Those messages all mean the same thing - "no internet connection".

Are you using a wired or wireless connection? Do you know the name of your
Net Card? How did you set it up in Vista? Usually, in my limited
experience, wired just works in Ubuntu but wireless requires some setup if
you have security implemented.

Sometimes I find I need to assign a static IP address in linux so you might
try that and see if it helps.

Checkout the Ubuntu:Intrepid User Guide at:
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Intrepid
and pay attention to section 5.5 Wireless (under 5. Networking)

If you have a wired connection, it connects right away, even before you log on.
If you have a wireless network you need to set it up and it is not connected
until you set it up properly as wireless has more configuration settings and
security, not present with a wired connection.

If you are running off of a CD it is running from a RAM disk and you will have
to set up your wireless every time because it is not installed and you cannot
save to a CD (read only) and changes made to the RAM disk will be lost once you
power off. The obvious solution is to run a wired connection or to install
Ubuntu so that the trouble that you go to establish your wireless will be saved.

To establish a wireless connection in any OS you need to detect your wireless,
install the appropriate driver, and then set up your network giving your WPA or
WEP security key. The kernel detects the card and it likely shows as being
present but not active. There are two solutions to this. One is to try to
download the driver from the repositories and the other is to use the Windows
driver. However, to do the last you need to install ndsiwrapper and ndisgtk.
Then you need to insert your Windows disk and find the driver (a file that ends
in .inf). This same thing is done whether you use Windows XP, Vista or Linux.
You did not have to do it for Vista because HP did it for you, the advantage of
having it pre-installed.

The first place to go is to System | Administration | Hardware drivers. It will
tell you whether your card is activated or not. If it shows the card but says
that it is not activated, it means the kernel has detected it, but the driver is
not installed. If you click Activate, it will try to install a driver, but it
can't do this because you don't have a connection. You need to get an ethernet
cable and connect it temporarily to your router, until everything is setup.

I think, but am not certain, that you will have to re-boot after you install the
driver which means that you are basically snookered as far as running from the
CD or RAMdisk because you will have to do this all over again and are caught in
a viscious circle. The only solution is to install it or use a wired connection.

If I am wrong and you do not have to reboot then you can go ahead and set up the
network with your WPA or WEP keys and you should be able to connect. For help go
to: https://help.ubuntu.com/8.10/internet/C/wireless.html

You connect with Vista because all of this work was done ahead of time for you.
When you install from scratch, you need to do it for yourself, but this is the
way you learn and become independent.

At someone's suggestion to use Wubi , I downloaded it but when I
clicked on the .exe to run it I get this message "NTVDM.EXE has stopped
working". I realize this is a Vista problem but I bring up because it happened
in an Ubuntu context. Got any ideas?

You're advice to just install Ubuntu is good, but in doing that I would have to
trash Vista -- no great tragedy -- but I'd like to keep it handy for the things
that only work in Windows. So I'm thinking dual boot, but I'm afraid that might
introduce additional problems to an already volatile mix.

So I hope to hear from folks who went to dual boot and how that went for you and
how you like it. Thanks!

If you get the 8.10 Ubuntu CD it has an option on the install to load
inside widows. It just so easy on Vista.

I have not heard of this problem, but quite frankly, I have not paid much
attention to Vista in general. My opinion is that you should NOT eliminate
Vista. You may need it, especially if you encounter problems with installing
Ubuntu. That gives you an OS and some consistency.

Two possibilities exist. The first is, if you have the Ubuntu CD put it into
your drive inside Vista and see what happens. It will attempt to install Ubuntu
using the files on the CD, whereas wubi.exe as downloaded does a net
installation. You may get different results. The second possibility is that you
can try to install Ubuntu from the CD. This involves partitioning, but we can
step you through it. The worst case scenario is that it will give you Ubuntu
that does not work to your satisfaction and you will format over it and have an
empty partition to use as you want.

Wubi doesn't necessarily install via net.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide

It will install via the CD if you have it.

That's exactly what I was saying. Wubi,exe as downloaded from the wubi-installer
website requires a web install, but the CD does not. My point was that he may
not get the same error if he tries the CD approach. He said that he downloaded
wubi.exe which led me to be that he was not using the CD.

I am not familiar with Vista as I don't use it. I have not seen this error
reported before. It is a shot in the dark, but worth a try, if he has the CD.