Ok guys long story short I had to walk away from ubuntu after a very bad experience with ubuntu server and I swithced to a RHEL clone (scientific linux) since RHEL is so solid at what they do.......that in turn led me to throw F17 XFCE on my workstation and laptop (I like XFCE best of all the current desktops

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Anyway this is one of the BEST desktop experiences of my life.....AWESOME JOB here guys.....A little themeing and now its georgeous and so far VERY stable and FAST.
BTW this might not sound like much but I absolutely love the "yum localinstall" feature that I didnt know was there....that sealed it for me over apt.
.......good job guys & gals keep upthe good work