Thanks! On the recommend of a FReeper, I kept my eye out for FreeBSD, and found it New Year’s Day at the bargain books, along with some Linux books and other stuff, a giant pile of those oversized (and fairly recent) computer books for around $40.
I really wanted to run something based on FreeBSD...had limited success with PC BSD ...it just gave me fits...with my wide monitor....also helps if one has an nvidia graphic card. ..for all of the Linux Distros....