I do prefer Apple’s hardware and software, but sometimes Linux just pushes me away.
Take tonight for example.
This isn’t a new issue for me, but it is something I had hoped to finally figure out a workaround for this evening, but I just ended up more frustrated. I want to be able to do the following:
- Connect to a personal Google Talk account (old Gmail account)
- Connect to my work’s Google Apps account
I try Pidgin because that is what I have had the most success with. This is what I get:
- Looks like both initially connect but then the personal Gmail account drops with an input/output error
- Try to reconnect, and the same thing happens … over, and over, and over again
This was happening for both accounts, but work’s account was working tonight. Alright, why not try Empathy. That is built into GNOME so I should be able to use it easily. Here is what happens there:
- You can log into the accounts in the system panel, but when you go into Empathy it says that my work account is listed as disconnected
- Try to make self available, and the same thing happens
- Turn account off and then back on again … same thing
Frustrated, I log into my account on my wife’s MacBook Pro and I have access to everything that I need. This is on top of the issues with our OpenVPN settings I have had for months (with no end in sight). Here are some symptoms:
- I can connect when I manually pull apart of the certificates and add them separately
- I can access the internal servers via IP addresses, but I cannot access any outside site
- Try to set DNS settings so that it works … but no luck
Frustrated, I usually log into my account on my wife’s MacBook Pro and then connect using Tunnelblick and everything is fine with the world.
Neither of these are a deal-breaker, but it is a “death by a thousand cuts” sort of thing. If what I need to do is easier when I use OS X, then I have no incentive to try to learn how to really use the power of Linux on the desktop.
For now, for me, Linux continues to be my server OS of choice.