Ubuntu 6.10 is a good candidate for people just getting into Linux. Installation is straightforward, although you might need to collect your DNS, Samba (Windows) share, and printer addresses before setting up networking.

Experienced Linux users will appreciate the Synaptic package manager and the ability to easily use apt-get from the command line. It's good to see very current package like Firefox 2.0 and OpenOffice.org 2.0 in this release.

Go out and get a spare drive, stick it in your machine and give Ubuntu 6.10 a try. It's a reliable and feature filled product.

Now I understand about all the positive buzz.

Rob Reilly is a consultant, trend spotter, and writer. He is a contributing editor for Linux Today. He advises clients on portable business computing and presentation technology integration. You can visit his web page at http://home.earthlink.net/~robreilly.

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