linux video driver help

im willing to give Linux ONE more shot. if it works out i may switch but not anytime soon. i really want to use it as a learning tool but i have on problem. Ubuntu and other distros have a hard time with my video card and movement of windows etc. is laggy. but whenever i install the video drivers provided by ATI i get a blue screen at startup saying that X couldn’t start and i need to reconfigure my video settings or something. im not installing Linux until i know how to successfully install video card drivers. should i try the omega drivers? are they better? please help me, it’d be very much appreciated.