Surprised and Disappointed

[Brian Beck]

On Monday 05 May 2003 11:05 am, Chuck Allison wrote:
> Hello pluglist,
>
>   I did a custom install of RedHat 8.0 last week and things went very
>   well, I thought. (I've posted some queries about Samba and Sound
>   Cards, issues I expected to have problems with). Last night when
>   trying to use Mozilla I got all kinds of strange graphics garbage
>   and had to reboot (shades of Windows here). This morning I came to
>   my Linux box and saw a frozen screen saver - I had to cold boot! As
>   a Windows guy, this is just deja vu all over again. Isn't Linux
>   supposed to be more stable than Windows? I usually don't have such
>   problems with Windows installations this early in their life cycle!
>   Should I turn off the screen saver (and how is that done)?
>
>   So far, I don't see the great appeal of Linux, unless one is the
>   type of person who lives for tweaking systems. I use systems as
>   development, teaching, and productivity tools, and would be happy
> if they would just "work". As a data point, I have a Windows XP box
> that's been running for 18 months now without a problem (I have never
> had to reboot because of any error - just to install system updates
> on occasion), and of course when I add other Windows boxes to my LAN
> workgroup, they're immediately visible and usable. I'm getting the
> feeling that the appeal of Linux is mainly just as a server, and not
> as a development machine or office workstation. These past few days
> of trying to setup Linux have been mostly frustration. I had a much
> easier time setting up Solaris networks last time I did UNIX (just a
> few years ago).
>
>   So why do you like Linux? Just because it's not a Microsoft
> product? I still can't print to my Windows printer correctly with all
> the advice I've received from this list and the online Samba guide,
> and also by reading the RedHat 8.0 Bible.
>
>   Please don't be offended. I'm really just curious about all this.
>   I'm thinking that since I'm not in the business of maintaining
>   servers, then Linux is probably not worth my time. Productivity is
>   very important to me and I don't want to spend so much time
> battling against a hard-to-configure system. Does that make sense?
>
>   If on the other hand there is some great benefit on the other side
>   of all this complexity (other than stability, which my XP box
> already has), please take a moment and convince me. Thanks.

check your power supply voltages, you could have a PS that is acting up. 
I have had similar problems with flaky power supplies.
just my .02 cents worth.
Brian