I'm in a virtualized copy of Ubuntu 8.10, using latest version of VMWare Player.

I will definitely spend more time in Linux this way (not having to reboot).

First thing I noticed > instant/prsto network connection upon launching the VM. Didn't have that with Ubuntu 8.04. That's nice., expecially if you didn't have it b4.

Next noticed. the VMWare player window is too small, even maximized. I'm guessin it's 800 pixels wide. This sux. My laptop screen is 1280x800. I have big black bars at both sides of the screen. Seems to be a function of VMWare Player and not the Ubuntu VM .. (tho not sure) cuz the VMWare tool bar at the very top of the screen/window is only ~ 800 pixels wide. Can't find an option to let me widen it. Even 1024 would be better. I mean, this screen is scrolling to the right is  as I type down the line.

Update: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/64617

NEXT observation .. can't seem to be able to copy-n-paste from Windows into Ubuntu/VM (things like passwords). Kinda sux. ltho I can copy-n-paste within Ubuntu/VM itself. Can't copy-n-paste from VM into Windows either.

Rad,

I'm not familiar with using VMPlayer, so I'm not sure if they are missing features or what.  

You might want to take a look at VirtualBox.  It is a virtualization suite like VMWare, but it is built by Sun and released as (mostly) open source.  I've run Ubuntu on it several times and it seems to run well.  It features a full-screen mode, and seamless mode, which should solve your screen limitations.  It also allows copy and paste between guest and host OS's.

http://www.virtualbox.org/

Although it is open source, the coolest features are in the binary version.

http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

UPDATE: I see you got the screen fixed.  I should have guessed that was the problem