Hello again, thought I let you know what transpired. etch is out even red hat 7.1 tried fedora 6 which loaded ok but went to log in on screen password denied or should say wrong. What little hair I got is gone. I got better though at downloads and learned a little there. Linux xp is on my system now and what I gathered a good install. But it is asking me for a product code? Darn MS all over again. Thanks so much for the advice, think I'll make some more cds.