My brother is over for the next few days and he came without a laptop, so I’ve given him an (actual) XP build on my 2.26Ghz test machine. It’s legit — the box is an old GX260 discarded by local state offices, and it came with a valid serial. So don’t start hooting and hollering over that.

I was tempted to try out my LookXP build on him, and see if he dug it. But what he really wanted was to play a game, and rather than try to sell him on Armagetron Advanced or Regnum Online, I just put XP on and let him tackle Fable. I even put the Geforce 6200 card in, effectively reassembling that impossible-for-Linux machine I wrote about the other day.

It’s kind of funny: I know he doesn’t like Microsoft, and I hear him rant and rave about Genuine Advantage and so forth, and I know he’d rather be using Linux (probably), but he’s tied to things like 3D Studio Max and ArchiCAD and Revit and … and there’s no apparent way around that for him. Maybe those things would run in Wine; I don’t know.

I installed a dual-boot Ubuntu setup on a laptop for him about six months ago, but it was an HP zv6000, and came with the dreaded XPress 200M, and I never could get full video acceleration. I conquered the Broadcom wireless, but not the video. In the end, it wasn’t good enough.

He’ll make the switch when he wants to. It’ll just happen at his own pace, when he’s sufficiently motivated, and when the moment is right for him.

In the mean time, I’ll be showing off Beryl desktops and making him drool. 😀