I wonder if I should buy it and install it. I do have the Linspire Live DVD which I think is version 4.5. What I had problems with is accessing my zip drive and my usb drive. I was able to access the contents of my zip drive through the console window, but when I tried to create a desktop icon for it and click on it to access the drive that way it failed. And in the end that's what I want to be able to do is click on an icon and open all my drives that way. I printed off these instructions on the Linspire web site about how to add a IDE or ATAPI zip drive but I didn't even get through all the steps before the console window gave me an error message. I wonder if the new version 5.0 would be easier or better at setting this stuff up.

I've also tried Mandrake, Suse, and Mepis but encountered the same problems being able to access my zip and/or usb drive. Although they were all Live CD's. I don't know if that has anything to do with it.

Linspire 5 has definately imporved on a lot of things. I did use RHFC3 for a while but when I upgraded my kernel, hotplug didn't work like it did. But the USB support has definately improved. Go check it out!! ^^

357mag is the USB drive for running off? or booting off? Or is it storage?

If storage, I am able to write to and from my digital camera's USB "drive", and I think also a USB plug memory thingy that is formatted as a drive. That is in 4.5 of several different releases.

In fact I use LPhoto to create web saveable archives of digital camera images in LPhoto in this way.

I don't know if 5.0 will allow USB drives for booting, but surely whether or not is determined by the kernel? That was my understanding.