Kurt had just purchased two wireless PCI cards, one for a Linux desktop and one for a Windows desktop. Sitting side-by-side, we started at the same time to try to get the new hardware to work with each OS. Kurt was working on Windows while I was working on Linux. If I got Linux working first, Kurt would give me a bowl of ice cream.

The process with Mandriva Linux 2005 could have hardly been easier. I went to the the Mandriva Control Center and followed the wizard to set up a new network connection. There was option to select a Windows driver. From there, I pop-ed in the CD from D-Link and navigated to the driver to select it. For the rest of the wizard I could mostly accept the default options.

During this process Mandriva noticed that I would need to have the "NDIS wrapper" program installed. It wasn't installed by default because it wasn't needed until now and Mandriva takes care to avoid bloat when it can. Here I was simply prompted for the install CD to insert, and the wireless driver wizard continued seamlessly.

No other software configuration was needed to get online, although we did have to move the computer closer to the access point.

On Windows, the card didn't work and was returned to the store. With some research, it was found that "Windows 98" was not supported.

"Not fair" you say, "Windows 98 is ancient!". True, but it does everything else they want to do with it except for working with this hardware.

While pundits will compare Linux blow-for-blow with the latest security-patch enhanced version of Windows XP, in my experience people with common uses consider a modern Linux distribution to an upgrade from Windows 98, 2000 or ME, and are simply happy that Linux meets their needs, without the hassle of the spyware and virus epidemic that plagues Windows.

Faced with the option of purchasing a Windows upgrade or using Linux more, this family has made Linux their primary desktop at home.