in my recent misadventures with Linux i did find that the Debian distribution includes the BOINC packages, the others i messed with didn't. Was meaning to check out Ubuntu/kubuntu distros, but scrapped it all after discovering most of my networked hardware isn't supported (or i'm too much teh noob to compile code.. or something), such as printers, wireless network, etc. but i do have 1 machine running Linux now for a couple weeks. :) I gave Linux a shot a few years ago, it is much better these days, but i'll personally wait a few more as it becomes a little more mainstream perhaps, as that leads to much more advances in supported stuffs.

WTG!!
That's one heckuva an acomplishment!
Keep up the great work!

I am in the top 400 in all categories, but I need much faster cores to come anywhere close to your production.

WAY TO GO ROGER!

Congraz on making it into the top 100. You make me wish I had more hardware.

Yeah I remeber Smilalady :) I haven't had any contact with her since about a year ago...

Hi Courine. I don't remember which Linux distro you are using, but one of the VM solutions available is from vmware which has at least a 30 day evaluation available. I think you want the server version instead of the workstation, but I haven't played with it so I don't know for sure.
Some of the distro's, such as SuSE has it's own VM available.
Chux might be interested in trying SuSE out, as it installs very easy and has multiple look-and-feel interfaces available (console, gnome, KDE, basic X, etc). The reviews I have read says that Gnome provides the closest XP feel, and KDE has more buttons than a 747 instrument cluster. My son uses Gnome with the 3D desktop effects active (think Mac), but I prefer KDE. When you install, you need to be sure to unselect ZEN, as it is designed for an enterprise solution and slows down the machine for us.