I am using Sublime Text 2 on Linux (Ubuntu 12.04).

I never got the User settings to work (the settings are just ignored). I always have to change the Default Settings in order to change something (pretty annoying after an update).

The User settings file that gets opened when I click on “Preferences - Settings User” is located in: ~/.config/sublime-text-2/Packages/User/Preferences.sublime-settings

I am wondering if that is the correct file

Looks like the correct file. Which setting in specific are you trying to set?

I tried to set this:

{
“tabSize”: 2,
“translateTabsToSpaces”: true
}

That’s not the correct name for those settings. Try

{
    "tab_size": 2,
    "translate_tabs_to_spaces": true
}