Bootable USB install to asus 1005hab netbook w/windows starter 7 installed

[obxgrrl]

Absolute newbie here. Thanks for your help in advance. I purchased a bootable USB w/Ubuntu 10.04 installed - supposed to be able to install and run instead of windows starter 7 or can install permanently on any computer.
My computer has checked this bootable USB drive and states it is working properly. When I follow the included directions for the standard booting process and choose the USB to boot from, when I press F10 to save and exit, my computer will not then begin the Ubuntu boot process. The Ubuntu selection screen DOES NOT APPEAR and does not say "try Ubuntu without any change to your computer".

Can anyone help me out? Do you need any other info to help me? Thank you.

[obxgrrl]

PS . . . At this point I really just want to do a permanent install from the bootable USB because Windows 7 starter OS does so little. So my second question is how to install this?????

[oldfred]

If you are going to dual boot you need to use win7 tools to shrink the windows partition.

Can you in BIOS set USB to boot. On my computer it was not USB but drive choice. The same with the one time boot key (f12 on my system). I have to choose which hard drive to boot and the USB flash drive then is one of the hard drive choices.

I hope you did not pay a lot for your flash drive. It is relatively easy to create you own.

Also has links to alternative install -text mode & not liveCD, CD & USB install instructions
http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download