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OS/2 runs under bochs. Though not very well. (I actually have a screenshot of OS/2 running in bochs from just a couple of weeks back.) You can find factory sealed copies of OS/2 warp v3 on eBay for very little money. I paid $9.99 +shipping for my factory sealed copy, which I bought 2+ years ago on eBay. OS/2 warp v4 still gets $75+ based on the auctions I've seen.

I have a 14" iBook. I have only 2 complains:

I have a 12" G4 1.2GHz iBook. I solved the Operating System problem by formatting the hard-drive and installing Linux. But the 1 button mouse is still a problem. (Unless I use an external mouse - which I do most of the time. But it's not possible in some situations.) And the support for the Airport Extreme is of course missing. (Technically there is a driver, but I've had no luck with it yet. But I can live with a USB dongle until the Airport Extreme driver is ready.)

Other than that, I love it. It's small and light weight. The battery life is pretty good. The power management actually works on this thing. (I close the lid, *poof* - it's off. I open the lid, and *bam* - it's back on. Every bit as fast as OSX.) The "extra" buttons work and were easy to setup. (Brightness adjustment, volume controls, and eject.) The iBook is a pretty ideal Linux laptop in my opinion.

Rebates have already been kinda of a scam. They make it as hard as possible to get them

I must be the luckiest person on the planet then. I've never had a problem getting a rebate that was offered. Takes all of 2 minutes to write out my name and address and mail in the form. Whether I get the check 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks, or 52 weeks later, it really doesn't matter. Not sending in for it is the only assurance that I'll never get it.

To each his own.

the "trails" when minimizing is actually not a trail, but the "zoom" effect that nautilus/gnome uses.

Well, I realize that. Maybe it just didn't come across on camera very well but the zooming effect looks like crap on dual head. When I run one monitor, like I am now, the zooming looks natural/normal. It doesn't have that laggy hesitation to it. Though personally I would just shut off the effect if I could find an option to do so.

I'm assuming that you've posted your XF86Config to these forums, and you (or others) have caught the obvious omissions of options. If not throw it to me and I'll see if I can see anything as I have a similar set up to you.

xorg.conf

However, some of it is "normal" as far as linux/X/gnome goes. I'd say give a different window manager like openbox or something like that a shot and see if it's the video or the software running (nautilus is getting better, but sadly still sucks compared to the windows explorer speed).

I have been using OpenBox almost exclusively for 3 months. It doesn't help. In fact, I just installed Gnome 2.8 a few days ago and unless I'm crazy (very possible), it's faster than OpenBox. And on a personal note, I don't think one should have to "cripple" their Desktop experience down to a minimal Window Manager in order to get equal performance with Windows. Just my opinion. Don't get wrong though - I like minimal WM's a LOT.

I'd have to see your XF86Config file to know what's going on

my xorg.conf

I often work with both my LCD and notebook displays on using the notebook display as my primary and the LCD for reference guides/schematics/etc. Big boost to productivity and less mousing!

Do you run Linux? I have had no choice but to go back to using a single monitor.

Disclaimer for the zealots: For all the people that have had great luck with two monitors under Linux, I applaud you. I'm not suggesting that my experience is "normal". It's just my experience.

But dual monitors for me under Linux has been positively dreadful. X acts as though all 2D hardware acceleration is disabled when you bring up the second monitor. Window trailing is horrible. It acts as though it completely taxes the system for all but the most basic of tasks.

I actually created a little video to demonstrate the problem I have. I have posted this video to several message boards but no one has offered any solutions that have panned out.

Get the video here (Yes - it's windows media format ... I know jack squat about creating videos.)

I have experineced this problem with multiple distributions, multiple video cards, various video card driver versions, and various motherboards.

The relevant specs on my system are: AMD Athlon XP 3200+, 1GB of Dual Channel DDR RAM (2x512MB), AGP NVidia GeForce FX 5700 Ultra w/ 128MB of RAM, and PCI NVidia GeForce FX 5200 w/ 128MB of RAM. Have tried it with an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe 2.0 motherboard and an ASUS A7V880. Have also tried using an AGP ATI Radeon 9800 Pro and a PCI Radeon 7000. (have mixed and matched the 4 video cards in every way possible)

I've tried using the built-in drivers insead of the proprietary ones. I've tried enabling/disabling every feature that the video cards offer. Things like Side Band Addressing and Fast Writes.

The results are always the same. Single head is fine, dual head or Xinerama is unusably sluggish. All hardware runs flawlessly under WindowsXP with the second monitor enabled.

If you have new ideas - I'm all ears (er... eyes).

Would you mind being a bit more specific about why, as you claim, The X Window System is one of the "those big reasons" people don't use Linux on the desktop?

Not my topic - but I'll jump in here anyway.

I use to be under the impression that the X Window System was superior. But in the last couple of years I have done a 180 on that.

According to this guy, the very aspect that made X so cool 20 years ago (network transparency) is now it's biggest detriment. I'm not saying his word is gospel, because I have no idea who he is. But the article makes a lot of sense.

Also, for the life of me I can't figure out why my X Window System is so freaking slow compared to Windows.

Soekris boxes are exactly what you're looking for.

I'll second that. I bought one of these about 6 months ago and it has been amazing. I plan on getting at least one more so I can have a highly customizable WAP.

Check my little tutorial for more info. (Several pictures included.)

Office Depot does not sell Western Digital in the stores, Maxtor yes but not WD dont know what ad your looking at.

You're right. My rebate was from Office Max, not Office Depot. An easy mistake to make though. (This rebate was part of the same deal but was directly from Western Digital.) Total cost after rebates, $59 + tax + 2 postage stamps.

Office Depot does not sell Western Digital in the stores, Maxtor yes but not WD dont know what ad your looking at.

You're right. My rebate was from Office Max, not Office Depot. An easy mistake to make though. (This rebate was part of the same deal but was directly from Western Digital.) Total cost after rebates, $59 + tax + 2 postage stamps.

Have you actually gotten any of those rebates?

Yes