[edgy 6-10] GUI freeze with network / i/o trouble

[Paul Oppenheim]

Hi list!

My GUI will occasionally freeze with net / file / general I/O trouble, 
more than once a day. Sometimes I get control back, sometimes I don't 
have the patience to wait an indeterminate amount of time. I am 
connected to an NFS share (mounted soft) over an intel 2200 wifi to a 
shaky AP using WPA, and frequently using a PPTP VPN. This doesn't happen 
on either OS X or WinXP machines on the same network.

I'm not entirely sure what to blame, what with
* the stack of software running being relatively complex
* the issue being random
* not running in a debug environment

Is anyone experienced with this that could point me to
* ways to make gnome / X happier with I/O limitations
* X / gnome alternatives that are more robust in adverse i/o environments

Thanks!

+ paul