<HTML><HTML>James, Thank you for your kind comments. I don’t want to go far into the actual issues because I have to move on. Briefly, Kuser - I entered the right password when asked, no problems at that stage Ksysguard - please see amigrave’s response. I also had this problem with SUSE, my laptop is up to date and is supposed to do ACPI properly, and to work with SUSE Login Manager - I only set this out briefly. The position is that I couldn’t get into it, and experienced what I described. On (all - with Kubuntu) previous attempts to get into it I was barred in a different way (getting symptoms similar to those described by a subscriber called Stroller). No upgrade or change save shutting down then later restarting the PC. Hardware. Yes one wonders. But no direct symptoms. No problems with live CD’s. Not likely to be RAM because plenty of problems while with the original (HP) 512 MB, then plenty with the (high quality) 2GB upgrade. Did test it, thoroughly. Power - either on the laptop battery, or via a UPS. Overheating, can’t be sure but think I would have noticed. Did have a thermometer on the fan outlet at one stage out of interest, this was fine. Mismatched buses - HP notebook, no mods save RAM, haven’t seen anything on Web re such problems with it. Thanks anyway, And re choosing, yes glad that people have choices especially after many many years of MS. But hope you will also bear in mind my point about not misleading people as to the nature of the choices. ****** McDave I agree about growth, being enterprising, in general. I try to be positive. But I am having to try to grow in a lot of other areas, and sometimes one has to decide how best to allocate limited resources. If I merely wanted a PC for personal use I could be relaxed about the risk or actuality of hours or days without it while I wrestled with problems. But we use them in our small business, and others depend on what I provide. We need something that works at least the great majority of the time, and which I can fix when it doesn’t, and make suggestions about over the phone. If I can’t be sure of being able to do this I can’t use a system. People are helpful, but for all that one is often on one’s own with a problem. In any event it is only reasonable to do a fair amount of searching, reading and experimenting before asking. I tried to minimise problems by going to SUSE (not that expensive, but not free, BTW) but as mentioned I gave up on their support. Thank you also for your suggestions about Mandrake or Fedora, I do note your use of "probably". All the best to you both, and I am going to unsubscribe now, lots to do! Regards, Edward </HTML>