New Linux User

What kinds of questions do you have? Is all of your hardware detected and working? If so, then you'll probably want to first learn about the Gnome GUI (your desktop manager). In Ubuntu, you can do pretty much all everyday configurations through it. You can google for some Gnome/Ubuntu tutorials.

One thing to be aware of (since you come from Windows) is that all of the apps you need will be in the Ubuntu repositories -- you can find the repos by navigating in the Gnome menus (software manager or something like that, I don't use Ubuntu but it isn't hard to find). You just download what you want and it will install it for you. It's not like Windows where you find an app here or there and install it from some website. With most Linux distros everything you need can be found in the repositories. You can compile your own stuff from source, but that's not something a newb needs to even think about.

Be sure to read up on "sudo" (Ubuntu's semi-super user). Linux isn't like Windows where every user who sits down at the computer has full access to all files and directories. Typically the only directory you will use on a daily basis is the "/home" dir. Don't go rummaging around in the "/" or "/etc" or "/root" directories unless you know exactly what you are doing.

Once you get familiar with how it all works from a GUI perspective, then you can delve into some command line stuff. It really depends on what your goal is -- do you want to use ubuntu for basic stuff? Or do you want to become an advanced user? If you just want an everyday OS, I wouldn't worry much with the command line.

Ouch, well since the partition table has been written, there probably isn't much you can do other than using some sort of data recovery software.

If you have any Ubuntu questions, just ask. There are others here who are much more familiar with its intricacies than me.

Swap, think of it as like windows page file, i don't really use one as i don't notice the difference but it is recommended to have 1

Just make a 2GB swap partition and the rest as your root partition (ext3). As for software, nearly everything can be obtained from the repositories (System>Administration>Synaptic).