Not linuxes fault

[Doug Pollard]

Hi All,     
    I have used Linux about three years off and on, The last six or 
eight months I have been working on video,in Cinelerra, Keno,and several 
other programs and have done very well at it.  I have heard complaints 
from a few that video is hard in Linux. I have not found that so.
     What I have about decided is that Linux is hard for me. During all 
this time I have not been able to learn to use the terminal to repair or 
make changes except by direct instructions from members of this list.  
The fault is not with Ubuntu or the list help.   I am old as dirt and 
learning is just pain hard work now.     
    A couple of things that I wanted to use was Skype but I have a dual 
core 64bit system  and I was just unable to make it work. I could not 
get the video to send.
    My son recently bought me a Wacom (Bamboo) pad and stylice kit to 
draw and paint with I was unable to get it to work in Ubuntu.  There is 
a group working  on  the problem and they have made a lot progress but 
it's just too much for me to work out. I think the software is still in 
bata.
         Here is my solution.  I have now a dual boot system were xp can 
be used for a few of the things I have not been able to do in Ubuntu. I 
have Ubuntu 8.04 on my second hard drive to do video on and almost 
everything else I do.  My solution to things that break from updates or 
what ever reason is that I store all my files on an external drive. This 
also helps to keep my hard drive from filling up with big numbers of 
Gigs of video.  If I break something and can't fix it I just reinstall 
Ubuntu and go on with my work.  With updates it takes a couple hours 
rather than  a couple days of hunting for help and reading tutorials and 
trying and often failing at fixes. 
        One of the things I plan to work at is learning to install a tar 
package  I have struggled with this several times without any success.   
It is not often that it is needed but now and then it would be nice.  
The upside to what I am doing is it lets me keep learning  while having 
the few programs I have not been able to get up and running in Ubuntu.
         Maybe this will help someone else who is struggling to learn 
Linux and finding it tough sledding.

                                                                         
      Doug