RJ --

I'll add my AMEN to all the comments that were
posted.  And yes, one more e-mail forum is
just a little more than I have room for.

Business is a tough business, so you have to
really have your concept laid out, and a
survival plan, hopefully including a variety
of ways for it to produce actual money.
The full-theme approach (T-shirts, etc.)
is part of this.

Your emphasis on video cards and CD burners
is a good start in one direction:  Making these
things work with Linux is perceived as a
roadblock.  I have a Brand X monitor and still
don't have my X config working right.  Windows
got it right immediately.  But note that it is
the SERVICE that you are selling, and your
pricing has to recognize the time you'll need
to spend.

As you have now learned, if you want to make a
hit with the Linux crowd, stick with plain-text
e-mail and save the FX for your web site.
BTW, nice job on that site:
  http://www.generationxcomputing.com

Look at http://plug.phoenix.az.us/ for the
meeting schedules.  You might get a chance for
some face-to-face brainstorming possibilities,
especially at the Stammtisch (sorta the right
atmosphere, y'know).

Do you have music to go with that
swingin' penguin?  ;-)
If you can send me an MP3 of a song you'd
like for this, maybe I can set up a midi track
for you, synchronized to this guy's groove.
(Do animated GIFs 
The song would be munged to avoid copyright
infringement, of course.

Good luck.

Vic

-- 

Let me be a part of the solution:
 http://www.newearth.org/~victor/resume.html
   -- or --
 http://members.cox.net/vodhner/