OT: Trouble installing Ubuntu on VmWare?

[Zachary Kline]

Hi,
    I got the urge to try out Ubuntu with Orca and possibly Speakup as well.  I downloaded the main desktop CD iso, booted the emulated PC from it, and got speech working.
    However, I have had trouble following the instructions for getting an installation started.  I go to the Gnome Terminal as instructed on the Orca page on installations of Ubuntu, sudo su to root, andquit Orca.
    From this point, starting up Orca again doesn't seem to yield speech.  I type:
orca --no-setup --disable main-window
again as instructed.  I then get the message about Orca starting up and switching to focus tracking mode.  However, this is all I get.  No speech after at all.  
    I can type 'ubiquity' as instructed, but am not sure if it comes up at all.
    What I'm asking, then, is if anybody here could give me instructions on how you got Ubuntu installed?
Thanks,
Zack.
PS: After it's installed, how would I use Speakup with it in text-mode?