Windows User's easy guide to Linux
From BleedingEdgeWiki
The LiveCD
There are self booting CDs and DVDs now, that we call the Linux LiveCD. Each modern Distro has their own LiveCD. You can download the .ISO of a LiveCD via BitTorrent or the traditional HTTP / FTP. Alternatively, you can go to the newsagent and find a magazine which features a LiveCD as a feature of that monthly computer magazine issue. Or you can fill in a form and Ubuntu will send you, after some time, a CD free.
To use the LiveCD, you need to set your machine such that it boots from CD - some machines are automatically set up like that, some need to have their Boot Sequence set in BIOS.
Once the LiveCD boots, it will continue to load Linux. Most / all LiveCDs do not make changes to the hard disk, so you won't damage the current Microsoft Windows that is installed on your hard disk.
WUBI
WUBI stands for Windows Ubuntu Boot Installer - it is a small file you can download from WUBI-Installer.Org or you can find it on the Ubuntu 8.04, Hardy Heron CD
If you get it from that website, and run it from within Windows XP, it will display one simple screen prompting for parameters. Then it will proceed to download a CD's worth of data so that it can install Ubuntu. If you run it off the CD, it will just use whatever is on that Ubuntu CD.
