Hello all,

Have been experimenting with the new versions of Ubuntu and Xubuntu (Hardy Heron), and thought I'd provide some comment and hopefully attract some thoughts or experienced comment from others.

First, my comments on the Gnome based version (the standard Ubuntu Hardy Heron release)

Positives

* All hardware components working, at least at their minimum functionality
* K-world (Aldi) DVB-T card worked out of the box
* NVIDIA driver package downloaded from NVIDIA installed perfectly *after* I had first downloaded the "build-essential" and "linux-restricted-modules-2.6.x.x" packages, using Synaptic
* NVIDIA drivers worked well enough for HD DVB-T television to work without jumping and skipping (first time ever I have seen HDTV work 100% under Linux)

Negatives

* Pioneer DVR-110 will only write at 4x using K3B
* TV out on my NVIDIA GeForce4 card was recognised, but output was black and white and flickering, unusable really.
* Could not get DVD to autoplay in Xine when a DVD disc is inserted (this is a major flaw in Gnome, which did work perfect on Ubuntu Edgy Eft).
* The version of Gimp provided is more difficult to use than the older 2.2 version provided with Edgy Eft, seemed to be more difficult for little if any gain
* Xine always started with the volume off
* Xine GUI could not be displayed while Xine is in full screen mode
* Xine volume indicator on the xine GUI is erratic
* Very few themes available for Firefox 3.0b5


Although the hardware support in Hardy Heron is quite impressive, The annoyances in Gnome were unbearable, so I thought I would try Xubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron). Here are my findings:

Positives

* All hardware components working, at least at their minimum functionality
* K-world (Aldi) DVB-T card worked out of the box
* Xine will autoplay a DVD when a DVD disc was inserted into the DVD drive.
* Fast

Negatives

* NVIDIA driver package downloaded from NVIDIA would not install properly even after I had first downloaded the "build-essential" and "linux-restricted-modules-2.6.x.x" packages, using Synaptic
* NVIDIA drivers just would not work, so HD DVB-T television jumped and skipped like an epileptic wallaby.
* Pioneer DVR-110 will only write at 4x using K3B
* TV out on my NVIDIA GeForce4 card was not recognised.
* The version of Gimp provided is more difficult to use than the older 2.2 version provided with Edgy Eft, seemed to be more difficult for little if any gain
* Very few themes available for Firefox 3.0b5
* Was not able to take Screnshots in XFCE


So, for the short term I had three choices:

1) Use Ubuntu Hardy Heron and put of with buggy Gnome and Xine problems
2) Use Xubuntu Hardy Heron and put up with primitive Video support
3) Restore my Ubuntu Edgy Eft image and continue using a workable configured Edgey Eft


I think I will stick with option 3 for now . . . . I don't think moving to Hardy Heron is a step forward, because of the appalling usability bugs in Gnome.

Are you going to try anything with KDE?

I use Hardy Heron since beta release.
Positives:
* bluetooth support works "out-of-the-box"
* synchronization of Evolution calendar and contacts with mobile phone via bluetooth works "out-of-the-box"
* whole system is much faster on my Athlon 64bit than 7.04 Feisty (I did not use 7.10 Gutsy due to numerous hardware problems)
* rw support of NTFS partition is included in Live CD

Negatives:
* mojor bug in Evolution while copying and pasting appoitments

I don't need advanced multimedia, so I'm happy with it. The most happy I am with alternative windows manager (currently testing OpenBox)

Though it is easy to get rw support for NTFS in Edgy Eft. All you do is:

I don't mind install software, libraries, drivers etc, so long as they work with minimal fuss. I don't mind editing configuration files if their purpose is identifiable.

But trying to work around those what some would say "little problems", was unbearable. It's often the little things that keep you away.