Well, I want to learn Managed DirectX/XNA in the future, but right now, my video card doesn't support most it's features... so I need to work with a library or SDK that will prepare me for this upcoming task, once it's available to me. So, my question is, what library can I use that more resembles MDX/XNA above the rest? Thanks for your time.

Usually I see SDL and OpenGL recommended for beginners but, then again, why not start with C# express edition and see what you can do with your existing graphics card first? If you're sure you want to use XNA for the XBox 360 support, then why bother with something else. I can tell you right now that C and C++ are harder than C# and I've never touched C# !

If you've never learned to program already then you can try Python and pyGame for starters. Once that's done you can try moving up to C# . The Python syntax will teach you how to indent your code properly so it will be readable to other programmers. There's a free book at Green Tea Press to help you learn Python (scroll down the page for the .pdf file link) and, best of all, there are other versions of the same book for Java and C++. C# is a hybrid between C++ and Java so it would pay to learn those languages as well.

Thanks for your reply, very informative. I will take a look at SDL and see what type of support it has for .net's C#. I just want to be productive in game development, therefore I'm not too concerned about portability. But if SDL has enough learning resources, it may be exactly what I'm looking for.

I have considered learning Python before C#, but that sounds a lot like learning Ebonics before learning English. Correct me if I'm wrong!

Tao Framework includes a version of SDL for .NET or MONO so you can try it out under C#. I've heard that the Tao Framework is just a set of library bindings and doesn't take advantage of .NET's features. PyGame is much more integrated into Python's syntax and you can still use Iron Python under .NET if you want to use Python as your programming language of choice.

Forgive me if I sound out of my league but I usually target platforms that aren't Microsoft owned.

You know that all you need to use MDX is a DX9 level video card right? You don't have to use shaders like with XNA. What kind of video card do you have, it must be pretty old if it can't run MDX examples.

My video card: http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/intel815/sb/CS-009165.htm

I didn't get any of the examples in MDX to work.