I have made 1927 posts before this one. But this post is different than every one of the posts before it. This post is the first post I've made on a Linux machine where I installed the OS and the NIC. This was a clean install, so there's not a shred of Windows on this machine. The OS for this machine is Ubuntu 6.06, and everything was MUCH easier than I had been led to expect from Redmondites. From the point of install to this point, the ONLY problem I had was with the codecs. That was easily overcome by using easyubuntu. I'm a long way from customizing an O/S from scratch. And I haven't spent a lot of time in command prompt with Ubuntu (haven't had to, honestly). I would have to say that installing and running Ubuntu was no more difficult than installing and running Windows XP. Yes, I had to know where to go and what questions to ask, but Ubuntu is going a long way towards erasing the criticism that Linux isn't a user friendly environment. True, it's not for everyone, but I for one consider it a pleasant introduction to the world of Linux.