Hi all! Following a completely unsatisfactory experience with Windows Genuine 'Advantage' (sic) identifying my legitimate copy of XP as a pirate after changing my motherboard, I can no longer justify giving Mr. Gates any more of my money. I think I'm going to go Linux. So, I do email, web browsing, shuffling MP3s on and off my MP3 player, and a bit of word processing, spreadsheets and writing web pages. I also like to do a little bit of photos and graphics (like taking red-eye out of photos, or adding captions). For this sort of usage, what is my best Linux package option? Thanks. cursum perficio

You could try Simply Mepis since you seem interested in making a determined switch from Windows to Linux.

PCLinuxOS is very slick and a recent new release MAY 2007: http://www.pclinuxos.com Freespire v2 and Linspire v6 are imminently due out, or if you want commercial look at Xandros.

my favorites: Vector Libranet Mepis http://www.edmunds-enterprises.com/... http://www.edmunds-enterprises.com/...

SimplyMepis, PCLinuxOS or Ubuntu FLATURIN - Hand-to-mouth goodness. It's good!

My best recommendation (if you are still able to run Windows at all) is to install a virtual machine application, then install each of the popular distributions mentioned above as well as Suse, Mandriva, and Fedora (one at a time) into the VM to test them and decide for yourself which one best meets your needs. I use Virtual Box here to run Windows XP under Linux because I provide technical support to Windows users and sometimes use it to help me walk through configuration issues over the phone. There is a Windows version too. HTH, Ernie Registered Linux User 247790 ICQ 41060744