a good intro into what's available, what it's called, & what dependencies are, etc... Used Linux for about years now. A lot has changed in that time but mainly use Mandriva after falling off Redhat as it became more commercial oriented. Lot safer than Windows and half the crash problems. There are many great distros out there that would probably fit most anyones needs in a Linux distro without building one or you can start with a stripped down version of a major distro and add programs as you need. The command line function of Linux makes it much easier to do things that you can't get access to in Windows and it's fun and easy to learn and work with. Since getting into opensource I haven't bought an operating system in 10 years now but have occasionally supported some of the open source projects out there. Danny's ideas are sound and a good way to tweak and learn a very reliable and secure operating system. Give it a try. I agree, I've always found the Linux terminal to be way more understandable than the Windows command line. Then again, maybe it's because I was never turned on by Windows' command line in the first place! :P as ben stated -- Definitely not for the faint hearted. -- I'm on my third build 7.1 I'm attempting the XORG now I'v susessfully built 6.3, 6.7, and the custom live CD. good luk to all that try it is a learning experience