I feel absolutely limited by using Windows, and I need to switch to a Unix environment. I once installed Red Hat on my lappie (screen + external monitor setup; 4GB ram; x64; runs fast) and it worked fine, but I saw that the computer cluster that is the birthplace of my unix knowledge switched to Ubuntu, so naturally I follow.

To the point. When I installed Ubuntu onto my machine via the Windows Installer, it ran quite slow. Opening Firefox takes about 8-9 seconds, it freezes up often, unable to handle its own background processes.

I saw in a thread that, perhaps, it is running slow because the Windows Installer is installing an x64 version. Of course, my computer has had no performance issues in the past(except that time with the trojans but you know, know one is perfect ;) )

Anyways, I uninstalled Ubuntu, freeing up the max allocated memory it took up, and continue to be sad, trapped in my MS world with only a buggy Cygwin, any assistance is greatly appreciated! :)

Thanks ~Ben