[LUG] Things which annoy me - scrollwheel, num lock, flash plugin, X

["Ben Goodger" <goodgerster@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi

I have been using Linux for a long while now and certain things still really irritate me. Here are some questions.

1. Is it so difficult for Linux to not turn Num Lock off six or seven times during the transition from GRUB to GNOME? It keeps turning it off, at every opportunity.
2. Why does scrolling upward in Firefox result in going back randomly? (USB mouse)
3. Why does Flash have such poor audio control which more often than not results in it being completely silenced, fixed only by restarting ALSA? (firefox)
4. Why do Flash and Java plugins have such poor keyboard input? Is it so difficult to make them accept it? (firefox)
5. Why do Flash and Java and _javascript_ run so much slower in Linux? (firefox)
6. Why does this computer, with a Radeon 9600 and fully working hardware acceleration, have such a slow GTK redraw rate? Compared to nearly an identical machine with a nearly identical installation of Ubuntu, it's staggeringly slow and makes it feel sluggish.

I suspect that many of these may have to do with my monitor's poor refresh rate, which is stuck permanently at 60Hz in Linux -
7. why, even when I input the horz/vert settings from its manual, can X not get sane refresh rates while Windows obtains a comfortable 85Hz at the same colour depth and resolution?
8. Why, indeed, does X require me to enter these to get the thing working at all? Is there something stopping it from achieving basic levels of user-friendliness which were reached by Microsoft eleven years ago or more, and Apple a good time before that?

If anyone has anything to contribute to my de-irritation, that'd be much appreciated.
I do like the flying toaster screensaver in Dapper though.

-- 
Ben Goodger
#391382
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