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Ubuntu is a great distribution. It's easy to use and makes things magically work for almost everybody.
Except me.
I updated to Insipid Ibex today and my keyboard stopped working. I use the dvorak layout, but that's nothing too bizarre. It kept reverting to a nearly standard 'us' layout, and I couldn't change it despite my best efforts.
I've been piddling around with X for over 7 years now, and I'm able to bend it to my will (mostly), but nothing I did seemed to affect it. I turned to Google (as I always do in such a predicament) and learned that Ubuntu had slipped a fancy new hardware abstraction layer into the mix. A layer that is apparently BROKEN, but still included.
That's my problem with Ubuntu. Not only did it break my system, but it was in new, obviously unstable code. Code that behaves completely differently than anything I've seen before. My choices are to edit some arcane xml file that I know nothing about, or to manually set the layout each time I start X.
You know, a running Ubuntu system is great. It's stable, nice looking, and easy. I've never had an upgrade go smoothly, though. Once you customize something, you're in for pain.
That's why I run Debian Testing. Not only is it rock solid (despite being called testing), but it often has newer versions of the software than Ubuntu does. And upgrades almost never cause problems.