I took so long to respond to this thread. I may have missed the
answer that got you going as it is now the 20th but here goes.
Grub installs as one of the last things install does.
If the Grub is not there, it is likely the install did not complete.
The 2Gb partition is likely the swap file.
If you want 30 or so Gb shrink the size of windows using Gparted, then
when you start windows the next time, it will check disk for errors as
the hard disk it sees will not be the size it thinks it has. This will
not break anything, just take time the next time you use windows.
When you start install, select "install in available space" to use the
free space you have made available. I have had to do this on several
installs, and should work for you.
Your install will be complete when you are prompted to take the CD out
of the drive and not until.
One final note/list:
I have found using Gparted to delete copies I no longer need works for
me. Grub has no use for me after doing this, and needs fixed, but this
is done when you install a new copy of Ubuntu. I don't know how to
reinstall grub, never had to, so haven't learned, installing Ubuntu does
it for me, like others have said, download 10.04 it is great though will
likely be easer for you than the book shows to learn.
If The Grub is not installed, it is likely the partition that is
supposed to have Ubuntu on it, is not a completed install, I would just
delete it using Gparted and re-install, rather than try to keep it.
Once again, because the subject line was asking about Grub, I didn't
even look at the post till many posts were made on the thread. Please
mark this thread as solved if you got your answer so the answers stop.