>>> 2006 is about 4 generations ago for openSUSE.
>> Actually is was (IIRC) Debian at the time, but whatever. ;-)
> 
> It's still "n" generations.

OK, fair enough.

>> All I remember is that even after endless fiddling, I couldn't get 3D
>> acceleration to work. (Actually producing a picture didn't require any
>> special attention at all.)
> 
> Yes.  *Used* to be.  Not anymore.

When last I heard, all the nVidia and ATi offerings for Linux were a 
half-empty token gesture. I'd be surprised if they seriously changed 
their minds about it... but stranger things have happened.

>> OK, to be completely clear: It booted, but X wouldn't run.
> 
> That's quite different from "the Linux partition was non-bootable", which 
> is almost a direct quote of what you originally said.  X not running is 
> something that used to be an issue with a kernel update.  It's rare now.

I didn't do anything to the kernel - I changed the graphics card. And 
witout X, I have *no idea* how to configure X. (Well, without 
reinstalling anyway. And that's so much bother...)

OpenSUSE has fixed this; you can now run the configuration tools in 
text-mode.

>> Most of which is only marginally functional.
> 
> Percentagewise, perhaps - look at the raw number of usable applications.  
> It's not "6".

I'll take your word for it.

>> (E.g., klogic. It does almost exactly what I want. But it doesn't *work*
>> properly. It randomly segfaults, and sometimes it GIVES YOU THE WRONG
>> ANSWER. It's also fiddly to use for no good reason.)
> 
> And did you submit bugs against this, or did you just say "this thing 
> doesn't work" to yourself and go somewhere else.

Well, without an Internet connection, how am I going to file a bug?

>> Anyway, how much *commercial* software (such as big-budget games) are
>> there for Linux?
> 
> Ever hear of Cedega?  Transgaming?  Loki Games?

Nope.

> If I can find a quality OSS solution for
> no cost, why would I look to a commercial application?

There *is* that of course. ;-)

>> It's news to me that *anything* works under WINE yet. (But then,
>> admittedly it's not something I follow closely. If I want to run Windows
>> software, I just run Windows...)
> 
> Go and look at the Wine AppDB.  The list of supported apps is 
> significant.

Mmm, that's impressive. (Given that what Wine does should be impossible 
in the first place...)

>> Of course, it depends what you're trying to do with your PC...
> 
> Exactly.  And that's part of the reason why the approach of saying what 
> you said that got me started is the wrong approach.

Hmm. OK, now I'm confused. :-}

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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