i have installed a few solid wood floors and you have to top nail your first few rows(don't forget you lean over while standing on the first few rows) its normal to nail,countersink,then fill with putty, you could pre-drill some holes and hand nail ,i'v never tryed it but it might work.

if your wall is not straight you need to cut your wood,down the length at an angle as best you can so your second row is square to the room,fix any gaps with a 3/4 rd.
hope this helps good luck

Victor:

You'll need a slip tongue or what is often called a spline. In effect what happens is you will have two tongue sides facing in each direction after the starter row is placed.

Incidentally it is not necessary to top nail the starter either. Snap your control line and place all the starters with tongue on the line and attach temporary backer boards(into subfloor) against the back of the pieces. Once the first area is complete, remove the temps and side nail into the groove. Very difficult to do unless you have a pneumatic nailer. At this time you'll want to place the slip tongue or spline into the groove glueing with carpenters glue.

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Ken Fisher

Thats an interesting and complicated way of starting a floor. From the ones I have seen and done, the first row is top nailed where the base and shoe cover it and angle nailed on the tounge, then the next few rows are tounge nailed until you can get the nailer in place without dinging the walls. Best to run the flooring parallel to the longest wall and perpendicular to the largest source of light coming into the room. Its the last few rows that are a PITA, since you cant get the nailer in place without dinging the walls, and have to nail by hand, or air gun, which doesnt set the planks as tight as the stapler does. Its usually the last 2 rows that get face nailed.

It's very common and sometimes a necessary practice to start the layout in the center of the room and lay both ways with a spline joining the first two back to back grooves.

I screw a scarp board down to kick up agaisnt and run one way, cut the spline piece, remove the scrap kicker and glue in the spline, nail it down and start running the other way.

It is also common to face nail at last edges to wall, then fill with wood putty