Since I decided to use Ubuntu -yesterday- I've been struggling with the drivers. It isn't recognizing my optical disc drive nor my video card, a Nvidia 8500gt. For the matter, here's how I "successfully" installed the .run driver downloaded from Nvidia's website:

The terminal wouldn't let me start the installation because the X server had to be shutdown, so I pressed Ctrl+Alt+F1

Then, I used:

sudo service lightdm stop
cd /(directory where the nvidiaupdate.run was)
chmod +x nvidiaupdate.run
sudo ./nvidiaupdate.run

The installation began and got completed, but unfortunately it crashed Ubuntu's UI, invalidating the OS for me. All that would appear was a DOS-like screen with reports. I'm new to Linux, so I really would appreciate any help given. For now, I'm sticking to the additional drivers, but even with it Ubuntu doesn't show my video card in the informations of the system.

Forgive my bad English.