a few things

[not12listen]

on a fresh install of 12.04 (x86) on my Netbook, the UI is tile based. oh, it is frustrating using it in this manner - and reminds me of Windows 8 (not a good thing). i absolutely prefer the standard UI of 11.04/11.10.

with the tile based UI, i cannot find Muon Package Manager, other than searching. am i doing something wrong?

every time i click on Firefox, it wants to install it. apparently, it never completes the install, despite having seemingly completed half a dozen times. frustrating!

help!

[SteveRiley]

Sounds like you're running Plasma's netbook interface. You can switch to the regular desktop interface:

System Settings | Workspace Behavior | Workspace | Workspace Type

[kubicle]

If you install on a netbook, I think kubuntu defaults to plasma-netbook instead of plasma-desktop as the DE.

To switch to plasma-desktop (the "regular" UI) you can change SystemSettings>WorkspaceBehavior>Workspace>Workspa ceType to "Desktop".

On the firefox issue, are you sure you're running "firefox" and not the "firefox installer"? If yes, you can try installing firefox manually with:
"sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install firefox"

EDIT: looks like Steve beat me to it

[not12listen]

thanks! UI is fixed, and yes it was defaulting to the Netbook style workspace. it is now using the Desktop style... much happier!

working on the Firefox issue currently, as per your recommendation kubicle. i'll reply later with the results.

thanks again!

[not12listen]

the 'sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install firefox' worked perfectly!

but, i am very puzzled... previous to that, i would click on the only Firefox icon (installer). i would let it finish, then click 'close' and try to open Firefox and it would again go through the install process. has anyone else experienced this?

[not12listen]

on a side note... just upgraded my Netbook (Acer Aspire One) from 1GB of ram upto 2GB of ram... it has made quite a nice difference!