I've been playing with Ubuntu 11.10 lately. Prefer Mint, but thought I would give it a try. I found a version with gnome shell instead of unity and I really like it. I have installed the OS on a 8gb flashdrive and it's running great. Everything I do in it I can save to my computer's hard drive, saving the flash drive memory for the programs I use. I am about to install gimp as I write. Though I am debating the 2.6.11 or a 2.7 version. I know I can use my gimp tools -- ie scripts, brushes, plugins -- which are on my computer hard drive. I want to install a 2.7.x version to try it out better. We'll see.

Anyway, Ubuntu is running great so far. And like I said, I really like the gnome shell, more so than unity. Not to mention the OS took up only 2.7gb on a full install. Groovy.

I've also installed 11.10 on a flash drive to test it out. I wanted to see how long it took before I got frustrated with Unity
I installed GIMP 2.6.11 because I want a stable system to test other stuff, including the tablet software which seems to be default. I have to admit there's some strange stuff going on there but I may have missed something so I'm not going to blame the software until I figure it out.
or until I make screengrabs.....

so far 11.10 seems very nice. I'm thinking of trying that 12 after I play with this version