What Linux OS are you using?

I just got upgraded to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

Does the mouse cursor icon change to a clenched fist when you move the mouse cursor to the menu bar at the top of the screen and you held down the ALT key?

I dont know if this will help you, but it helped me a lot:

To Do List After installing Ubuntu 12.04 LTS aka Precise Pangolin

http://debianhelp.wordpress.com/2012...cise-pangolin/

Thanks. I will check this and see if it helps

CoolHipDude,

No it does not change the hand cursor. It stays as default cursor

Bit peculiar to me. By rights, it should change from the default arrow shape to something else when you are on the menu bar and you hold down the ALT key. Just what computer you are using?

CHD

How about using Mate desktop environment? According to my experience, it is nearly as customizable as kde but much lighter...

Ubuntu 12.04 uses unity, not KDE.

I'd suggest Xfce over MATE. Xfce can be installed from standard ubuntu repos, MATE needs a PPA to install with ubuntu systems.

CHD,

I am using Dell Inspiron E1505. I have dual boot with Windows XP and Ubuntu. I was using older Ubuntu and got a Update Manager saying 12.04 LTS is available. I clicked on Upgrade and my system got upgraded without reboot. I did a reboot after that though.

Thanks
Ajitha

cascade9,

I will try Xfce. But should I reinstall Ubuntu for that?

Thanks
Ajith

Ajitha,

I see that you are using a Dell laptop.

I am using an Apple Mac Mini (Jan. 2012, 2.7 GHz dual-core Intel Core i7, 8 Gb, 750 Gb 7200 rpm SATA, AMD Radeon HD 6630M) with the Microsoft Digital Media Pro keyboard
(which is actually a PC-type keyboard, not a Mac-type keyboard) and the Logitech Trackball Marble Wheel mouse (also a PC-type mouse, not a Mac-type mouse), running both
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit and Mac OS X Lion in their own individual 375 Gb partitions.

I have no idea why the arrow cursor is not changing into a clenched fist when you are hovering over the menu bar and the left-most ALT key is held down.

I am not really a Linux expert, and I have no experience of using Dell laptops / notebooks / PCs.

The problem could be due to the way the keyboard on the Dell is wired up (have you tried plugging a PC-type USB keyboard into one of the USB ports on the E1505 and see if you
can get the arror cursor to change into a clenched fist) or it could be due to the fact that you upgraded from a previous Ubuntu version instead of performing a clean install
of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (have you tried doing a clean install of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS on an USB external drive and see if you can get the arrow cursor changing into a clenched fist).

I have to confess that I am no longer trialling Ubuntu on the Mac because I have lost interest (trying to sort out the problems with Ubuntu was taking up too much of my time)
and I have moved onto other things which are more deserving of my limited time and attention.

Sorry.


Regards,

CHD

No Issues CHD. I am going to attempt a clean install anyway. I will post back here if I find a solution.

Thanks
Ajith

Not needed. You can install Xfce from synaptic, software centre or the command line. BTW, there is 'xfce4' and 'xubuntu-desktop' in the ubuntu repos. Xfce is more minimal, xubuntu-desktop comes with more software. (Xfce4 is nice if you want a more 'custom' setup or lighter system).

If you decide you like Xfce4 or xubuntu-desktop, you can remove ubuntu-desktop to free up HDD space and remove uneeded packages or software.

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/xfce
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/purexubuntu

I ran ubuntu on my netbook but with unity and ubuntu getting more bloated everyday, I gave up on it and went back to the system I have relied on for so many years. Good old straight forward, never change a lot debian minimal install and afterwards installing lxde.

I have to say I am impressed. 1gig ram ain't a lot nowadays but still the above setup is simple, straight forward, no gimmicks (looks like an older version of windows by default, not my main reason of use, though.) I just like the old fashion click on the menu display and the menu pulls up everything. Gnome and derivatives never did it for me, KDE was nice and my favorite until they got the silly menu where 4 sub menus and a lot of clicking is involved. Even this drove me away from KDE, I have to say that I am greatful to them for doing this. I refuse to budge to gnome but with KDE and the silly clicking, I really started getting around the CLI and actually learned that with most things it is so much quicker than farting around looking for programmes in menus.

Do try other Desktop environments, as was said, don't worry too much about the base distro. Use what you know. No point in strugling. It is all open source and all do the same thing, just in different ways, but there is no absolutely perfect distro, if there is let me know. My favorites are Centos for the rpm group and Debian for the deb group. Both work great, but for most things debian is just easier to get things going with. Centos got my attention with doing some studies, and I quite like it.