Problems with using FC2 as Windows Desktop Replacement

I'm attempting to use an FC2 desktop to accomplish everything that my 
Windows 2000 used to do, but I'm coming up short in several areas.  I was 
wondering if there exists software to accomplish what I need.

		Windows 2000	Fedora Core 2	FC2 Problems
cd2mp3		CDEX		Grip       	- Doesn't handle two cdrom
						  drives well
						- Track listing changes
						  aren't preserved e.g.
						  if I change it, and 
						  reload the disc, it auto-
						  loads from cddb

dvd player	ATI DVDPlayer	gmplayer	- Layer transitions are 
						  choppy
						- Mouse doesn't work on 
						  the selection window
						- Doesn't use ATI hardware
						  support for iDCT or MC	

divx2vcd	Nero		??????		- Transcode + xcdroast?

binary news	XNews		??????		- I tried a ton of readers
reader						  glitter, BNR, Gnus, etc
						- Nothing seems to accomplish
						  what XNews on W2K is capable	
						  of e.g (auto yencode/decode,
						  auto uudec, GUI auto-
						  auto-threading and combining
						  of multipart archives)
						- Glitter seems to be the
						  state-of-the-art reader,
						  but on FC2 I get a strange
						  error about IO::Handle

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated, 

Tony