This chat we are having is getting even more interesting Mike, Tech + others. I too have been playing with Puppy Linux. I only have a P3 600, 256 megs, 32 meg ATI Radeon 7000, dsl internet, so, especially as a live cd, Ubuntu is very slow. Puppy 2.0 (which works best on my computer) suits me perfectly because I can run it as a live cd, which loads completely into ram, runs almost as fast as Win98SE. Puppy saves all my settings after each session to a 512 mb file on my computer "C" drive, so the next time I run Puppy it boots up in 30 sec. keeps all my settings. Even though I use Puppy only as a live cd, I can install new software like Firefox, the Gimp, to that large file on my "C" drive until it fills up. My only problem with all Linux is I cannot get a driver for my Lexmark P915 printer not even at linuxprinting.org, the central repository for Linux printer drivers.
I can't take anymore time now, but my story about how I got into playing with a Mac was a revelation, very inexpensive, perhaps another time, another subject. Bottom line, is that there is no registry in a Mac, therefore very little chance of a virus or spyware. Even installing + uninstalling software is so simple. Ken.