After reading up I decided on Libranet 2.8, a Debian based distro. Installation was mostly trouble free. The first problem was video card detection. It properly detected my laptop's video card: ATI Mobile M4 32mb; it chose "r128" as the selected driver, which I'm not sure is the correct driver. The X test failed repeatedly, and I was able to isolate it to the video card by trying multiple setup configurations. Once I chose VESA, I was able to pass the X test and see a graphical screen. What should I do about my ATI driver/video card?

The second problem was in installing a laptop specific PCMCIA module, but it would just freeze on installation and I'd have to restart. I eventually just went ahead without the PCMCIA module. Since this is a laptop, and I would like the feature, can I use Synaptic (apt-get GUI?) to install this?

My third question concerns firewall and antivirus. What would everyone recommend for a newbie like myself? I don't mind working with IP tables if I could be given some directions as to how to actually get to the files to edit the settings or what commands to put in. I also hear a lot about Bastille - what is that?

Last question: by default, Mozilla 1.3 is included, and I know 1.4 is available. I've downloaded it and I'm not sure how to install it. I tried an install script which seemed to be working up until it said something similar to that it couldn't write to my hard drive. It seems that unless I'm logged in as root I don't seem to have an real write capabilities, but of course that'd be a security hazard. I've seen it in Nautlius file browser where there is a pen with a red "no" sign. How do I install software and/or enable writing in certain parts without root?

Many thanks in advance.


Edit:
P.S. Speaking of installing software, Libranet is using IceWM as its window manager and there is a theme I'd like to install, how do I do that?

How do I install software and/or enable writing in certain parts without root?

If you open up a terminal and type
$su root

And then enter your password, you will be logged on as root. You can easily switch back by typing $su (whatever your normal user name is). In Redhat, if you double click an RPM that needs administrative privileges to run, it asks you to enter the root password so that it can go ahead with the install.

Using the root account to perform maintenance and installing things isn't bad, it's just using it for your everyday use that could be dangerous. The whole idea about logging in as a normal user and then having to switch to root to perform certain functions is just to let you know that what you're doing could cause problems if you aren't careful. As long as you know what you're trying to do you'll be fine.