1. redhat is out of date afaik, red hat ain't out of date, andthe only reason I can think of your friend would tell you this is because of misinformation or the fact that distributers choose their packages carefully. they use the packages they consider to be stable enough for release in their distributions.. 2. redhat takes too many resources and is slower by over 50% that's just an outright crock. Red hat as far as I can tell, ain't any slower than any other distribution. the version I used a year ago or there abouts was slow on boot up mainly because it had a lot to load at startup. however, you can configure that to suit your needs. so that point is a load of rubbish. 3. doesnt take as much disk space and is easier to install. Each distribution takes up as much disk space as you want it to. the standard for slack 8.0 is around 2 GB if you choose a full install. How much disk space GNU/Linux takes up is entirely up to you. 4. redhat updates every few months or so...... So what if it does, is this a problem? all I can suggest is you use what you're comfortable with. if it's red hat then use red hat if it's debian or slackware or something else, use that one. Don't always trust what someone else tells you. use what you feel the most comfortable using. and more importantly, check your facts. -- Shaun Oliver In a world without fences and walls who needs Windows and Gates? EMAIL: shaun_oliver at optusnet.com.au ICQ: 76958435