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We have 9 computers in my home on a 48 port network.

I think XP will be my last MS OS.

It is a virtual part time job keeping everything updated, patched and mal/spy-ware free.

This just isn't worth it.

I downloaded Ubuntu to may laptop on a dual boot as a test. It was a real eye opener.

It was remarkably easy. All hardware was detected, drivers installed and I was off and surfing in 30 minutes while playing music off my server.

If this is a peek at the future of Linux it is a rosy picture indeed.

I have since installed it on several other machines with equal sucess.

If someone can suggest a better Linux flavor I am all ears. It needs to be free, period, easy to use, user friendly and with excellent driver support.

One bonus I have found is that it runs on boxes with much less horsepower than a MS box and I am able to recycle some older PCs as appliances.

Like the one I am typing on in my garage right now.

Cheers,

knewshound

Coming soon to a City near you !

Mepis is good too. All the software in it is not "free"; it does include some proprietary apps, such as Java, Flash, RealPlayer and Adobe Reader. Some software in MEPIS does not respect the Debian Free Software Guidelines.

But, you can still download it at no cost. It has excellent hardware detection and is one of the easiest Linuxes (Linuxi?) to use. Echo Talon has almost talked me into downloading the brand new 6.0 version, which is still in beta (apparently, it's really good).

If you want Linux for an older computer, Zenwalk is a good one. I have it on a laptop right now that I use primarily as an Internet radio...433 mhz, 196 mb of ram. It's got a built in JBL sound system and actually sounds very good for having puny laptop speakers. Boots in under a minute and is extra stable (the thing crashed frequently with Win98, and XP barely ran on it).

Anyway, my two cents.

You might want to check this out... a Linux Distribution Smackdown.

For all the other new Linux users (and maybe some not so new Linux users), you might want to check out TUX Magazine.

Articles are geared to new users, but I've learned a few things from it myself.