There are Linux distributions specifically "designed" with older hardware in mind......AntiX might be just what you're looking for.... See the link......... Then again maybe not...Go to distrowatch.com and click on all the "top 100" list items....AntiX runs like a scalded dog on fairly recent hardware with 2GB Ram. Then again, almost everything runs really fast with 2GB RAM and nothing running except what's needed/wanted....And just my experience with the "base" system that underlies AntiX, (SimplyMepis7.0 for more "recent" hardware) it's absolutely unbeatable, and stable as a rock running 4 browsers with lots and lots of windows and tabs open and several programs running too.... And in my experience, no need for anything anti-virus or the like needed..... I never turn this thing off and never disconnect from the WWW, and I never have an issue If you think you are going to run XP w/o issue on that much RAM, it ain't gonna happen, not with anything more than just the base OS running anyway at a pace that you'll measure in less than hours, you won't anyway....But with lots of RAM it will do just fine, just remember to start nothing and only load what you are running. Regardless of what you choose to do or what you choose to run, more RAM is always a good thing. Here is a link that might be useful: OS for

LL - what a fun 70's plan! Love that utility room... yours was better with the sunroom off of it though. I have to weigh all the great ideas with square footage limitations, although I have "plan fatigue" at this point... and its only been 2 weeks! I will discuss the bathroom issues with my hubby... there are only so many things I can accommodate for handicap access before he goes crazy, if you know what I mean. But that bathroom needs those bars and a decent turnaround at the very least, because having her around is just such a wonderful treat for us. Mrs Pete: I know, I know... I do have a basic lesson plan saved online, but most of the nitty gritty stuff will change from week to week, and the extra stuff that we do I want to add in as we go... and its just easier to keep the paper copy out and make notes. My situation is a little different, since we are at home ( and under more scrutiny), so I want to be ready at a moments notice to show the work and the plans. Every state and college seems to have their own requirements and I want to try and meet as many of those as I can. And the student work, which is more important, is not readily "computerized." Although I do want to invest in those paper scanners and slowly start doing that. In case of fire: those files are the first "things" I would grab, even before photos! I have 17 binders of student work so far (that's just the stuff I keep), and 14 for lesson plans (broken down by subject)... so that's alot of scanning! I'm also thinking that real schools invest in decent white boards... all mine were terrible. Next time I won't chintz out on that. ;)

Interesting thoughts -- we could all improve on paperwork storage in our homes. Two things I think I'm doing well that differ from the above mentioned Script, and someone else might find some ideas in my methods: Taxes. Yes, like Script, I am scrupulous about maintaining records for my taxes. About a dozen years ago I went to the office supply and bought two big boxes of BRIGHT GREEN folders (green like money). I labeled them Taxes 2000 ... Taxes 2001 ... Taxes 2002 ... Taxes 2003 ... and so on. Given my family's typical lifespan, I made enough green folders to take me to age 110 -- probably more than I'll need, but I'm ready! They're all stored in my file cabinet, taking up very little space. Now when I receive anything tax-related -- a charitable receipt, an end-of-the-year bank statement, whatever -- I have a place to file it. In April, I have a place to file a copy of my taxes, and I can go back and see previous tax years. For the rest of my life, this system is in place. Death folder. Ours is a notebook. Two identical notebooks, actually, since we have two children. Our girls are young adults now, but they've never dealt with an estate -- even if they don't open it 'til they're old, it'll be useful to them. It contains a lot of stuff: - A personal letter to the two of them - A list of our wishes about funeral and items we'd like donated to various family members or charities - A list of things they must do immediately; it starts with going to our house and taking possession of the dog, but it also includes small details like canceling our voting registration and destroying any medicines in the house. At every turn this list includes addresses and phone numbers, including the lawyer we suggest for probate, the funeral home our family's always used, and family members who should be contacted. - A copy our will; they know what's in it -- everything split between the two of them - A list of our financial assets -- bank accounts, investments, insurance, deeds/maps of real estate ... when our youngest became a legal adult, we made the two girls co-beneficiaries of every account; note that this was done before either was married, so our two kids -- not future son-in-laws -- will own these items. - A list of the bills we pay each month -- electricity, phone, even the guy who cuts our grass. - Official copies of our birth certificates, our marriage certificates, and the girls' birth certificates -- they might not be needed, but the girls won't have to scramble to find them - A flashdrive with all of the above in digital format plus photographs that might be useful in putting together the funeral Our rule: We keep two years of tax returns in the notebooks ... the reason being that someday an accountant will file our final estate tax return, and he or she will want our last two years of returns -- so every April we pull out the notebook, discard one old return and insert the newest ... so our rule is that every April we look over the notebook and update anything that's changed. For example, last year we changed bank accounts, and someday we hope to add items concerning grandchildren to the book. Our girls know that the notebooks are stored in the safe, and they know where the key to the safe is hidden, and they know it's labeled with a misleading name so that a thief wouldn't look at it twice. Last thought on this notebook: Though this project took us the better part of a year --- we kept remembering one more thing, one more thing that really should be included -- we didn't find it difficult emotionally. I suspect that if we were older and/or one of us were in poor health, it might've been different.

Well to keep the censors at bay, let me first say that I haven't made any interesting improvements to my small house. My septic tank drainfield stopped working and had to be replaced. Home maintainence zapped the home improvement budget so everything else is on hold for a while. Add my son's 16th bday on the 9th and Christmas closing in fast and there just isn't any cashflow left. In fact, it all left! My son and I did engage in a rather fun and interesting project two weekends ago but since it was more furniture related I didn't feel right airing it here, but since you asked..... I bought him a flat screen high def television for his birthday. My first. I had a 27 inch conventional tube TV sitting in a typical entertainment system/wall unit. That unit was quite large and included a concealed, swing out rack on the left to hold the CD's, DVD's, etc. and a rack system on the right for stereo equipment. Although the old wall unit was quite large, my new flat screen TV (37 inch) wouldn't fit the hole for the TV. I had looked around for a replacement stand to hold the cable box, my son's game system, etc. and put the flat screen TV at an appropriate height but couldn't find anything. We had unloaded the old wall unit and wheeled it out to the porch so we could load it into the truck and take it to the dump. We had talked about designing and building our own stand and since the old unit was very large and very heavy, we started dismantling it to salvage hardware and make it easier to handle. The more we dismantled, the more I started thinking I could cut this old unit down to size and redesign it. So we did. My old (1985 vintage) component stereo system had developed some problems so the stereo section was eliminated. I liked the concealed rack for the Games. Cd's, DVD's so we disassembled that, shortenened it, changed the location of the shelves and reassembled it. Then we shifted the stereo cabinet upright panels over to the "TV hole" and shortened them, creating a shelf for the cable box, game system and another shelf for the modem and wireless router since all that connects to my incoming cablevision. We shortened and refitted the top and voala! A redesigned cabinet/TV stand for zero dollars. The old unit was about 60 inches wide and 50 inches tall the new unit is about 40 inches wide and 34 inches tall. Perfect fit! And, my son and I had a great time thinking through the redesign and planning it out so most of the old hardware went back into the factory holes. It was a fantastic father/son project and one we won't soon forget. This will do until we find a better solution or until we design and build a replacement unit from scratch. Fun enough? Sorry that took so long to describe. Scott