Interesting... I haven't tried anything but apt, but everything I've ever need has always been on it, and of a relatively latest version with hot updates.
Regarding fonts, it's subjective matter of course, but you can look at my desktop (I just did a screen shot) with my font settings. Here we go, no text file editing, just adjusted my font appearance in "Fonts" tab in Gnome:
My wife has been envious about this "punchy" font rendering for quite some time (until she got a Mac), but my colleagues at work still are (they're still on Windows).
Yeah, Ubuntu now comes pre compiled with the patent violating good font rendering. I run with no font smoothing and full hint. Much better than when you used to have to recompile the kernel. Doesn't look like Apple is going to sue anytime soon.
Regarding fonts, it's subjective matter of course, but you can look at my desktop (I just did a screen shot) with my font settings. Here we go, no text file editing, just adjusted my font appearance in "Fonts" tab in Gnome:
http://kontsevoy.com/gutsy.png
My wife has been envious about this "punchy" font rendering for quite some time (until she got a Mac), but my colleagues at work still are (they're still on Windows).