> > But anyhow, the point is, the LUNIX install was dramatically easier than the Windows install.
>
> Huh. That's encouraging news. I'm only going by the system I have at work, which is a Debian machine. It is FAR, FAR easier to install/configure new software on it than Windows is, but it was irritating to set the machine up in the first place. Compiling the kernel was a lot of guesswork; fortunately the guys I work with are both sysadminy types.

It's been ages enough since I installed a Debian-based distro (and I've never installed vanilla Debian) that I can't really comment on the Deb install process, except to note that I've heard it's a difficult one. Slackware gets around the kernel-compilation stickiness by providing stock kernels tailored for different setups; The install process tells you pretty clearly that if you have SCSI hardware, you'll need to choose a kernel with SCSI support, and so forth. This leads to a less thoroughly optimised kernel than you'd get if you compiled your own, but you can always do that later. And it's nice to have a CD with backup kernels on it just in case something goes... terribly wrong during one of those kernel builds. ;-}

Actually, somewhat tangentially, One of the coolest things about Slackware is that, if you buy the CD set (something I'd heartily recommend if you don't have a CD burner and can't make use of the ISOs, since NFS installs are a pain), you get a CD with a live filesystem on it. As in, a preinstalled, preconfigured system on CD. And you know what? Almost all of my hardware worked with that right out of the box, too. ;-}

> Anyway, getting Windows set up on my home system was much easier. The procedure was "open box."
>
> I know what you mean, though. If Windows *does* have a problem with a piece of hardware, it can be maddening.

Yup. Windows recognises my floppy drive, keyboard, and mouse. Which means that after I've installed the OS, I have to fuddle around installing drivers for everything, and I'm stuck in 640x480x256 with no sound and network support to do it. And the extra-fun thing is that my NIC (I got this computer second-hand) didn't come with the driver disc. I mean, it's easy enough to fetch the drivers from the manufacturer's web site, but not without network support. And it's easy enough to fetch them on the other computer and then transfer them, but... not without network support. I went around and around that one for a while. I ended up having to unzip the driver package on the other computer, figure out which files I needed and which files I didn't, and put the essentials on a floppy (the package was 6 MB) and use those. It was a hassle, but I'd have been totally screwed if I didn't have a second computer. I'd have been out ten bucks for a new NIC, anyhow, and probably one I wouldn't even bother installing, since all I need is the driver disc.

This fiasco took place on the install prior to the most recent one, which is why I didn't just boot into LUNIX to fetch the file and drop it on the Windows disc, in case anyone was about to make snide comments. ;-}