Thanks to all who have responded with answers, questions etc. This is a tower model. I got a NIC card with it but still have the modem since I need it to dial in to work but probably won't use it for Linux unless the NIC card can't be gotten to work. I use a sound blaster live sound card because that is the one they sold with multi-channel sound. I would have preferred to build my own machine for Linux and that still might not be a bad idea but I don't know where to begin to get the components. I think for now I will persue a dual track and see which approach I can get to work first. There is something very appealing about having a dedicated machine for Linux and it shouldn't be that expensive. Thanks again to all who have responded to this message. Enjoy! Bruce
