Replying to Ubuntu 12.04

Before I made a proper install of the Ubuntu 12.04, I had ubuntu 11.10 installed on vmware for quite a long time. But I ended up using it not very often because of a few issues. The most important issue was the lack of good performance...

i agree... performance can be an issue with VM but with good hardware and enough RAM they can run rather smoothly...

one of the reasons why i chose Xubuntu because i find the Xfce Desktop to be quite slick, even in VM... i have tested LinuxMint 13, Ubuntu 12.04, OpenSuse 12.1 on VM (on my G620/4GB) and Xubuntu is still the best... eventhough i can get the Xfce version of LinuxMint i'm quite happy with the elegant layout of Xubuntu

Why not run Ubuntu as VM on Windows 7, in that way you have both worlds available instantaneously... that's how i set up mine, although i'm still with old XP hehe...

Before I made a proper install of the Ubuntu 12.04, I had ubuntu 11.10 installed on vmware for quite a long time. But I ended up using it not very often because of a few issues.
The most important issue was the lack of good performance. I don't know the reason, but ubuntu installed on vmware didn't perform as good as a proper installation even with more than enough resources dedicated to the vmware machine. Probably this has to do with dirvers or other stuff but the performance was not good.
Secondly, I use multiple monitors, which in vmware was next to impossible as I have no idea how to get it wroking. Plus there were numerous other issues that made me go with a proper install.

I have currently switched back to the windows 7 because of one main issue: Power consumption. Ubuntu seems to consum much more power on my laptop than windows7 and consequently, the battery backup time is very low. The multimedia performance of the default player on ubuntu was also not satisfactory, but I guess that can be overcome with other media applications and won't be much of a problem.

I also find it extermely hard to troubleshoot various issues that arise from time to time. The reason probably is that I am yet not familiar with the structure of ubuntu and how to edit various settings. I think I need to invest more time in it to be able to use it on the same level as I use windows 7 but this is where the problem lies. In my current situation, I cannot spend most of my time just trying to figure out how to solve problems related to my OS.,

I hope I could make a permanent shift to ubunt as I am a big fan of it, but unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon.

I installed ubuntu 12.04 and straight away I found that it had solved some of the issues I was having with the ubuntu 11.10. The most irritating of those issues were multi-monitor setup and display brightness control. So ubuntu 12.04 made me take one step further towards shifting from Windows to Linux. One issues that is not addressed yet in ubuntu 12.04 is power usage for laptops. I have witnessed that Ubuntu consumes much more power (and thus the batter last for very short period of time) as compared to windows 7. The difference is alsmost 50%, that is ubuntu lasts only 50% of the time windows 7 lasts on battery. This is a huge issue for me as I face lots of power failures.
I have tried laptop-mode-tools but they haven't been very productive yet. So I am trying to get this issue solved and when I get my ubuntu to last longer on battery, I think I would be able to spend more time on ubuntu that I spend now on windows 7.

I will open a few threads discussing the problems that I am currently having with the ubuntu 12.04 that are making me stay with windows 7. And as soon as I figure out how to solve them, I think I would be ready to move on to the Linux Ecosystem.

Why not run Ubuntu as VM on Windows 7, in that way you have both worlds available instantaneously... that's how i set up mine, although i'm still with old XP hehe...

I installed ubuntu 12.04 and straight away I found that it had solved some of the issues I was having with the ubuntu 11.10. The most irritating of those issues were multi-monitor setup and display brightness control. So ubuntu 12.04 made me take one step further towards shifting from Windows to Linux. One issues that is not addressed yet in ubuntu 12.04 is power usage for laptops. I have witnessed that Ubuntu consumes much more power (and thus the batter last for very short period of time) as compared to windows 7. The difference is alsmost 50%, that is ubuntu lasts only 50% of the time windows 7 lasts on battery. This is a huge issue for me as I face lots of power failures.
I have tried laptop-mode-tools but they haven't been very productive yet. So I am trying to get this issue solved and when I get my ubuntu to last longer on battery, I think I would be able to spend more time on ubuntu that I spend now on windows 7.

I will open a few threads discussing the problems that I am currently having with the ubuntu 12.04 that are making me stay with windows 7. And as soon as I figure out how to solve them, I think I would be ready to move on to the Linux Ecosystem.

I agree. There is XFCE 4.10 released which has some nice features like good window decoration, desk bar and many other features. These features are quite an improvement over 4.6 which was available for us few months back. That said, xubuntu release should have an update for this to the 4.10. I am not sure why there is no update so far.

Also i find it hard to upgrade to the xfce without xubuntu branding when i am using the xubuntu branding. That is something i am trying to avoid for a quite time. I mean branding on the bootscreen for xubuntu is quite ugly and also the login manager is something i am trying to avoid for the xubuntu. In case of ubuntu you'll see that they have some nice bootscreen and the login manager. so that is why xfce is good but something i don't want to use with branding of canonical.

There was a hack to use plymouth boot screen, i am not sure if they allow us to edit the bootscreens. I think most of the windows versions have such softwares from stardock, i wonder what is there for the linux. It would be good to use such a bootscreen editor. I mean we can use what we like or want that way.

Things I hate about xubuntu are - bootscreen, and the window decorations.

Their bootscreen is something i can't change but window decorations can. I don't know how to change that bootscreen to something stunning like ubuntu. Also the login manager is also ugly for the xubuntu. In case of modern processors like core i3 it is not needed to use xubuntu in case there are more than 4 cores to manage the performance. I see that xubuntu is good for the low or moderate hardware but in case of modern hardware why not take advantage of the resources.

That said, I did ubuntu gnome shell install and now the system is using classic gnome on ubuntu 12.o4. It is quite fast and does most of the work. I am also installing some of the tweaks which are working fine for the stuff. Then tryinng to plan for the mate or cinnamon in future if things with gnome classic dont pan out as planned. The reason i am not into install spree is because it is quite boring to watch slow downloads.

i agree... but i'm more interested in speed rather than elegance, well compared to other popular titles... but i think Xubuntu is elegant enough for me...

Login Screen would do with a better one tho as you mentioned... boot screen i don't really mind

Things I hate about xubuntu are - bootscreen, and the window decorations.

Their bootscreen is something i can't change but window decorations can. I don't know how to change that bootscreen to something stunning like ubuntu. Also the login manager is also ugly for the xubuntu. In case of modern processors like core i3 it is not needed to use xubuntu in case there are more than 4 cores to manage the performance. I see that xubuntu is good for the low or moderate hardware but in case of modern hardware why not take advantage of the resources.

That said, I did ubuntu gnome shell install and now the system is using classic gnome on ubuntu 12.o4. It is quite fast and does most of the work. I am also installing some of the tweaks which are working fine for the stuff. Then tryinng to plan for the mate or cinnamon in future if things with gnome classic dont pan out as planned. The reason i am not into install spree is because it is quite boring to watch slow downloads.

I have had a look in to Ubuntu... 12.04 on VMware... Upgraded my 11.04 Xubuntu to 12.04 (Fresh Install of course)

Never really like the layout of Ubuntu... although i haven't tried the classic layout (with start button and all)... I've always preferred Xubuntu as it runs smoother and less resource hungry

I have just installed the ubuntu 12.04. Tested the unity and gnome 3 interface on the computer and realized that it is not my thingy. I had approximately 1 hour of live cd session. I managed to somehow understand that unity and the HUD is one of the things that I hate on the linux. I like point and click thing and not typing so, this is the reason i have installed gnome classic session here.

This old gnome classic makes me feel like using the same old gnome with new apps. I am sure that there are people who use the old gnome session on their computers with this upgrade. I wanted to install cinnamon and mate from the repository but it seems that there is hardly any need considering i can use the gnome fallback session on ubuntu.

My system specs are -

• Intel second generation core i3
• RAM 2GB
• ALSA
• Intel graphics
• Ubuntu 12.04

It is still slow when all the effects are applied and that is what makes it hard to use between snappy slowless.

So far I have managed to use the compiz effects on all the desktop environment and it is working fine but disabled them because i hardly need them and they are not that attrctive either. So instead of unity, gnome 3 and compiz, I settled down to the gnome session fallback.

There is a lot of branding inside ubuntu software center. I mean any search query will show some ubuntu product in software center. I don't know if they want to make money desparately but it seems they are over promoting.

Anyway, it is too early to say anything about the release from ubuntu. let me take 1 more week to make some more conclusions.