problem running scala script

I'm just getting back to Scala after dropping it for several months.
I've been waiting for 2.8, but I got tired of waiting and decided to try
a nightly build (which I've never done before). I downloaded

scala-2.8.0.r19650-b20091114020153

and tried to run a script with it, but I got this:

@afadmin-laptop ~/scala/Scalar/test > scala test77.scala
Could not connect to compilation daemon.
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.Exception: fsc failure
at scala.tools.nsc.CompileSocket.fatal(CompileSocket.scala:53)
at scala.tools.nsc.CompileSocket.getPort(CompileSocket.scala:132)
at scala.tools.nsc.CompileSocket.getsock$1(CompileSocket.scala:161)
at
scala.tools.nsc.CompileSocket.getOrCreateSocket(CompileSocket.scala:182)
at
scala.tools.nsc.ScriptRunner$.compileWithDaemon(ScriptRunner.scala:217)
at scala.tools.nsc.ScriptRunner$.compile$1(ScriptRunner.scala:270)
at
scala.tools.nsc.ScriptRunner$.withCompiledScript(ScriptRunner.scala:298)
at scala.tools.nsc.ScriptRunner$.runScript(ScriptRunner.scala:353)
at scala.tools.nsc.MainGenericRunner$.main(MainGenericRunner.scala:162)
at scala.tools.nsc.MainGenericRunner.main(MainGenericRunner.scala)

Any ideas about what is wrong? I'm using the latest version of Ubuntu
Linux (9.10). Thanks.

Russ P.