[davepl]

That page is a little deep for me, but it's in the right direction. But it's kinda written for people that already know the answer, I think:

"When we operate transistor as the class A common emitter amplifier usually we choose to bias the transistor (apply voltage on VBE and VCE) in such a way (Q-Point) that IC and VCE (output) will swing to its maximum or minimum value without any distortion (swing into the saturation or cut-off region) when the IB (input) swing to its maximum or minimum value"

So that's about where I got lost! But I understand in principle what is happening I think!

I'm not really clear on why the diode is needed for inductive loads. Is it because when the inductive field collapses it shoots a voltage spike into the circuit or something? I don't know anything about inductance, unfortunately.