I have an old laptop with a virus, can't get past desktop...

Your post is rather confused.
Normally, just put the Ubuntu live CD in the CD/DVD drive, then reboot the computer.

At the boot start, you may enter the BIOS setup (usually press F2 or whatever key the screen will hint at) to define the boot order for priority to your CD/DVD drive over the hard disk. Save any modification to your BIOS (F10) and reboot.

Then you should have the live CD menu to test Ubuntu on your laptop before installing. If you want to get rid of Windows, then it's easy just choose to install over the entire hard disk. I would however recommend to have a separate partition for the root (/) file system (about 10 GB) and the /home (as much as you can/wish) for the personal files (need to do a manual partitioning)

From previous experiences, it seems that Ubuntu performs well on this type of laptop:
http://www.pervasivecomputing.net/ubuntu_edgy_on_dell_inspiron_e1505

Could you tell us which Ubuntu distribution you tried ? 8.10, 9.04, 9.10 ?

I'm trying v9.10.

The computer I'm trying to install ubuntu and remove XP because it is virus ridden, only works in safe mode... I'm not sure what the virus is and just want to wipe the system clean and then install ubuntu.

I hoped that just booting to the installation cd would give me the option of removing XP and wiping the slate clean. I'm not sure that is the correct approach so I am uninstalling XP now from safe mode.

When I tried to install last I got msgs "could not connect to session bus:/bin/dbus-launch terminated abnormally w/o any error msg" and directly following "could not acquire name or session bus."

Thanks for your help!

You don't need to uninstall Windows to install Ubuntu.

You just boot with the live CD and you should have a live CD menu where you can choose your language for the boot (English by default). Then just choose "Try Ubuntu without touching your hard disk = first line from the top", to test the 9.10 version with your hardware and if you want to e.g. save your Windows data first with the live CD.

Then you can click on the install icon and install Ubuntu to the entire disk.

regards

I have no windows data I want to save, this is my mother-in-laws old computer, I want to wipe it clean because it is infected by spyware.

I'm guessing I need to do this before trying to install Ubuntu. Because when I try choose option 1 "Try Ubuntu without touching your hard dsik" i get a bus error, and then I end up at a login screen when I have not yet set up my user account.

Is there a default user name and password I can enter? Or a way to get to the command line to enter 1??

You can wipe your Windows with Gparted live CD witch yu can download from http://gparted.sourceforge.net/ .When you choose "Try Ubuntu without touching your hard dsik” there is no need for password.You should be able to run live session.Maybe CD is problem.Did you run https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM and after burning on lower possible speed check disc integrity.If everything is O.K. then you are ready for install.

If you are dropped back to a console (command line), maybe there is a problem with the support of your graphics card.

In this case, from the live Cd menu, before trying Ubuntu, press F4 and choose something that says like "grapics safe mode", then it will load the Vesa driver instead of Xorg. You won't have 3D acceleration and visual effects but hopefully a working screen.

If it still doesn't do the work, try using an older Ubuntu version (9.04 or 8.04 LTS)

I reburned the cd at speed 1, and am installing and erasing the entire disk, hopefully that will take care of all the spyware! :)

Do you think I need to address the virus issue still??

Once you wipe the drive, it should take care of the virus problem. It won't be around after you've reformatted with ubuntu.

No, I don't think so.

If you're installing over the whole hard disk, it will be formatted.
Anyway, the Windows virus cannot interfere with the Linux file system and neither on your data files unless you use wine to run Windows applications (which is not recommandable unless obliged).

Sweet, I have been using Ubuntu for a few hours now and everything is great! I have a lot to learn :)

Thanks for your help!