Comment 2 for bug 429015

http://vpython.org/contents/download_linux.html says:

There is a bug in the standard Boost libraries on Ubuntu 9.10, and to build VPython
you must first install Boost 1.38 libraries from https://launchpad.net/~ajmitch/+archive/ppa.

After adding the PPA and updating the packages the simple test cases above work for me on 9.10

python-visual:
  Installed: 1:5.11-1
  Candidate: 1:5.11-1
  Version table:
 *** 1:5.11-1 0
        500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/universe Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
libboost-python1.38.0:
  Installed: 1.38.0-6ubuntu6.1~ppa1
  Candidate: 1.38.0-6ubuntu6.1~ppa1
  Version table:
 *** 1.38.0-6ubuntu6.1~ppa1 0
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net karmic/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1.38.0-6ubuntu6 0
        500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Packages