I have never had a problem fitting Kubuntu onto a standard 700 MB CD blank.
The only difference is that I have used K3B, the Kubuntu disc burning
software. In this app there is a menu item to allow over burning, which
should not be necessary, but one never knows...

If all else fails, burn it to a DVD blank. Unless you havea hardware
problem it will work.

You can try K3B easily as it's in the normal repositories. Don't give up on
Kubuntu too soon! There is no good reason why you can't burn a usable disc
and install it properly.

You could try Xubuntu, I couldn't get Ubuntu 12.04 to work for me, so
after three tries I switch over and like it a lot. Same software just a
different desktop. It is faster too.

I'm using 12.04 with 'Gnome Classic (no effects)' with some tweaks that
I found here.
< ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1966370>
You have to 'sudo apt-get install gnome-panel' so you can get the
'Classic Gnome (no effect)'.
The only thing that is annoying is that Gnome decided to change how you
work with the panels, you have to hold down the 'alt' key to get the
context menu so you can change things. Of course it is just an annoyance
cause once I have the panels the way I like them I don't need it again.
Hope this helps.

I moved from Ubuntu 10.04 to Xubuntu 12.04 and I like it. Anyway I had to
upgrade as some of my favourite programs like fldigi won't be updated forever
under 10.04.

I too was a long time 10.04 user and very happy with the distro. I did
however realize that sooner or latter support for 10.04 was going to go
away so I decided to try a new version of Linux Mint. So I installled Mint
13 on my system and started having problems. The system would freeze and
require a power down to regain control. This was the kind of thing that
had driven me away from Windows when I first started experimenting with
Linux.

So I switched back to Ubuntu 12.04 since that is a long term support
release. When the Unity desktop came up I hated it with a passion. I was
ready to switch back to 10.04 but instead spent some additional time with
the new setup. The more I used it the more I liked it and decided that it
was indeed something that I could live with. So I am still running 12.04
on my clone box and enjoying it.

Don't let me give you the impression that it is perfect because it isn't.
I'm not sure if it is my lack of knowledge about Unity and Linux in general
or if there are still some real bugs that need worked out. The bottom line
is that I have a working computer that does everything I want to do with a
comptuer and I'm not worried that just as I am becoming comfortable with
Windows 7 at my workplace that Windows 8 is now waiting in the wings. I
also don't have to worry about my anti-virus and malware software being up
to date. Most of all I am not thinking about buying Microsoft Office 11 or
12 to keep up with the ever changing office suite that Microsoft had
decided is a good revenue stream. So life moves on and so do operating
systems and applications. Even Linux.

Issues with ISO size have been a subject of discussion for awhile. The
ISO will not fit on a RW disk, but will fit on an ordinary CD. I use
DVDs (RWs) which are cheaper and easier to find. I prefer a usb
installation, though because it is faster. I use Unetbootin which is
available for Linux and Windows and it makes a bootable usb key. You
may need to alter the BIOS to boot from usb or to use a boot manager.

There is no problem opening the ISO in Brasero or K3b and then
inserting a DVD instead of a CD, even if the image is made to fit on a
CD.

Some of the earlier beta releases had a problem that meant they
wouldn't fit onto a 700Mb CD but the final release does so that would
suggest you actually got one of the pre-release versions. Go directly
to Kubuntu to get the proper one...

http://www.kubuntu.org/getkubuntu

FWIW I find Kubuntu to be more in keeping with the way I work and the
change from Ubuntu 10.04 was relatively easy. Yes there are some areas
where they are different and needed some adjustment on my part but
nothing that was a 'deal-breaker' :-)

Only thing I found was that the 64bit version didn't get on with the
32bit printer driver for our Dell colour laser but I've not found any
issues using 32bit Ubuntu with 4Gb RAM - and if you are interested in
colour laser printing I can heartily recommend the Dell 1250c ( or the
1350cn / 1350cnw - same beast with network connectivity ). Refilling
the toners is incredibly easy and a full set of refills are very cheap
even all the way from Hong Kong !

I did download it from the Kubuntu site using the torrent download, but went
back tonight and downloaded the regular 36 bit desktop and it is the same, 703.3
MB.

I tried suggestion to use a DVD disk, but that did not work in my
CD drive.

I also installed K3b, but that would not recognize any disk in the tray.

I installed GnomeBaker and that said the file was too big.

I will have to give up for a while, have too many non-computer projects going
right now and just do not have the time to mess with it.

Just checked the file sizes and yes both the 32 and 64 ones are over
700Mb, which is something that Kubuntu should be made aware of as it
would prevent making the CD that the download is supposed to be for !

When/If you get back to this you can try the alternate installer as
this is definitely Ok for CD. Just doesn't have the fancy graphics
during installation but does the same job :-)