I first used Linux when Boot Magazine (the predecessor to Maximum PC) featured an article on it and had a version of Debian on the included disc. I played around with it on a 486 I had laying around. Not long after I ordered a full Debian Linux disc and installed it on my main system (a Pentuim 75 O/Ced to 100MHz, 32MB of ram, 3 GB HD at that time) on a 1 GB partition, as I was reinstalling Windows 95 anyway. Played with it for awhile, got X running but not very well (had an integrated 1MB video chip), but I had a WinModem, so I couldn't get on the net with it. Eventually my downloads and CD software installs consumed more and more HD space and the Linux partition was erased to make room for a new Fat16 partition for storage. Eventually that HD got repartitioned into one contiguous partition for Windows. I did play with different distros on my old 486 (when I ordered the Debian disc I got a package set that contained all major distributions at that time), but eventually stopped messing with it all together. (though I was tempted when I was receiving a free subscripion to Maximum Linux, but the magazine stopped print :( )

Fast forward to 2003. My friend gets into Linux and asks me to help him now and then, since I still remember alot from my escapades in 98/99, and well, there aren't too many people aroudn here that know anything about Linux. Eventually he gets Mandrake running the way he wants it and comments that it's good enough to run as his primary operating system. With that good of a rating I had to try it. I had just added a 60GB HD to surplant the 10 GB drive I was running as my main drive. After I felt the 60GB was fully burnt in and going to work, I borrowed the Mandrake 9.1 discs from him and installed the 10GB as the only HD in the system and told the Mandrake installer to 'Erase Windows^TM'. All the installed software works great, and the integrated NIC of my ECS K7S5A connects through my router to the internet just fine.

Now installing games, getting weird collections of hardware to work is a different story! The below documents my current playings, the more difficult stuff have guides that I wrote>

Date: ????? November or so
fixed no sound problems (audio detected, volume control shows, but no sound out of speakers) with ECS K7S5A built in sound. Select ALSA sound under K-Configuration-KDE-Sound-Sound System, Sound I/O tab, Sound I/O Method. Reboot (you have to reboot, as the sound chip is locked up somehow). After rebooting set Sound I/O Method back to automatic, or it'll have problems next time you start Linux
installed accelerated X drivers for Nvidia
installed Unreal Tournament
fixed automatic security (PPM?) setting OpenGL to permissions to root only! :-O

December 1, 2003
Got three mice devices working XFree86 4: Guide

December 2, 2003
Fixed USB card reader (Biostar eCatcher 6-in-1) by adding the line 'options scsi_mod max_scsi_luns=32' in /etc/modules.conf (no quotes of course)

Tips for card reader:
Leave in the card once while booting, after that it'll show up as Harddisk sdcX whether or not a card is inserted on the KDE desktop. Plug a card in after bootup and double click to mount it. (don't forget to unmount it if you want to swap it for another)

Starting up with the card inserted, after the initial installation, caused problems in Mandrake 9.1 for me. Had a bunch of SCD Mod errors at startup, and once booted couldn't connect to the internet.

If your card reader has multiple formats, like mine, repeat above for each one you want to use.