I wish Ubuntu resolved my problems. It won't even go online for me. It's not that it doesn't see my network card - it does. It just won't talk to my router over it. I run a derivative of Smoothwall as my firewall/router (with a hub) and it works with Ubuntu on all my other computers. This seems to be a known problem, but I have yet to find a fix. It has something to do with the IPV6 networking, I gather, but I just don't have the time to delve deep enough to find out how to fix it for this computer.
Ergo, I run other distros, live cds, and *gasp* sometimes Windows.
I like ubuntu - I just wish it worked for me on this machine the way it works on other machines. (No, I don't have the time or need to replace the network card either...)
If it has syntax, it isn't user friendly.