This post is about Linux, and the problems I’ve been dogged with since making the decision to upgrade to the latest versions of Ubuntu (7.10) and openSUSE (10.3). You can find all sorts of glowing reviews of both distributions without too much trouble, but the problem with these reviews is that nobody seems to be really doing anything non-trivial with them before they write their reviews. I was trying to upgrade to the latest version of Linux to get the latest kernel, libraries, and developer tools. And I also did something that in hindsight I probably should not have done, at least under Linux.

I upgraded my ATI 9700 Pro (R300) video card to a m\re recent ATI 1950 Pro (R500) video card manufactured by Sapphire (X1950 Pro, 512MB GDDR3 video memory, AGP 8x). I purchased the card to add a little more life to europa. I’m not yet ready to blithely replace the entire system with something newer and shinier, due to finances as well as indecision as to what I really want next. The X1950 Pro cost $170USD from Newegg, and I considered that a pretty good deal.

Upgrading under Windows XP and Fighting Linux