Trying out Ubuntu (Linux)

Are there anyone out there who can help me switch? Or try it out, or whatever?

Some things I want to know are...

Can i install it without burning to a cd?
What are the down-sides to using Ubuntu when I'm a gamer.
What are the upsides?

Thanks Murxi,

no I will not be switching that quickly.

I mess with my computer a LOT and so far, everything that I have been looking for in a computer has been right under my nose in Linux!

Iunno, I'm willing to learn what I need to learn to use it.

Do you use it Murxi?

I've been thinking about doing this on some old piece of shit Dell mom brought home from work.

Just never got around to it...so, this is relevant to my interests as well.

Murx, I just installed it with wubi.

Though when I boot up Ubuntu, it just gives me a DOS like thing, something BOX.

It won't start up the graphical interface, what am I doing wrong? T_T

You expect help?

I apologise, I was watching The Horse of the Year Show on Sky Sports. Some fantastic dressage this year.

Ehem.

It should automatically load the X Server. So consider this your first problem when using a Linux operating system. You'll encounter many more. Run sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg to configure your graphical settings.

To restart the GUI, hit the Control + Alt + Backspace keys.

I got it to work, right now I'm trying to figure out how to install Beryl :/

Beryl visual effects come as standard in the latest Ubuntu distro. You can make your windows spin on a cube and have the edges of your applications wobble.

Install your latest graphics driver from the Synaptec Package Manager, the generic drivers won't run the effects.

Then turn Visual Effects on in the graphics menu.