Liquid Geekification?

Recently, in order to complicate things, I introduced a third operating system into my life: Mac OS at work, Windows at home on my normal laptop, Linux on my shiny tiny new netbook. (This is mostly painful when you use the German keyboard shortcut for the @ symbol on a Mac: It will close things without saving. Ouch!) However, I can't say that Linux has made things as easy as the Ubuntu website had me believe - for example, each time I plug in my headset, I have to readjust the sound settings for it to work. Interestingly, these sound settings are never the same as the last time I tried, nor are they saved for the next time, even when I leave the headset plugged in. Hm.

For the Linux newbie, there are many such situations, and when you are a complete n00b, you sometimes get the feeling that some people on Linux forums enjoy making fun of fresh Linux meat, and some of their help instructions make me suspect that they might just format my hard drive, rather than fix my issue. And I'd rather not learn the hard way.

But then, the office fridge suggested a safer solution: Ubuntu Cola! I instantly downed a bottle and am now waiting for the Linux enlightenment to kick in. (I do fear that it might just re-set my sound settings so that I will lose my communication skills next time I open my mouth. Not having a console to tweak my settings, this worries me a tiny bit, but oh, the things we do for our shiny gadgets...)