I have been playing with "live" Linux CDs for some long time now, but never quite had the nerve to commit to installing a Linux distro. Until now. My aging VAIO laptop, complete with WinXP, was showing signs of age, i.e. slow, occasional freezes, etc. A more than idle moment recently at Sydney International Airport led to the purchase of a copy of "Ubuntu User" magazine, with Ubuntu/Kubuntu 11.10 on a double-sided DVD. On arrival back in the now grey and damp UK I gave it a go in "live" mode and was totally impressed. Having backed up what few files I wanted to keep onto a memory stick, I did the install thing, overwriting XP (Yeehah). Installation was fairly painless - the only sticking point was that it refused to continue to completion until I entered a user name and password, despite selecting the log-in without password option. No big deal. It found my wireless router immediately, ditto my ancient Epson printer. The only thing I haven't managed yet is to persuade it to see my desk-top PC (Windows Vista), and vice versa. Again, no big deal. My lappy is now fast and far far less cluttered. So for anyone debating the wisdom of going down this road, it ain't as daunting as you might think.