[newbe]

Hi, everyone! i already posted this in the hardware section, but i think it belongs here [ sorry mods ] i have a question and i hope someone can help. my parents just got me 8gb usb flash drive as a gift and i want to download Ubuntu on it...

Hi, everyone!
i already posted this in the hardware section, but i think it belongs here [ sorry mods ]
i have a question and i hope someone can help. my parents just got me 8gb usb flash drive as a gift and i want to download Ubuntu on it just to try something different [ i never had any other OS other then XP so i have no experience ] . so my questions are:
[1] what version of Ubuntu is good, and will it be easy for a new user to use ?
[2] do i need to download any other programs so it will work correctly?
[3] do i just plug the flash drive to computer usb port and it will work?
[4] anything else that i need to know?

sorry for the stupid questions , this is something i really don't know much about.

thanks,
Amber