Maudlin ruminations of a mind bit by wanderlust.

How many times have you seen a program or game or something that you like on the net, downloaded it for your OS (assuming it's free, otherwise bought), installed it, and it just worked? You just followed the instructions, and you were able to use it just like that?

If you're on linux, your answer would be "most of the time", while if you're on windows, the response would probably be "What? There are programs that just work?".

I recently got myself a couple of newish games, which sadly require windows to run. Not too surprised, because that's normal for most games. Because it's been a long time since I actually played something with 3D graphics (except scorched), I decided to install windows on the other hard drive and see things happen.

INSTALL 1 :
I knew that Vista had some tdr issues with nvidia 8 series cards, and it probably wouldn't let me game for more than 3 minutes or so. I was wrong. It didn't let me game past 1 minute, with blank screens every 10 seconds, capped off by a magnificent Blue screen to finish. Scrapped.

INSTALL 2 :
I resigned myself to the fact that I'd have to use XP, which is something I really didn't want to do, because I wanted Vista's security. Using XP meant I wouldn't be able to use the Internet, which wasn't so bad, because I wasn't really planning network gaming anyway. I popped in the XP CD, only to find that I couldn't install without removing Vista, as it was considered a downgrade. Switched back to linux, and used gparted to wipe my second hard drive. Then went back. The rest of the installation went smoothly, but it took ages. Finally, I had an XP system which hopefully hadn't screwed with GRUB enough to let me use Linux as well. It hadn't, so far so good. I install my graphics drivers, sound drivers, bluetooth drivers for my keyboard/mouse, you know the deal. Install the game. Play the game. Crash the game in 15 min, with blackouts every 5. Better, but not quite.

INSTALL 3 :
At this point I realized that there was a page on nvidia's website that had a list of hotfixes and other goodies which ought to be installed if you want to do something on Vista. I also realized that I hadn't realized that before. Go back to linux. Use gparted to get rid of XP. Put Vista DVD in and install. GRUB is still alive. Good. Connect to the internet (I can, in Vista). Go to nvidia, and download all the drivers. Go to microsoft.com and get all the hotfixes. Pass WGA, which for some reason takes ages on my connection. Install everything, one by one. Go back to Windows Update, and get what I've missed. Restart. Blue Screen. Poweroff.

INSTALL 4 :
I see now that my XP was not serviced by any of the packs, so I download SP2 in Linux, and have it ready. Wipe the hard drive with gparted again, and reinstall XP. Install SP2. Install Drivers. All of them. Install the game and play. I now get a worst case playtime of < 1min, best case time of 17mins and an average case play time of about 3-4mins. And this is not to mention that the first minute or so is spent on getting into the main menu, and loading a save game (which, half the time I am unable to save because the game crashed previously).

Epilogue :
Rebooted into linux, and decided to stay there some time longer. Keyboard didn't work because My bluetooth was screwed up in one of those installs. Fixed it by reinstalling the drivers 3 or 4 times, and doing some crazy acrobatics with the dongle and the power switches.

Told fedora to yum install wesnoth. It just works.

Here are some really intuitive puzzles which I found on my perusal of the www.

A king wishes to marry his daughter to the most intelligent of the 3 princes who sit in front of him, one of them being you. He devises a test thus: He sits the the three of you at a round table so that you can see each other. He places a hat on each of your heads and says that he has totally 5 hats, 3 white and 2 black, of which he has used 3 and has hidden 2. You cannot see what color your own hat is, but you can see that each of the 2 blokes in front of you has a white hat. If you guess the color of your hat correctly, you win the lady's hand. else you are slaughtered. The other 2 princes, not being so bright, are not willing to take a risk and quess. You are, and do. How do you win fair lady's hand?

That one was logic. This one is more lateral thinking.

You're driving along in your car on a dark night when you pass three people at a bus stand, waiting for a bus. The first is an old woman who looks like she's going to die. The second is the friend who once saved your skin. The third is the love of your life. Your car can only take 2 people, including you, the driver. What do you do?