The one that pushed me over the edge

I found the appropriate distribution from kubuntu.org. I ended up using the plain old PC desktop CD because I didn't have a 64-bit processor, and I wasn't installing a RAID server.

The .iso I downloaded sat on my computer for a couple months.

Finally, I burned it to a CD. So it sat on both my computer and on CD for another month.

And then lo, on the 30th day did the heavens open and Windows misbehaved and this user freaked out and had one of her bi-annual f'n'r-fits (format-and-reinstall, folks). And so this user ran out and bought a new hard drive and.... re-installed Windows (2000 Pro).

• And her video didn't work properly. (Doth thoust need to install the drivers manually? Yes, you do.)
• And her onboard ethernet didn't work. Again.
• And installing the drivers didn't work to fix all these annoying problems. Again. How did I finally get it working the last time? Who the hell knows.
• And... only half of her brand spanking new 250GB hard drive showed up.

Furthermore, installing the newest drivers would be nice, but the Ethernet card didn't work so... (ha ha, funny funny; slight oversight). Installing the drivers gets halfway then tells me I need DirectX9.0c. Installing DirectX9.0c requires Windows Service Pack 4 first... but Windows Service Pack 4 requires...

I have all these on my secondary hard drive, but it's still a pain.

After some research I discovered that my motherboard may need an upgrade to support hard drives larger than 137GB. I checked the BIOS, my version actually had been upgraded and was fine. (This all has to do with 48-bit Logical Bit Addressing).

Oh by the way, Windows also needs Service Pack 4 if you're using Windows 2000, and Service Pack 1 if your using XP, if you want it to see your 250GB drive.

Oh, ok. But wait, I have my Service Pack installed!

Oh by the way, the Service Pack has to be included on the install CD. When you install it.

Oh @#!*.

Cliff's Notes is essentially: I got to the point where the ethernet was working but I really couldn't fix my video (16-bit colour 640x480 resolution baby, YEAH!). My 250GB drive was in limbo. This was after two days. Then I realized I had that spunky little Kubuntu Live CD kicking around...

Well, we'll just see what happens.