How is Ubuntu different from other distros? New user :D

[KAL9000]

Hello everyone, im sorry if i missed the acctual new user area and am now clogging all the important debate but here i am.

im not new to Linux but my previous attempts in the past with Fedora Cores 2 and 3 have been quite feeble, one time trying to Install Video drivers i did that much damage it became unbootable then after more tinkering also made Windows XP on my other partition unbootable as well (Lesson lerned now, if im going to dual boot...use my other Physical drive)
despite how that may sound i do knowmy way round a windows systwm pretty well and on a hardware level i know my stuff, after trying to decide if i should again try Fedora (Core 4 if not 5 is probably out now) or Debian i rememberd about this Distro id been told about some time ago...

im Downloading the install CD as i speak with intent to install on a seperate drive on my PC (dual boot with Windows XP)

My main questions are...how does Ubuntu differ from Fedora or Debian? is it just a basic Linux implimentation but with a different style? i have noticed that unlike the Fedora site this site site seems much more laid back...alot more (as the slogan suggests) the users are acctualy Human and not some kind of uB3r l33t haXX0rs who youcant get a streght answer from.

Also what kind of common problems exist with this Distro, i herd with Fedora that the Nvidia drivers needed playing with to get them to work...this is what ultimatley caused the last problem described above, are there any such known problems with Ubuntu?

and finaly will ANY Linux compatable program/utility/game/ultrapr0n downloader work with Ubuntu?

aorry for such a large 1st post, i just want to make sure i get this right and get my nose into what apperas to be a good comunity

[Iandefor]

I'm not really qualified to speak about Fedora, but Ubuntu is fairly similar to Debian (No matter what anyone says, I've never had trouble compiling/installing a Debian package on an Ubuntu system). Obviously, they differ in style, and a few important libraries have been mucked about with (Glibc, i think, along with others) but this doesn't really seem to impede my usage of Debian (and even Red Hat) packages.
As far as I know, Nvidia driver issues are not unique to Fedora; I've seen plenty of posts complaining of Nvidia issues on the Ubuntu forums.
I don't know about ANY p2p program (which is what it sounds like you're descrbing), but it really depends on the package you're trying to use. I haven't had any trouble with Limewire or GTK-Gnutella.
It doesn't really matter whether or not you know your way around Windows, by the way. Linux is appreciably different, and if you attempt to take a Windows-oriented attitude to Linux, you'll be sorely disappointed, IMHO.

[jdawdy]

Most Linux distros are basically quite similar. There are some "look&feel" issues (some people HATE Ubuntu's brown theme, but I quite like it myself), but actual operability....the biggest difference is Ubuntu/Debian uses deb packaging whereas Redhat uses RPM.

You can use most any .deb package with the dpkg command. You can even use RPMs with the alien command. I also generally have good luck with the precompiled binaries for things like Skype, Realplayer, Adobe Acrobat.

Some distros put system files in different places...like /usr/lib vs /usr/local...little things like that. In most cases you wont worry about that, unless you are compiling software by hand.

Most of the free p2p programs (emule, bittorrent) work under ubuntu in one form or another. There is also a good file downloader, d4x, which you can use to download large files off the net (not p2p, just ftp/http files).

Yes, this community is not very Eleeet1st :D
Thankfully!

[az]

Well the core is debian and everything else is taken from the respective upstream source. It is all packaged, with most of it found in the universe repository.

Ubuntu has a tremendous community focus (open source is social software).

It is brown.

[poofyhairguy]

My main questions are...how does Ubuntu differ from Fedora or Debian?

For me the difference is that Ubuntu has more software packaged for it than Fedora. There is more, I am shallow.