Ubuntu releases 12.04 Precise Pangolin LTS Linux

Wow, I thought it was going to be released on the 29th...

The only thing holding me back from installing Linux as my main OS is the installation and performance of Windows games. Wine and PlayonLinux are simply just not built for the faint of heart and even after all these years, there are too many issues to overcome. Probably one of those forever unfinished projects. Such a shame that an undeniably superior OS has to suffer this loss.

As soon as Valve officially releases Steam for Linux, I'll install Ubuntu. However, it be release 12.10 or 13.04 by that time.

Games and Gaming should not be the reason to avoid Ubuntu. That is what gaming consoles are for. Besides Ubuntu supports dual booting so you can still boot windows when you want to be unproductive. My system boots Ubuntu 12.04 and Windows XP (although I rarely boot it) without a problem. And since Ubuntu is free the only excuse you really have for not checking it out is lack of technical skills to configure it, or the time and patience to learn them.

"The only thing holding me back from installing Linux as my main OS is the installation and performance of Windows games"

dual boot. run windoze to play games and ubuntu to use your computer.

Gaming for Ubuntu is increasing. Steam is making support for it, the Software Center's database of games is expanding and larger sites like dotdeb.com keep getting even larger.

what about dual boot to windows 7 and on a 2nd hd

It's good news to hear gaming is increasing on Linux, this will probably make hardware manufacturers to provide better Linux support and improvements to the open source drivers.

Just like "peace" has many definitions to different people, so does "superiority" in this context.

I'd hardly call an OS that can't even support my router "superior." Or an OS that requires hours and hours of forum-digging to, maybe, find a workaround for such hardware.

Essentially, superior to me is, well, it works out of the box with whatever I throw at it, and does what I need it to do with as minimal effort as possible. Linux? Hardly.

(Alternatively, it's sad to think that the Linux kernel being known for its wide hardware compatibility and all, is being diminished in this very category due OEMs' complete negligence [or the low ROI, who am I kidding?] of the open-source model.)

How in gods name is a router not supported, the only interface a PC and router should have is through the TCP/IP stack and any "router" that requires more is a piece of cr@p.

installed this new version. i got errors after install and no view of the cursor.

radeon hd5830

^^ Maybe check if your download/iso integrity is correct. Post install errors generally happen when something went wrong on the user side.

I have to agree with Lawfer here. Although Linux is improving it often does not "just work" out of the box. There are still hardware compatibility issues on many systems, particularly with things like ALPS touchpads and certain routers. There is still no official support for Nvidia Optimus which is a real pain to set up and even then has limited usability.
I can't speak for Ubuntu 12.04, having not tested it yet but I can verify that pretty much every recent Linux distribution is still riddled with problems. I actually tested Kubuntu just last night and had several errors on the first boot and immediately after that crashed during system update.
For a while I also believed that Linux was a superior OS but after my recent slew of testing, in my opinion it still has a very long way to go. A few years ago I would have given more points to Linux but at the moment I truly believe that Windows 7 is far superior.

yea, typically things are user errors....

Apparently there is also some problem with linux and the hd5830

You're argument is flawed. It's widely known Linux still has a long way to go to reach Windows-like peripheral compatibility. And don't get me started with hardware that require proprietary drivers to work properly.

I also agree with lawfer. I play a lot of games on the Pogo website. Not one single flavor of Linux (I've tried around 9), with the exception of Zorin (and even though Zorin will play a game, there is no sound), will play those games out of the box. Firefox crashes every single time and in every flavor of Linux when I attempt to play a game. Opera, Midori, Sea Monkey, et al, do not work either. I can only assume it is some sort of Java issue. Want to install a new version of Java outside of Synaptic? One that the browser will access? Good luck following instructions right from the Java site that tell you to install it in the directory you want. Well, what directory would that be and where is it? Lawfer is correct in complaining about digging for hour after hour through forum after forum only to come up with a set set of incredibly long and ridiculously convoluted instructions on how to solve a problem. I had to laugh when one "solution" contained 67 separate lines of terminal-based instructions!

Running Linux is certainly not like running Windows. And yes, you need a certain level of expertise to deal with it. And yes, Linux is a magnificent achievement and yes, it is free. But even with all the complaints about Windows (and notice I didn't use the oh-so-clever and tired spelling, Windoze), you have to appreciate how simple it is to install software. Solving a Linux problem is not for the feint of heart and will turn you prematurely grey.

Indeed, windows is really easy to use... c'mon, don't make me laugh! Just try to do a lan with winxp and win7! Or what about certain hardware that it used to work under windowsxp and it does not under windows 7 (canon scanner)! Something that never happens at linux.
At least, under linux, when you get a problem there is almost always a way to resolve it. In windows... better forget it. Once you get used to work with linux, only then you'll realize how slow windows make you work!
Oh, and almost forgot. About installing software. Just tell me, how difficult is to open synaptic manager, select the program you want and click "Install" Plus, if you want to get best performance for your hardware, you can always download the source, compile it and install it.
Oooh, another (last) thing. I've never seen in my life an OS to give you an update which tell you:"If you install it your computer may not start"... WHAT?!?!?!?! And it happened on two of my computers! Only on windows can happen this thing! And people pay for this OS! Get serious!

When I have to edit driver source code to get my wifi adapter to work, that's when any claim to usability goes out the window. I haven't given up on it entirely, but every time I've tried to use Linux there's been at least one show-stopping hardware driver issue that was nigh-on insurmountable. It's probably due to my proclivity for running extremely strange hardware configurations, but rarely in Windows has a fix been required beyond a basic registry hack or cfg edit. Certainly I've never had to break out a c++ compiler and read through API references to fix anything.

Usability in Windows is crap. An upgrade from XP to W7 requires days of work, searching for your applications on the net, juggling with software dvd's, registering again and again, installing 3rd party antivirus, crapcleaner, 3rd party firewall, deinstalling or disabling crappy built in features, setting up everything in the control panel, AND the occasional trouble with hardware drivers in Windows is more common than on Ubuntu (just did an upgrade of my W7 NVidia drivers which completely hosed my system.). If you call that great usability you must be joking. Setting up Ubuntu otoh takes mostly two hours, all the apps come with it, you can cearch in a central app database, no need for cleaners or antivirus bloatware, firewall is already set up, and if you do an upgrade your user setttings are still there. I'm using Linux for 12 years now and honestly I always had more fixing and configuring to do on Windows than on Ubuntu.