You are the recipient of some bad luck unfortunately.
Linux is a great envrionment to work in but not without its own
frustrations. I have been using Linux for over 10 years.

Your requirements that you specified label you as a User as opposed to a
User/Administrator. Linix basically is a multi user platform. Sure you can
use it as a single user but you will still have to *learn* some
administration.

No matter what others may say, there is still a fair amount of required
reading. I love Linux but I have a great amount of respect for Mac OS X.

OS X will make your life as a User far more productive. The variety of
available programs for OS X is awesome, providing you look in all the right
places.


Do not cut off your nose to spite your face !!!!!

Bare with your problem and get it resolved as frustrating as it may be. You
will end up the winner in this and that is what counts. Even the Apple
written software that is out and will be coming out makes it SO worthwhile.
As an example GarageBand a $45.00 music creatioin software is so powerful
for what it does. It is part of the "iLife" suite of useful programs. Sorry,
"iLife" is $45.00 not just GarageBand.

Think over your frustrating dilema carefully before you make the wrong
decision!!! I say all this to you as a long time Linux User/Administrator.
As a User, it is productivity that you are after.

If you want to discuss this with me directly, you can E-MAIL me at:

I hope you make th eright decision for You and for the longer term !

Al

alsimcoe at alsimcoe dot com
"Michael L" <rolleiflexes@FIGHTSPAMhotmail.com> wrote in message
news:270320041433383716%rolleiflexes@FIGHTSPAMhotm ail.com...
> Hi All:
>
> I'm considering a switch from Mac OSX to Linux because of extreme
> frustration with Apple customer support. A long time customer and
> supporter of Apple, never a fan of Windows, I'm hoping to load Linux on
> my powerbook as the first step in the transition away from Apple.
> Might as well keep using the powerbook until it dies and/or apple care
> runs out.
>
> I'm not a programmer. I'm a home and small business user who needs
> email, www, newsgroups, music and dvd playing/burning capability,
> accounting (Quicken), word-processing, simple digital image
> manipulation and address book functions. In other words, I'm a
> typical computer user, and to be honest I've been very happy with
> Panther OSX.
>
> My initial research shows that Yellow Dog has the easiest install, good
> support, and should run easily on my 12" Powerbook and older Pismo
> Powerbook.
>
> How likely is it that I'll be satisfied with Yellow Dog Linux on my
> Mac?
>
> Will the Linux OS take over every function currently handled by Panther?
>
> If Linux alone won't do what I need, is it easy to keep Linux and
> Panther side-by-side, either in separate partitions or on the same hard
> drive?
>
> Are there any particular advantages for me in switching over to Linux,
> aside from no longer giving money to Apple? Eventually, my plan would
> be to run Linux on a non-Apple machine.
>
> Is this a futile exercise, there being no escape from the frustrations
> of bad customer support in this day and age???
>
> By the way, here's the issue that prompted this: I ordered a powerbook
> on line for my daughter and received an empty box-- Apple customer
> service has been rude and useless-- 9 days after the empty box arrived,
> Apple has done nothing and essentially refuses to do anything until
> their 'logistics' department has finished an investigation. Their
> customer service has been so awful that I can't in good conscience
> continue to buy their products. Unless, of course, the alternatives
> are worse....
>
> TIA
> Michael