.com/7.10/
Ubuntu 7.10 comes in three different iso's; desktop, server, and alternate. The desktop version loads a live session so you can try it out before installing. Officially, this edition requires 320MiB RAM to run. With your other HW you just got lucky. The alternate install CD uses a text-mode installer and has more install option. It also allows installation to low-spec machines. Ideal for your case.
In the menu at the start, read through all the entries. There should be one for special boot options. You can also press F1 for help.

But please do yourself a favor: edit your profile to show your distro and locatio - and start paying more attention to your sentences. You are an upper-case "I", sentences start with upper case, and the space goes after punctuation not before it.

It's not too bad in these short messages, but in longer ones it can make things easier to read. You also get more useful help: if you show you are not too lazy to write proper, then you are not too lazy to be worth helping.

Thanks Simon for the help.

Actually, I don't have alternate cd and my broadband connection is not such to download this cd so is it possible that I can find the special boot options in the Ubuntu 7.10 live cd that I have.

Thanks for correcting my English pronounciation. I will keep a note of this . I mostly deal with U.S. clients (they speak broken English) so my English has also gone same.

One more question, Is Linux better than Windows for people like us who don't have much knowledge of programming ?