Sound has always been utterly fucked though. Well, more fucked than most shit. (I've actually had suprisingly good experiences with it, though my expectations are also scaled low.)

NetworkMangler joins a long list of other FooMangler tools which are best destroyed with extreme prejudice. I manage WiFi with an /etc/network/interfaces stanza, and it mostly works. Static wired interfaces are, of course, vastly simpler.

I agree that the Linux experience is hugely better than Windows, and the Debian experience hugely better than RPM-based distros. This is why having the mouse, THE FUCKING MOUSE!!!!!! fail is .... I'm beyond words.

That it's been months is the other problem.