That's a good idea, the R E I S U B shut down sequence. Can I add a
couple of tweaks?

First, you need to keep the ALT key held down all the way through the
sequence, from PrtScrn on.

Second, the B stands for Boot, i.e. reboot, so for a shutdown make it O
instead: Alt-PrtScrn, Alt-R, Alt-E, Alt-I, Alt-S, Alt-U, Alt-O


I also endorse the idea of moving on from Hardy, because it's no longer
supported by the makers (having moved on). I 'm not au fait with EMC2 or
CNC either, but I see they need a specialised real-time kernel.

Hopefully the 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) LTS release that you have found will
solve the shutdown problem and include what you need. But even that will
reach the end of its support life in 9 months time: up until now Ubuntu
LTS releases have had a support period of three years (five for server
editions). Non- LTS releases (LTS = Long Term Support) are only
supported for 18 months.

But Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise Pangolin) LTS is for the first time to be
supported for five years in its desktop editions, so /if/ an upgrade
with a real-time kernel exists that would be a much better bet.
This page suggests that a real-time patch for 12.04 is now available:
askubuntu.com/.../how-can-i-install-a-realtime-kernel, but
you'll probably want to do some further research to make sure it will
meet your needs.

There is another reason that 12.04 may be unpalatable: the need to learn
a new user interface. However all the advice is that we're all (even
Windows users!) going to have to swallow the change from desktop to
launcher sooner or later so it's worth biting that bullet.