I was able to install Ubuntu practically with no hassle at all. I did not find any difficulty. I think its plainly written. Easy to udnerstand. Get the DVD edition if you dont have internet con. Cause even with it you might have to download a couple of things. If you are a person who does number crunching stuff like encoding or DVD/cd writing theres a huge performance increase. All my hardwrae was detected I took my system to the internet cafe near by and I didnt configure anythign and the network was already autodetected and I could see every single machine he has in my Network.
Im wiriting the process I did with pictures but it still a work in progress. If you are a Tv Tuner Card user Check the Chipset model and confirm Linux supports befopre working on it.
Hope this helps.