Neill newman wrote:

I don't want to sound all high and mighty (because I'm not!), but imho Mandrake is probably the best for beginners. Once they are up to speed they can then explore other offerings...

There are bound to be several re-installations...I started with Red Hat 6.2, installed EVERYTHING available not knowing which packages i would need, reinstalled a few times, played with it for 6 months, and then installed debian, with an absolute minimum. I probably wouldn't have liked to begin with debian - the install gave me some grief with various bits and pieces that i wouldn't have understood if i'd begun with it.

Nutter wrote:

oh i also have bad spelling due to the fact im sydlxeci

Oh, David and I got excited thinking there was another Ian M Banks fan in our midst ;-)

I'm officially no longer the alug newbie now, then.....does this mean i don't have to bring buns and biscuits to the next meeting and make the tea???