If you think Ubuntu 12.10 is buggy and painful to use, then you must try out the new Snowlinux 3 "White". It is based on Ubuntu 12.10 and it simplifies a lot of stuff which Ubuntu complicates! Desktops available along with this edition are: Mate 1.4, Cinnamon 1.6 and Gnome fallback 3.6. Linux kernel is 3.5.
From Snowlinux 3 Mate Cinnamon
Once the release note came in Distrowatch, I