Ubuntu 8.04 install

I keep wanting to switch to linux full time but for a few reasons i stay with windows. After Vista crashed around five times yesterday and each reboot takes years i decided to install ubuntu 8.04 on my 20 gig partition.

Installation is pretty easy but the bare system doesn't have the bells and whistles that i enjoy. Setting up compiz, awn and tweaking the settings so i have it just the way i want it is actually turning out to be pretty hard. I'm still working on desktop applets that monitor network traffic and ram/hd usage.

Here is what i got going on so far: