just a quickie i'm sure you get these all of the time, what's the best linux platform to buy if i'm a newbie redhat or mandrake ? Thanks ian

I used Mandrake to start with and then eventually moved on to Debian (this week!). I found Mandrake really easy to set up and configure my partitions etc and has some good features. As with any distribution, you still need to know a fair few console commands as so much of linux runs behind the scenes via the consoles. Mandrake tries to make it as easy as possible to use linux without having to see the console, but if anything goes wrong or doesnt work properly (as it often does!) then the console usually beckons... SuSe is also a good distro for starters, but I have never used RedHat so couldn't comment. Debian I have found to be more complex and 'hardcore' than all the other distro's above so really wouldn't recommend it to a n00b, but is really fun for getting your fingers grubby with some furious console action :) Took me about 1.5 hours of console fiddling to get my mouse and video card display working properly! Don't let this put you off though - linux is the perfect operating system for learning about how computers work and how M$ Windows is not the be-all and end-all of OS's. Hope this helps! Clydefrog

redhat 7.3

There are three distros that people would find easy to install and use: RedHat, Mandrake, & SuSE (in no particular order). Just late yesterday, Mandrake Linux 9.0 (Dophin) came out so you can download it any mirror sites. However, the package version will be out in a week or so. There- fore, if you want to purchase Mandrake, ask for Version 9.0 :) Then, on Monday, Sept. 30th, RedHat Linux Version 8.0 will be available and I've heard some good things about the latest version of RedHat :) And if that is not enough excitement in a week, SuSE will come out with a new version of their Linux, next week in Europe, and a week after that in US, 10/7. On top of that, Xandros (used to be Corel Linux) will come out with their first version of Linux on Monday, 9/30, also. Since I have never used Corel Linux before, I can't tell you anything about it but some people like it and Xandros seems to be even better... So, whichever distro you plan to install, you can't go wrong. (Hey, you can't go wrong with Linux and that is the bottom line...) Therefore, prepare to bog down the net next week as people will run to their nearest mirror site to download those new distros like crazy (and I am included. Hey, I don't want to miss out on the fun; would I :) Lawrence