thank you very much for the advice. i will take a look at some of the distributions mentioned. I am not afraid of the idea of getting my hands dirty. from what you and others say it seems red hat and some of the other more sophisticated products do really seem to help as i had thought.

it doesn't sound like linux is very processor intensive for everyday apps. i'm thinking of picking up a used P3 500. is this enough, overkill or fine? this may eventually end up being a music server if all goes well.