1. Hardware Recognition: I would have to say that Ubuntu is by far the best Linux variant available today for hardware recognition. I have installed Dapper Drake (the latest Ubuntu release) on almost 10 different PC’s with completely different hardware configurations and I cannot remember any hardware that was not recognized. I have also installed Ubuntu in a few virtual environments without any problems.

Conclusion
Ubuntu offers many great features that people come to expect from operating systems and offers many ways for you to add more if needed. I would say if there was a way to play Windows games like Prey in Linux with full performance I would be sold.

One downside that I saw was the lack of the root account which has been replaced with the sudo command. This allows anyone with an account to have root access, I mean it’s not a problem for me but that doesn’t seem very secure.

For users that want to use a different graphical interface there are also related projects such as kubuntu which uses KDE and xubuntu which uses Xfce. These projects are free as well and are linked from the main Ubuntu website.

I would highly suggest that you give Ubuntu a try if you are thinking about running Linux. It is well worth your time and is as simple as putting a CD in your tray in booting it.