I am using Windows and there is no way I can avoid it, because most of the applications I run in my field do not run on Linux. But some do, and I thought setting up a dual boot machine would be nice, and quite frankly I've always liked Unix and don't like Microsoft much (I tend to like the David side of things in general), so anything I could do another way would be great. By the way, I am not a beginner when it comes to Unix/shells and such. In fact, I have cygwin on Windows because I like the tools.
So there we go: FC3 installed fairly easily. Now how do I set up my dual head on here? Well that didn't go too well. There's a bug in FC3, so I had to apply a patch. It went a bit further but it still doesn't work: can't get the second monitor to be recognized. After letting system-config-display rewrite my xorg.conf, it is not booting anymore, so I have to get back in non-graphical mode and reset the old xorg.conf. At this point, I have spent probably 6 hours setting up my machine and looking for info on the web.
Next thing, GRUB hangs and it takes me a few more hours of trying several things, and I end up having to re-install FC3. I haven't booted Linux since then...
I know I won't make any friends here, but here's my conclusion. Linux is not ready. For someone like me who doesn't have days to waste on configuration and trying to solve issues, we'll have to stick with Windows. And I know I will get the usual "but Windows crashes all the time" and such. Well XP has been good to me so far - I can't remember a major crash, so that argument doesn't stand anymore. Maybe back in the days of NT, but not today.
I'd love Linux to work, I really do. I'd love to ditch Windows and put a Tux sticker on my PC, but I can't depend on it for my work, so I won't. I hope I won't simply get flames telling me that I'm too stupid to get past the problems I face. It would be more interesting to receive some advice: should I try Red Hat and pay for support? Wait another 5 years? Should I spend another 10 hours trying to get FC3 to work for me? Is it worth my time, or will I face some other problem once/if I get my dual head to work?
Thanks!
Manu
