There are so few games with such a large scope. Twenty-five years later, I can't even think of any modern graphical game off the top of my head that allows you quite as much opportunity for exploration than this half megabyte gem. Procedurally generated content can be truly mindblowing.

> MS Zealot here

Liar. You're no zealot. ;P

> Does anyone know a decent Windows-Linux Conversion guide which explains the parallels between the two - such as how to install drivers, where the hell is
> 'Program Files',

In POSIX systems (Linux, Unix, BSD, QNX, Mac OS X in some cases, et al), files are split up depending on their role. You know how your settings go in "%APPDATA%\", libraries to in "%SYSTEMROOT%" and other stuff goes in "%PROGRAMFILES%\"? Well, in these systems, it is split up moreso, Generally, all binaries (the executable files) go into "$PREFIX/bin/", global configuration files go into "$PREFIX/etc/", unchanging data files go into "$PREFIX/share/", libraries go into "$PREFIX/lib", log files and changing system files (the print spool, for instance) go into "/var/". Just like in Windows, the system magically handles it all. (note: $PREFIX is usually "/usr", but it is sometimes something else -- I won't get into it here, but there are pretty good reasons for this).

> what do I do if I want to install software but it's not an rpm or whatever it is suse uses. (Damn, I miss MSIs & EXEs!)

That's a weird one. What do you do if it's not an msi or an exe in a Windows system?

rpm is the equivalent of msi, except that the package management is generally easier to work with. In suse, you go into Yast's "Software Management" app and it will list most programs (several thousand, generally, organized in categories and easily searchable) that people would need to install. Think of it as "Windows Update", but instead of offering programs that Microsoft makes, it offers programs that everyone makes (or like an app store, except that it's been in Linux for over a decade and doesn't cost money). On the command line, the equivalent is "zypper". You'd type "sudo zypper install firefox", for example, and firefox would be updated. But anyway, if you're using Yast, I suggest going into the "Software Repositories" section, clicking the "Add" button, choosing the "Community Repositories" radio button, and clicking next. The "Packman" repository is highly recommended, as it has a lot of apps that the suse people lack.

rpm files are what you use as an *alternate* solution if the program is not in an available repository, not as your primary means of installing stuff. Repositories can manage installation of prerequisites. You might have tried to install a program requiring .NET in Windows at one point and received an error stating that it was not installed. In the repositories, and situations like that would be subverted by the repository manager going online and downloading/installing what it needs to install the package you actually want.

Sometimes, a developer will release the equivalent of an exe installer for their product. nvidia is an example. This is a TERRIBLE IDEA that you sometimes just can't work around. Running an unknown executable as the administrative user is just asking for pain. I know, because one of my scientists here wiped out his server's entire filesystem by running an install script as root, and I had to pick up after him. rpm (in suse, mandriva, pclinuxos, red hat, et al) and deb (in debian, ubuntu, mint, et al) and various others give limited powers which simply allow the application to get its files in the right place and do some basic maintenance (like starting a daemon if it's a server app).

The third option that people seem to think is ubiquitous in Linux (it isn't ... unless it's a hardcore science research app) is that you're given the source code and you have to compile it. In 90% of these cases, the only real problem is that you might not have a prerequisite app or library installed to complete the compilation. Package management helps with that, but it's better to avoid having to do this. Still, most of the examples you just go to the command line, visit the directory, type "./configure && make install" and have some coffee. I don't remember when I've had to do this on my home machine.

> Also, is there any mail client I can use to connect to my exchange server for work email? (using MAPI \ RPC over HTTPS)

Exchange is a tricky beast. I don't think the protocol is even now publicly available (I may be wrong), so mail apps have to do weird things like (in the background) access OWA (exchange webmail) and parse the data. I use a java app called Davmail ("http://davmail.sourceforge.net") which does this and converts the information on the fly to regular email protocols (like POP, IMAP, SMTP, Caldav, LDAP) that can be used with any mail program (you set the server to "localhost" in the mail program). I prefer kmail, and one of my coworkers here uses Thunderbird, in this way.

Unfortunately, I don't know anything much about the protocols you mention above, so this might not have been useful.

Heh, intense customization is kind of the point of KDE. I have no taskbar at all (except for very rare instances of minimized apps) -- my switching is through KDE's equivalent to the OS X Exposé (mouse to a corner, all windows appear). All my controls are along the left side (because monitors these days have a hell of a lot more horizontal real estate and sometimes less vertical real estate than they used to!), and I have all my virtual desktop and run dialog shortcuts optimized for easy right-hand-only use. Apps/Windows with similar functions are (sometimes automatically) moved to the same titlebar, but the titlebar is tabbed. Close button is on the right like in Win 3.x. My windows explode ("Fall Apart") when I close them, double-clicking on the titlebar shades so I can see what's behind in the rare circumstance that this is necessary, windows slide around when I change to a new desktop or switch to a different window. I've barely used the "K" menu in what feels like over half a decade due to that type-to-search run dialog thing. Lots of stuff like that.

If you use KDE as it looks by default, you might as well be using LXDE. That's a pretty good one, too, and it's customizable, just not as aggressively.

That's what Opera's for. There's a reason why it has an internal "/." shortcut for the url bar.

"the only way to get a capital E with an accent on it (É or È, and loads of others) is by going to caps lock, and then hitting the correct key on the keyboard"

This is incorrect. I use the Compose key all the time for less common characters. It goes like this:
Compose ' E creates É
Compose ` E creates È

There's a whole load of standard options, but you can create a ~/.XCompose with obscure looking content like this:

<Multi_key> <y> <e> <n> : "¥" # yen (currency)

Then you tap your compose key and tap the two or three keys after it that define the character.
Compose < 3 would make a heart symbol, but I can't show you it because /. is stripping out even the ampersand codes for most obscure characters (fwiw, Compose ? is my code for the irony mark)

"Only" is a word you should never use in the Linux/BSD/etc world.

Tree-style tabs are amazing. I like Opera better as a whole, but I often use Firefox *just* for that one extension. I'm off it right now, because there's a weird bug where when the tree-style tab bar is docked on the right and you try to scroll the bar, it treats the entire bar as a draggable image (that's in opensuse 11.x, FF3.x, darnedest thing).

Although adblocking is only available in Mozilla variants and Opera and Konqueror, et al, there is still the option of using a proxy app that blocks ad banners and soforth. So, in effect, all browsers can be used to view adblocked sites.

The most moden OSS engine out there, perhaps. I'd bet that Opera revises theirs just as frequently, and they seem incredibly adamant and aggressive about adhering to standards and trying out new methodologies.

Same here. 2001-2005, it was amazing. It's one of the reasons I stayed using linux after briefly trying with Redhat around '98 (I couldn't get X86Config, or whatever it used to be named, set up right for my Matrox card). It got all my hardware done perfectly out of the box, including the sound hardware (and that at a time when everybody at the local LUG was complaining about also and oss constantly), with every application I threw at it. This is something that I didn't even get out of Windows.

It kind of went blah for a while, around the time that they de-draked and became Mandriva. rpmdrake (the graphical program installer, more elegant than but equivalent to Synaptic) was changed around to become slightly maddening, things suddenly stopped Just Working..... I've tried a few distros since, but nothing's been quite as perfect. I'm on opensuse right now, and Mint looks like it could be fun, but I think I'll pop back to this one for a trial. :)

Maybe they stopped using the name because it infringed on a copyright. At the very least, they got rid of their logo/mascot, because it was a wizard, and that was too similar conceptually to the fictional character http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandrake_the_Magician for them to keep it without legality becoming a concern.

I, for one, am happy that their apps are still named drak____ and not driva____. :)

On my machine here, in Konqueror, you can go to the View Menu, select "View Mode", then click on "WebKit", to change Konqueror's renderer. So yes, it does. It just doesn't do so by default.

explorer.exe does more than that. It is also the handler for the Windows equivalent of gnome-panel. That's why when (in 2k and XP, at least) your file manager in Windows freezes and you tell it to force quit that window, your entire startbar/desktop vanishes for a few seconds.

Gamecube's Z button is horrible, you have to keep your hands close together when using the controller. That last one is sort of a PC/Wii thing, but it's turning into a game breaker for me lately. A controller feels annoying to me nowadays if I can't just dangle my hands at my side or have them both resting on the arms of my chair.

But that aside ... yeah, the Z button. Breaks easily (on some controllers I've had, you have to press the fuck out of the button to get it to register, set on a weird hinge that feels awkward. N64's Z button was genius, but this implementation of it was a poor afterthought.

(other than that, it's a pretty great controller!)

"it's almost impossible without straps to keep yourself in place and a really high drive that will overcome all of the other problems."

One could say the same thing for the more fun styles of sex here on Earth.

You're pretty much in line about 360 not being quite overcome by PS3 in Europe and certainly not in America by a large stretch. We really don't have solid, verifiable numbers for the PAL (Europe plus a few other areas glomped together) region, but given that Sony and Microsoft claim to be beating each other overall in this area with only slightly different wording suggests that they're roughly level there. So you're totally on the ball with your hardware comments.

But be careful about using attach rate as a metric for success. During the early to middle years of a generation, it is normal for *less* successful consoles to have higher attach rates. In terms of software, from the various piddly NPD leaks that we get beyond the top ten and that summary blurb, it looks like the Wii is selling roughly twice the amount of software as the 360 in terms of units in the US. It is difficult to determine ratio of first to third party sales, but from previous years' financial reports, the general trend is that slightly under half of Wii games are third party in the first half of the year, and somewhat over half of Wii games are third party in the second half of the year.

My suspicion would be that Wii third party sales this particular second half are greater than those for the 360, especially since the 360's highest seller was a first party title. It'd still be somewhat close, but given the trend, this might have been the last Autumn where you could reasonably use the term "holding it's[sic] own" when speaking of the 360's 3rd party sales.

(now, 3rd party game quality is another story)