A computer that works

I think your problem has less to do with linux and more to do with whining.
In 1999 I got my 1st computer, I didn't even know what the Internet was.
Since then I learned Windows, became quite proficient with it actually, and
the migrated to Linux, which I'm also quite proficient with. I faced, and
solved, most of the problems you've listed below.

> 1) Can't back up my files -- image creation chokes on symbolic links.

I wrote a set of backup scripts. Took a whole afternoon, even without
knowing bash scripting.

> 2) Unable to get my palm pilot to sync since moving to Linux.

Read the How To. Its simple if you follow the instructions.

> 3) (Forget my digital camera)
> 4) Installing a new font takes two pages of instructions.

So what?

> 5) Samba is opaque to me. The Win boxes were networked up in 10 minutes.

You can do that in Samba too, in 10 minutes. Unless you're saying your
entire networking education was earned in 10 minutes...

>
> 6) Rpms: dependency hell. Solution: "ignore warnings."

EVERYTHING has dependencies.

> 7) Mozilla arbitrarily stops communicating with the web.

What, and Internet Explorer doesn't have problems?

> 8) I keep System Monitor running so I can kill Nautilus when it hangs.

What do you keep running in Windows when Explorer hangs?

> 9) I need deep knowledge of the filesystem in order to install anything.

You call /usr /usr/local and */bin deep knowledge?

> 10) If I upgrade GNOME to the latest release, would my system get more
> stable or less? Any bets?

I'd bet it'll be stable, unless you try to cut corners. Most things work
when you do them right.

>
> 11) Open Office is cheaper -- I'll say that for it.
> 12) Formulas in Calc sometimes just refuse to calculate. Unlike their
> more compliant neighbor cells, these prefer staying text. Deal with it.

I use Gnumeric and have not encountered these problems.

> 13) Python IDEs are better on Windows.

If you have to depend on an IDE then maybe you have other issues.

> 14) How many variations on "cut and paste" do I need to learn? Answer: 1
> (until I moved to Linux).

How many versions are there in Windows. 1) mouse - right click menu, 2)
edit/copy, 3) Ctrl+c. These all work in Linux, what were you using before?

My point is you'll never accomplish anything by focusing on what you can't
do. Use whatever tools you want to get your work done. Just quit whining
about it.

Bart