Thanks, but no thanks. I'll stick with a real *nix - Slack, actually! It's not that *nix is so hard to learn, just that most of the documentation is so esoteric. (I know you're probably directing that comment to the original poster, but I just had to reply. Hope you don't mind. By the way, why don't you use Lindows?)

As for "your Mom," or anyone else using *nix, if you set the system up for them, and have a good desktop environment, they can use it easily if they're open-minded enough to learn some new terms. I've installed Knoppix on my wife and daughter's comp, just to give them something to use until I have the time to install and setup Slack. They use it without any problems. When my wife's friend sent her a wassil recipe as a Word document, she just clicked on it and Open Office opened it right up.

It's just how the computer is setup. With a Windoze OS, someone has to set it up for you to use. If they do a bad job, you'll have a bad experience. If they do a good job, you'll be pleased and think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

My main disagreement with Windoze is not that it doesn't work well - my W2K system beats the snot out of my Slack system in almost every way right now. I've never had a hang, bsod, or other problem in it. However, I object to Micro$loth's business policies, EULA, current, and future direction. I don't want to be associated with them anymore. So, I'm still learning about *nix, and Slack, and one day it will work better than my W2K system. At that time I'll format c:/q Billy's OS right out of my box!!

Yesterday I got Wine installed (even though the documentation was incorrect in places), and then installed PageMaker and then got my fonts in there. So now, since I use PageMaker a lot, I can do that work in Slack! Can't print from it yet, but that will come, too.

On the printing thing.....if you've tried any of the regular methods with CUPS, etc, and it didn't work, perhaps it needs to be compiled into your kernel (as a module might do fine). I forget how I got it working last time with Debian. Mandrake just 'did it' for me, and then the printer broke. Ah well, the ink was to pricy anyhow. Time for a Laser. You'll need parport and parport_pc in your kernel in order for your printer to work, even with USB, I believe. Good luck. I forget the deal, but its a pointer in the right direction. Also try http://www.linuxprinting.org