This is a step-by-step guide for installing Ubuntu 6.06 in my "Loaded" configuration, as described in: Moving from Gentoo to ... SUSE, Ubuntu, or Fedora Core?

Ubuntu defaults to a GNOME desktop, without giving the user a choice. However, I'm not counting that against it, since it just takes a couple of apt-get one-liners to have KDE running.

A quick list of pros & cons:

Pros:

1. Shortest installation time compared to openSUSE 10.1 and Fedora Core 5, and fewest number of CDs required.
2. Easy to keep the system up to date with "apt-get upgrade"

Cons:

1. Had to manually edit xorg.conf to enable NVIDIA support.
2. Acrobat Reader plugin doesn't show up.
3. Plugins default to the "wrong" versions ("Document Viewer" instead of acroread, "Totem" instead of MPlayer, etc.)
4. Picked wrong soundcard to use a default, and no GUI found to change it (had to edit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base; see forum thread)
5. No root logins allowed; have to constantly use "sudo".

Prerequisites:

1. Ubuntu 6.06 "Desktop" CDROM

Instructions:

1. Boot from the CD. After Live CD boots, click the "Install" icon on the desktop. Install Ubuntu to hard drive, using default settings.
2. Boot into new system.
3. Install and run EasyUbuntu :
   

   wget http://easyubuntu.freecontrib.org/files/easyubuntu-3.022.tar.gz
   tar zxf easyubuntu-3.022.tar.gz
   cd easyubuntu
   sudo python easyubuntu.in

   From the "Multimedia" tab, click the following:

   • Codecs
   • Binary Codecs
   • libdvdcss

   From the "Web" tab, click:

   • Flash
   • Videos

   Do NOT select Java - will install later.

   From the "System" tab, select:

   • Repository list
   • Fonts

   Do NOT install the NVIDIA drivers - will install later.

   Click "OK" to install

   When it asks you if you want to install the non-free Flash player, click the box to accept.
   
   I had to Ctrl-C to exit from EasyUbuntu even after it told me it was finished ... not sure why.

4. For some reason, I had to run EasyUbuntu again, select "System"->"Repository List" again for it to add the new repositories.
5. [OPTIONAL] KDE: Install a minimal KDE environment.
   

   sudo apt-get install kdeaddons kde-core kmix gtk2-engines-gtk-qt

6. Install KDE digital camera tools:
   

   sudo apt-get install digikam digikamimageplugins kipi-plugins

7. NVIDIA drivers:
1. Install NVIDIA packages:

   sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx nvidia-kernel-common

2. Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf, and replace 'Driver "nv"' with 'Driver "nvidia"'. [Ubuntu's configuration program didn't work, but did tell me to edit the xorg.conf file.]
   

   sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

3. Log out of GNOME, switch to a console (Ctrl+Alt+F1), and run:
   
   

   sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop
   sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start

4. Make sure it worked:
   

   glxinfo|grep direct

   Should give the following output:

   direct Rendering: Yes

8. Remove the totem gstreamer package (mplayer works better):
   

   sudo apt-get remove totem-gstreamer-firefox-plugin

9. Install Acrobat reader and Java:
   

   sudo apt-get install mozilla-mplayer xine-ui acroread acroread-plugins mozilla-acroread
   sudo apt-get install j2re1.4 j2re1.4-mozilla-plugin 
   

   [ERROR: No acroreader plugin shows up in Firefox.]

10. Install RealPlayer:
    

    sudo apt-get install realplayer

    Failed: "realplayer: Depends: xlibs but it is not installable"

1. Add the following line to your .bashrc or similar:

   export FIREFOX_DSP="aoss"

   This makes sound sync better with streaming sites like YouTube. It is still a little off, but not as bad as the default.

Extras:

1. wxPython:
1. Install package:

   sudo apt-get install python-wxgtk2.6 wx2.6-doc wx2.6-examples

2. [OPTIONAL] Test it out:
   

   cd /usr/share/doc/wx2.6-examples/examples/wxPython
   sudo gzip -d *gz
   python demo.py

2. Wings3d:
   

   sudo apt-get install wings3d

3. I add a few more commonly-used Python packages:
   

   sudo apt-get install python-crypto python-dev python-doc python2.4-pysqlite2

4. jEdit:
   1. Download the Java-based installer
   2. Install (as root):
      
      

      sudo java -jar jedit42install.jar

      Does NOT work with Java 5.0, only with 1.4.2.

Results: View the table of results

Overall, I was fairly disappointed with Ubuntu, given its top ranking on distrowatch and the amount of hype it has generated. I had to hand-edit things, plugins didn't work, the wrong plugins kept getting chosen, etc. I found it be a fairly frustrating experience when compared to openSUSE.