said by TryingLinux :

I wanted to give Linux a try and burned a ISO of Ubuntu 8.4. I played a bit by booting from cd and decided to install it. Before installing on my XP box I used Norton's Partition Magic. I chose the option to partition for a new OS and chose Linux. I went ahead and created a swap file as suggested, keeping everything at default as far as where to put the swap file and whatnot. IOW, I didn't change a thing from what Norton had by default though the whole process. The new partition was created w/o a hitch, my c:\ drive is half of what it used to be.

Now, when I boot from the Ubuntu disk I get to the options and choose 'install'. Instead of getting further questions like I had saw before (before making the new partition I was just going to go ahead and install because I don't have much on this machine that I need, XP-wise, but changed my mind halfway though several sets of questions/prompts)I now get what looks like a command line with the word initram (or something similar). I can type in 'help' and get a whole bunch of commands but that's about it. I am sure the cd is still in good order but I'm lost at that point. Can anyone tell me exactly what I need to do to complete the install? It seems like the partitioning took away the friendly screens and replaced them with something that is out of my league.

Thanks.