Well, I'm kind of diving into all this. My cp is pretty much pooched so I figured instead of going out and buying a new one, I'd try to build my own. I'd pretty much be set, but I'm kind of board with MS and I want to try something new, so I decided to kind of dive right into this UNIX thing. Major questions, though, what kind of processor sets should I be looking into for a system that will do well with UNIX???? Is there a difference between a Windows based system and a UNIX??? As you can tell I'm really don't have a clue about UNIX. I'm planning on buying a book on it and studying it some more, have any suggestions??

The major thing to watch out for is not to get anything built for windows. Stay away from WinModems, WinSound Cards, Win Video Cards, etc...

Depending on which Unix you go for, support for most generic PC hardware is very good. Some new / bleeding edge stuff may not work fully yet, like some of those tricked-out video cards.

For the most part though, any basic PC will come up under Linux / BSD, although Linux seems to have better support for cutting / bleeding edge stuff.

Also, if you check out places like www.redhat.com or www.linux.org , you'll usually have a hardware compatibility list, if you really want to be sure.

Well, I checked out those sites, Thanks a bunch. Now I did notice that most of the components listed and even most of the systems listed were all intel based. I was wondering if an AMD based system would be compatible with a UNIX type system?? Plus, I tend to be a multimedia buff is it going to be bare gound looking for multimedia components that would be compatible with UNIX??

Any Intel-compatible processor should do. Actually, you can find a Unix that will run on just about any widely-used chip there is...

Like I said, if you are into the bleeding edge, you may have problems utilizing all of their features, but there is a good chance you'll find what you're looking for with Linux. Now, if you're going to drop a few hundred bucks on a bleeding edge video / sound card, you might want to check compatibility first...

But you'll find just about anything you want - Music, still graphics, video / CGI... almost all of it free for download.