I am acually running Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn on AMD-based PC with nvidia graphic card and on a MacBook Core2 Duo. What follows are some very simple and minimal guide to get a non expert user into Ubuntu with a no pain process. Ubuntu will do most of the work. You have to put some of the rest, that is
"Forgot most ot what you think you learned using a Windows system. Make the simplest thing you can do. Think the right way."
Remember to check the official Ubuntu Guide: it could answer most of the questions. And remember to ask Google every time you have a clear question in your mind. If you don't, maybe you can spend some minutes about understanding what you are doing.
Extras:
http://xubuntublog.wordpress.com/2007/06/17/ubuntu-feisty-on-your-usb-drive-finally/
