Its not free, but I always recommend Xandros Deluxe. Its easy to install and upgrade. Its based on Debian. Its fully compatible with the base Debian repositories. It comes with Crossover Office and Plugin installed so you can install Microsoft Office if absolutely neccesary. Or other odd programs that you might need for work or school. For me this is currently Filemaker 4 :( Xandros is the only distro my dad can half way use without me constantly helping him. Then when your ready for a free distro that requires some tinkering and learning, I always recommend pure Debian. (Not trying to start a distro war here, its just that 'apt-get install mythtv-frontend' is way way too easy! :] ) John Ford wrote: >I plan to replace Windows with Linux on several PCs in my home. I know >that if I try a few different distributions, I'll get a feel for what >works best for me, but it would take months/years to do this. > >I can handle (and enjoy) pretty in-depth techy stuff, so I wouldn't >mind a distribution that needs some fiddling to get what I want. What I >want to end up with is: > > A few PC's for wife & kids, to handle web browsing, chatting, > music via Yahoo/Launch, new and old printers, cameras & scanners > (I have _no_ idea if Linux drivers are a problem area). > > An old PC (486) to act as a firewall between Cisco 675 and > the rest of our network. (Cisco connects to DSL line, intranet > is 10/100 cat-5, no wireless yet) > > A not-quite-as-old PC (366 Mhz Pentium II) to play with as a > web server. > >After I set it up, I want the wife & kids (not as techie as I) to be >able to apply fixes and upgrades, at least to their PCs. So the most >important feature of the distribution that I select will be the ability >to make the fixes & upgrades EASY. > >Thanks for any input... > >-jcf > > >_______________________________________________ >TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org >https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list