Surprised and Disappointed

[jeff]

I have noticed that some screen savers cause lockups.  Doesn't make 
sence, they souldn't have that kind of access, you'd think.

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.
>   
>