Well, so I'm installing Linux. Just as background, back in 1998 I was an admin on a network and was in charge of an HP-UX box. It wasn't so bad, and I got around pretty well. I was by no means a wizard but I suppose I was at least Lord High Fixer.

A few years ago I did a red hat install (6 I think) for a friend, and taught him a little *nix, but since '98, I've basically been all Microsoft all the time.

So I have this box at home, pretty nice. P4 2.6, HT, all the goodies. And I'm not really using it anymore as a primary machine, and, well, it's been nothing but trouble. So I decided to get back on the Linux track for fun, and to do a little Linux development, which is something I've been wanting to do as a hobby.

First let me say that this box is nutz. From the first day...ridiculous problems. The final issue boils down to, regardless of OS, I need the WinXP Pro CD in the drive to boot. It doesn't boot from the CD, it just wants it in there and then goes ahead and boots from the HDD. Considering I had 2K Adv. Server on there...well, that was weird. And I couldn't actually get XP to install...and it wouldn't boot with the (bootable, mind you) 2000 Pro or 2000 Adv disc in the tray. Weird.

Well, anyway, I decided to go all out and ramp up with Debian GNU/Linux which, I was told, is the "developer's Linux". Install was a piece of cake, using a netinst, and it set up fine. Oh yeah, and after install, still needed the XP disc in the drive to boot.

So anyway, I got Debian up and going. And I remembered, oh, like 10% of my command-line *nix skills. And "man" didn't work. (That's manual pages, help files, Texas Tea). Crap. Okay, now I'm lost. I can ftp, so I start ftp-ing around (why are Linux ftp related things chock-full of long folder/file names? I'm used to Intellisense doing all my typing for me!). I download Firefox and...can't get it working. Okay. so I apt-get me some x-windows. Go through the configuration. Xwindows won't launch. Okay. Video bad. Go to Nvidia. Get Linux drivers. Try to install. Need to update kernel. Try to apt-get the kernel. Finally find the right package name. System won't reboot.

Okay, I'm not giving up. Well, for now, I'm giving up on Debian. I may try FreeBSD, and I'm looking at Gentoo. Don't want to do Red Hat (conformists!), not interested in Mandrake really...so, yeah. I'll keep you posted.