[CounterNoob]

I am new into Linux, i have heard about this 3D Cube, and it is to get in this Linux system called Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy" or what?

[bigtomrodney]

The Cube is an effect of Compiz. Compiz is an application that provides 3D compositing and allows your graphics card to do most of the work of drawing your desktop. It is available for pretty much any distribution of Linux but it is enabled by default (Compiz, not the Cube) in the latest Ubuntu release, codenamed Gutsy Gibbon.

Just go to ubuntu.com and download the .iso. You then burn this to disk as an image and boot your PC from it. It won't install automatically but you get to try it out without interfering with your own setup. You can later choose to install it if you wish.

[jmadero]

Ubuntu Gutsy is good for newer Linux users....very user friendly but still very customizable. The cube is a feature that comes with install of the new Ubuntu (Gutsy), it will be under system -- preferences -- advanced desktop settings. There are a bunch of cool things in there. Also you can look on youtube for "Ubuntu berryl" or "Compiz-fusion" to see some of the ways people show off linux....some of the videos are pretty cool and hooked me in for Linux.

[CounterNoob]

Looks really cool
One more question, is most games, programs and so on compatible with Linux? Or can you make them compatible in some way. Because i go to school, and i really need f.x. office pack and several other programs made for different classes to work on my laptop.

[bigtomrodney]

No Windows and Linux are not the same, nor are the compatible...strictly speaking. Linux is a Unix variant and runs Unix style applications. You can use a program called Wine to run a lot of Windows programs but it is not always perfect and sometimes does not work at all.

Instead there are usually equivalents available, so for MS Office you can use Open office etc.

[jmadero]

You will not be able to run a lot of windows programs in Linux even with Wine (even with Wine you would typically want to find a similar open source program....typically they are as good or better than paid version). Maybe I can suggest dual booting and see if you can get off of windows before completely switching over. If you have at least 25 gigs of space on your drive you can partition it using Gparted, install Ubuntu the second partition and see how things go. If you ever want a program like a Windows program just google things like "open source version of...." I have kept my windows partition for a couple games and once in awhile for MS Office (there are still a few bugs in OO office when going between MS Office and OO Office)...but for the most part I even use open source programs in my windows boot. Best thing is...if you don't like it, just take it off....but my guess is if you have a little bit of patience and like cool features and supporting a good community then you'll stick with Ubuntu (or another distro of linux)