Yes, I know. It will be disheartened look of desktop once you installed Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala.
All you need is to customize your desktop. Yes, it will be a tough job for any novice. Ubuntu has many tutorials and help forum to understand the process. But, I suggest that you try Ubuntu Tweaks using which you can customize desktop within few minutes. You can down load this program and install it by referring to Ubuntu Tweaks web site.
Once you have finished this, you can start customizing your desktop. Install Compiz and related software’s from the Ubuntu Software Center which helps you to alter your desktop. There are tons of free applications which you can install using this tool. Even, Synaptic Package Manager can help you in this aspect. Please remember to add only the applications which are gnome based applications. KDE based programs may cause issues in Ubuntu.
Yes, desktop display can cause you headaches. If you are using any graphics card, then find the appropriate programs using above mentioned software’s and install them. You need to save your desktop resolution configurations as: System > Preferences > Display
Important: Never run commands as root if you unaware of what you are doing. There are plenty of command lines which will tempt you to run in ‘Terminial’. My suggestion is to try to resolve any issues using GUI first if you are unsuccessful, then you can try to run appropriate commands using terminal.
Enjoy Linux! It’s the future.









