DVD
Sorry, that was written in a hurry on the iPhone. Yeah, the 3.7 gig ISO is meant to be written to a DVD, not a CD.
You probably didn’t burn it properly then. See our previous posts about burning the file as an image. Just copying the iso onto a CD won’t work. It must be burnt as an image which makes it into a bootable CD.
OK I down loaded a corrupt file. The original download checked out as good. I went to another site and downloaded Ubuntu again and met the same results as the first download. I do get the screeen, some options, and sound when I boot but when I try to run off the disc I get asked for a name & pass word.
I have burned three discs (one corrupt) as an image using Nero. I think I’ll try the one size fits all download (the first choice) an not have all of the advantages of the AMD 64 down load. If that doesn’t work I’ll take you up on the ‘Mail a Disc’ offer.
By the way my processor is an AMD 64 dual core 3800 (?) if I recall correctly so I don’t think that is the issue.
I’m getting pretty frustrated and think I’m going to call it a night.
Thanks for all the advice but if I don’t quit now I’ll probably need a shrink when I’m done. 
Don’t go anywhere except ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
Pick Portland or something, Waterloo seems to be offline.
Just download the basic Ubuntu CD image they prompt you to, not the AMD64 one. Install that one AFTER you’re more familiar with Linux (if you still want to), you will have driver issues with 64 bit.
Maybe someone else can post the direct Ubuntu-Torrent link
http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.04/ubuntu-8.04-desktop-i386.iso.torrent
Here’s the link for the bit torrent for ubuntu.
Herbie’s right I would go with the standard desktop client for ubuntu 8.04.
I tried Herbie’s site suggestion and downloaded the simple version as an image. I checked the disc on the Ubuntu desk top and it said the data was good. I still got the stinking login when I tried to run off the disc! 
I think I’m just meant to be “a Winders kinda guy”.
Thanks for your efforts people, but I’ll just leave Ubuntu on the back burner for now.