Ubuntu 9.10

So I trashed my video configuration beyond repair last night, so I went ahead and installed Ubuntu 9.10. I'd seen a few articles on the net where people had some problems, but this was an extremely smooth install. After going through the installation, which only took about half an hour, I installed a few other things:

1. The broadcom driver. I still don't know why the Ubuntu installer can't detect the need for this driver and install it. It has become way easier to install, it's all done from Synaptic now.
2. Java, again from Synaptic.
3. wicd, which "just works" to replace the still crappy Gnome network manager.
   
4. vpnc, which I need to connect to work from home.
5. Flash, from Synaptic.
   
6. The Bitstream Vera font for coding. I got wise this time and installed it in my ~/.fonts directory, so I won't have to go searching for it next time.
7. sshfs so I can mount remote directories.
8. Replaced gnome-screensaver with xscreensaver.
   

I keep the apps that I use that aren't part of the standard install in a ~/apps directory. Since I always keep my home directory on a separate partition, I don't have to re-install all those apps again. This also means all my Firefox settings and so on are still right where they should be.

Again, a really easy upgrade with no problems. I wish it was always like this.

Update: I also needed to do the trick to get the workspaces to rotate properly. Beats me why Gnome won't do this out of the box, it seems like it should just be a setting somewhere, but it isn't.