I'm a Distro-A-Holic. I've used every distro at one time or another. I'm partial to Debian based distros myself.

I've used Ubuntu on my desktop for awhile. With a WIRED connection it works great. But, Ubuntu is a MAJOR pain with wifi. I eventually got it to work after hours of work (searching forums for fixes and then ndswrappers, etc; etc;) but, it was never 100%. I had to keep logging in and I gave up.

I installed LinuxMint (main release with Gnome) and it immediately recognized my Broadcom wireless on my Dell Vostro laptop via the restricted drivers. I enabled it along with the ATI driver. I rebooted and bingo! It worked and worked 100%. I can't say enough about this as wifi (especially if you have Broadcom) is a big problem with most distros. Check the forums yourself. LinuxMint, to me anyway, is Ubuntu done right!

As for the software portal, I am a fan of this. Try installing Google Earth in Ubuntu. It never works. With LinuxMint via the software portal, it installed correctly and runs fine. Now, I've tried this KDE edition and it didn't have the same restricted drivers pop-up that appeared on the Gnome based release. This is a shame. Otherwise, I'd love to give this release a go but, it didn't work for me. Linux is an odd duck. The part a lot of people don't understand is that regarding Linux installs "It depends". It depends on your hardware and a lot of things. You really do have to choose the right fit for your setup. Ubuntu Hardy Beta works fine on my wired connection desktop but, it won't on my laptop.

For me though, LinuxMint has really won me over. Why Ubuntu and other Debian based distros can't do what LinuxMint has done regarding wifi is beyond me. I know Broadcom won't release info to allow drivers (for whatever reason) but LinuxMint has slam dunked this issue and others should take notice. That Hardy Heron Beta shows no signs of addressing this issue is disappointing. When others watch me use my laptop running LM they are impressed at it's speed and ability to do anything I need it to. Now that laptops are cheap (my Vostro cost $399 and I added 2GB total memory) you owe it to yourself to install Linux on one. They make for a great marriage. Just be patient, learn your OS. Learn your terminal commands and get under the hood. I see people fumbling with Vista all the time and wonder why on earth they bother. At least with any time I spend on LinuxMint I am IMPROVING it and not REPAIRING it. It is time well spent and it is so satisfying in the end. Nice job here!