Try out a Ubuntu live image. You can probably get set up with everything without even having to touch your HDD! I just don't know how the native NVidia drivers

Try out a Ubuntu live image. You can probably get set up with everything without even having to touch your HDD! I just don't know how the native NVidia drivers work in that case, but I think you can get them installed and restart the window manager, even w/a a liveCD.