I find 10.04.2 LTS a very good desktop operating system, Lots of software available and easy to install.

It's been very stable for me and works well on my laptop.

Installed it on one of my test systems, the install went without a hitch. At the time I needed to quick-test somethng on a clean install. Other than Arch that needs wall-to-wall attention during install, Ubuntu takes you tru the usual "questionaire" (wizard) and does its thing - by itself.

My setup blocked when I had to set the screensaver, but that was maybe due to the box, rarther than the OS.

Tested box : Compaq E51/1G/80G - the video MAY not have been configured right, that's all...

All in all THE step-in OS if you need a good first-time impression of Linux, and a keep-this if you stay into Linux...

I've been using this version of Ubuntu on my Core2-Duo desktop for over a year now and I still love it. Installation was very straight-forward using the GUI installer. Everything just works as it should and I've only had one major lock-up (which turned out to be a hardware problem). Once you install the proprietary driver for the graphics card, Compiz and Emerald you have all the eye-candy you could wish for. Software installation is a breeze, either using apt, Synaptic, or the Ubuntu Software Centre app. Highly recommended.