If you can use the Synaptic Package Manager and get the libraries needed, A1 should be ok on Ubuntu.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticHowto
Download the Aleph One application source code from http://marathon.sourceforge.net/
Expand the application source code archive and read the INSTALL.Unix text.
Try ./configure
Note any libraries needed (version numbers may change ect.)
Install them.
Make sure you have build-essential installed, use Synaptic Package Manager if needed.
Install the SDL libraries eg. libsdl-image1.2-dev, libsdl-net1.2-dev and libsdl1.2-dev via Synaptic Package Manager if needed.
Install boost eg. libboost-dev. via Synaptic Package Manager if needed.
Install Install Lua eg. lua50 liblua50 liblua50-dev. via Synaptic Package Manager if needed.
Install speex eg. libspeex1 libspeex-dev. via Synaptic Package Manager if needed.
You may need to install libsnd1-dev, libmad0-dev, libasound2-dev.
Follow the installation instructions the INSTALL.Unix text.
sudo make install
To play A1 with Marathon 1,2 inf or another scenario in Ubuntu try
$ ALEPHONE_DATA='path to the scenario data folder' alephone