My HDD crashed once again! Western Digital, no good!
Yes, there are problems with certain WD Green models.
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Bad point is the default programs on the 5.2.8 Lucid Puppy CD.
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There are already two newer versions: one compatible with Slackware and one with Ubuntu 12.04.
Ubuntu with Unity: well, as much as i hate to say it (cause i really sympathize with Ubuntu, until not so long ago the leading distro) .... it drives me nuts. Unity has some good ideas (like the left panel with icons) but i've spent hours in trying to find where everything is. Most annoying: if you wanna find an app, you need to type it in some kind of search box. I'd prefer a list with all apps somewhere, but i can't seem to find it. Maybe this is the "new way of thinking" (like Gnome, Windows 8...) with one desktop for all devices (smart-phones too) ... but hey ... i don't like it! Worse is the lack of customization: seriously, even adding or removing icons on that dreaded side bar is like a journey in hell. Right mouse button like in old Gnome 2 or XFCE? I don't think so!
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I have used Unity now for a year or so and I dare say that it is
functionally the best desktop I have used and Ubuntu 12.04 is the best OS. It has lesser bugs than 10.10/Gnome 2, which I thought was pretty good. Unity is also reasonably decent looking, because there isn't much else visible than your own background picture - which is just as a desktop should be.
Still, you don't need to like it.
Unity is NOT difficult. That has been proven over and over again, when Unity is given to a computer newbie - they have no problems using it. Unity is just very different. I am used to the computer world, which changes every year and all the concepts are totally different on different decades. I do not think that development in late 70s was a divine sign of a greater force and nothing should or could be changed after that - Windows XP and Gnome 2 are from there. I think there is always a place for improvements. What I have studied the hard-core Linux users - some of them are the most old-fashioned people in the world and do not like any changes. That is one reason for all that Unity writing - 95% of it is pure rubbish from the technology point of view.
As for your questions:
First, using an OS is NOT about starting programs that you have never used before. 99% of the use is something else, mostly it is working with programs and data that you know. In general, the number of mouse clicks or moves is smaller than in Gnome 2, by far.
1.
For getting regularly used programs to the menu.
It couldn't be simpler than that. Just open the program and then use right mouse button to lock it there.
2.
As for finding programs with Dash.
Like an example, when you try to remember the program that is for burning CD? What was its name and how I am supposed to remember its name in Unity? Well, in Gnome2 you have to, if it is not installed - there never was anything decent installed in the first place.
In Unity, the main principle: DON'T !
First of all: DON'T think about whether it is installed or not, Dash will tell you both: installed and available in different categories - easy to distinguish.
Secondly: DON'T think if you have used it earlier on your computer or not. Dash will remember that anyway and show recently used programs every time. This is a very fast way.
Thirdly: DON'T think about the program name. Think about what you want to do. Start writing, for instance, "burn" in Dash. If you have Ubuntu on different language you may be able to use your own language for the search AND always English as well. That is VERY user friendly, if you need something else than English.
In order to get ALL of that working fluently, you should start Dash with right mouse button and choose "applications". Otherwise, it will also try to located files and other things.
So, in the end, you will see all the choices for burning a CD.
There are many other aspects to Dash - for instance, I am searching my music library with that. You do not need to do ANYTHING for Dash to search from all the files on the second disk and locate in seconds.
3.
As for getting other menus
You can have a hierarchical view in Dash - Applications - Filters ... and there you have it.
You can also add Gnome 2 "menu panel" easily, so they say.
Personally, I think those are useless since with Dash and left side panel, you can do things better.
4.
Have a go with the icons and observe what they can do.
See what the options are when programs are running on many desktops. Gnome 2 desktop cannot even in theory have such a functionality behind a simple icon as Unity has.
Well, not much of the above, can be tested in a live boot - not in the same way anyway
But anyway, if your computer runs Unity live-boot fluently, then 12.04 LTS with Unity is certainly one choice for you. I am running Unity on everything from a moped-laptop to high-end workstation at work.
