Installing VMWare on Ubuntu can be a pain in the butt. Here a few steps that may help.

Updated 11/6/08 for VMWare Server 1.07 on Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex running the 2.6.27-7-generic kernel.

No need to rewrite what is already well documented. See VMWare Server 1.0.7 on Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid" (2.6.27.-7-generic)

Sometimes after the upgrade you may need to run sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r` where uname -r has been run to give you your running kernel.

These steps are best for 64-bit installations.

We'll assume you've downloaded VMWare Server 1.07, unpacked it, and changed to the vmware-server-distrib directory.

1) Install xinetd and ia32-libs
sudo apt-get install xinetd ia32-libs

2) Run the VMWare installation program.
./vmware-install.pl
The installation script automatically runs the belwo mentioned config script but if your installation effort fails, you may need to run it again.
./vmware-config.pl

3) Execute vmware as root or normal user; you may end up receiving the following libgcc error.

vmware
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_3.4' not found (required by /usr/lib32/libcairo.so.2)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_4.2.0' not found (required by /usr/lib32/libstdc++.so.6)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_3.4' not found (required by /usr/lib32/libcairo.so.2)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_4.2.0' not found (required by /usr/lib32/libstdc++.so.6)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_3.4' not found (required by /usr/lib32/libcairo.so.2)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_4.2.0' not found (required by /usr/lib32/libstdc++.so.6)

4) For the easy fix, rename libgcc_s.so.1:

cd /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1
sudo mv libgcc_s.so.1 libgcc_s.so.1-bak
This forces VMWare to use libgcc_s.so.1 from /usr/lib rather than the VMWare version.

5) Run vmware again, this time error free.

This content modifed slightly but borrowed largely from http://blog.fekw.de/2008/05/30/kubuntu-804-64bit-essential-apps-install-guide/5/