Hey Ralph -
You should have called. I was in town this weekend. But anyway, Ubuntu is a different operating system. Its a Unix like free operating system. Actually very good, lightweight, easy to use, but not XP. Call Dell, they will ship you a new restore CD. If that doesn't work out let me know. I've got a mini as well (typing on it now from McCarren) and can hook you up. I've taken off XP and put on the RTM of Win7.