We had linoleum on our kitchen floor and rented a machine to remove it.  It was $40 a day.  It had a blade about 6" wide on it and it weighed about 50 to 70 pounds.

However in our case while it took off the linoleum it left behind a paper backing that was on the linoleum that was glued to our floor.  I took a couple of days with a heat gun and a 3" scrapper to get down to the wood. 

Then I filled in any gouges with a special filler from Home Depot and sanded that down. 

The installers said it was the easiest job they'd had.