whew! thanks for all the great responses! i guess i should reign my question in just a bit.. i would like to know if there are any distros to avoid, as they are known to have problems with linux.. i am really good with the redhat type distros and the fedora distros, and there would be no learning curve in getting those set up ... so i thought it might be a good idea to stick with one of those... are there any known problems with this? most notably, fc4.. thanks! ___ peace, sergio photographer, journalist, visionary www.coffee-black.com