frustration

[rossperk]

Lately it seems that with everything I try to do with computers, there's always one piece that keeps it from working.

I have an ATI TV USB device that I want to plug into a computer so that it can record TV shows and be a better VCR for us.

• It runs on my Windows XP desktop, but that PC keeps shutting down due to its power supply being incompatible with its motherboard, so it's not going to be very reliable for setting it to record anything while we're gone.
• It won't run on my Linux desktop because I can't get Ubuntu Feisty to use direct draw with my ATI 8500 video card (one of the least supported video cards under linux), and I'm pretty sure that direct draw is going to be required for any high-end graphics stuff. This also keeps me from running Google Earth, Stepmania, and Second Life.
  
• It won't run on my wife's laptop because the laptop is running Windows Media Center, of which is just different enough from XP to blue-screen whenever I try the XP drivers. Also, AMD's ATI website specifically lists Media Center's drivers separately from XP Pro & Home's drivers. The TV tuner's not even listed under the Media Center drivers. (BTW, since when did AMD eat ATI?)

I just got Jen a Skype in and Skype out unlimited services so that she can use Skype as a home phone.

• It'll run on her Laptop, pretty well actually, but a laptop's supposed to be a mobile device. I want her Skype account to act like a home phone, so I really want one of the desktops to use it.
• Once again, the Windows desktop feels kind of useless right now since it keeps shutting off, so you can't just expect it to always be on to receive a phone call with any reliability.
• The Linux desktop can receive audio with Skype just fine, but due to multiple fighting standards of audio services, can't seem to record audio.

All of these problems, just as with any problems with computers, can be fixed two ways: Knowledge and Money. Since I don't really have money to be able to fix any of these problems, the only thing I can do is try to find the information. My own knowledge can only do so much, so I continue to do google search after google search in hopes that I'll either find that key piece of information, or until I can eventually afford the monetary solutions.

It's definitely frustrating though. Each new version of Windows leaves behind more and more pieces of hardware, to encourage the sales of new hardware. Desktop Linux tries to make everything compatible, but it can only do so much with closed hardware--that is, before it actually becomes too obsolete to use like 5.25" floppy disks. But this post is not to debate Windows versus Linux--neither is a complete solution for my situation. I just wanted to log the things I'm dealing with. For myself, it's therapeutic, and might help me sort things out to try to find something I missed. For others, I leave this public on the odd chance that I've said something they want to hear.