I started over and installed Mandrake 10 CE armed with the knowledge gotten over the past few weeks, especially from this forum. Installation/setup went smoothly I got over all the bumps in just a few minutes. Everything works as expected. Then I uploaded 157 updates from a Netherlands mirror. Mandrake is as smooth as sno... nevermind. Samba4 included in the update works without having to configure a thing! Music, (sound), cable internet, even my digital camera plugs in perfectly. I actually like Mandrake a lot better than Win XP

Now what do I do with it.

I don't need a server, or another wordprocessor/spreadsheet/presentation machine. What I want is to take 17 years of Quickbooks files and all my Adobe products and continue my graphics business without that wimp Gates over my shoulder. Where do i sign up?

(I've looked at all the graphics products out there, while good, not great enough for me to devote years to.)

DanoL

i suppose it depends on how badly you need certain apps. you could try running them under wine or crossover office.

http://www.winehq.com/

http://www.codeweavers.com/

http://frankscorner.org/

and you might have a look at this

http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/win-l...table.shtml#42

good luck.

and don't forget www.rpmfind.net for the simple .rpm builds.