Reply #49: Actually, I have a confession to make, of sorts...

[Solon]

The current computer I'm on was initially designed for Windows XP, bought a brand new copy of it, built the computer, etc. After swapping driver disks, twice(Sound and Graphics card), to get most of it working, a third time if you count my printer, then I was finally able to USE IT!!!

After quite a few upgrades, it all of the sudden asked, on the next boot, to reactivate, I had to call this 1-800 number and give them this LONG assed string that is the Hardware ID, I was like :wtf: So I basically thought, the hell with it, I'm installing Linux. Now, bear in mind, I'm NOT a programmer nor did I have experience with Linux, but I was an old hat at Microsoft operating systems that didn't end with the number 95, so I wasn't afraid of the command line. So I installed Ubuntu Linux, it went off without a hitch, sound card worked right out of the box, and after going to the package manager and installing the Nvidia driver, plus my printer works, right out of the box, I was damn near blown away. The best part is that my favorite game, Neverwinter Nights, works perfectly on it, in fact, its FASTER than it is under Windows. The thing that REALLY is interesting is that my hardware isn't obscure, I figured at least my SB Live! card would work under Windows, even if not at 5.1 sound, but NO, it simply DIDN'T work and the graphics was HORRIBLE at first, VGA on Windows XP really sucks, especially under the default theme.