I did not imply to pick on you, Eric. :-)) Indeed you made a very good
point of summarizing the common "perception" regarding the plug-n-play
capabilities of Linux vis-a-vis MS Windows.
My recent experience with Mandrake 9.0 RC1 was simply absolutely amazing.
I had previously installed RC1 on an old test machine (1:00 AM 9/3/02,
just got back from a trip, couldn't sleep--and thanks to Warren's cooker
mirror and Ray's instruction to install from ftp).
Later that morning, I unplugged the HD and inserted into into a newer
working machine.
And it booted up right away, as if the RC1 were originally installed on
the new machine! No questions asked. No nothing. (I don't know
whether this is good, but at least RC1 was able to do it. And I believe
if you don't like it, you can always change the default. Remember this
is Linux.)
Windows p-n-p oftentimes can cause more trouble than good. One of the
worst pitfalls of Windows' p-n-p is that it has the propensity to treat
you like an idiot, insisting that it is right and you're wrong, refusing
to accept the driver you supplied.
