Trying PClinuxos

i think you'll be fine. currently running .93a minime just fine, actually i've had better luck with it than i have with ubuntu...its faster too. in either case...i think you'll like it. texstar is hard @ work to get closer to 1.0 so don't expect many patches released....only that new version coming soon (no date yet, "as soon as its ready")

You don't need that large a swap drive

4 gigs is way too much space to allocate to your swap drive when you already have 2 gigs of memory. The old 2 to 1 rule was for back in the days when the amount of RAM installed in a machine could be measured in dozens of megabytes not gigabytes. Your swap drive is your host for "virtual memory" and like in the Windows "page file" the more physical RAM you have the less you need "virtual RAM", period!

If you're new to Linux (which it sounds like you are) start off by only creating three partitions, in your case a small swap drive (256-512megs should be more than adequate). Next, a / partition large enough to hold all of the apps you may plan on installing as well as the libraries, temp/tmp directories, compilers, system files, etc that you may need especially if you plan on rolling your own programs. Finally, a very large /home partition which needs to be large enough to hold all of the other partitions you have created, so you can back them up if need be, and also accommodate any other files you may save, create, or download (such as movies or mp3s). This is very important as /home is where you live and work in a Unix type OS.

And remember in Linux as in all other 'Nixes you don't want to do anything other than system maintenance as root as this is unsafe and could very easily lead to hosing your system accidentally.

After you've experimented for awhile (as in a few months) and have observed what your use habits are, check and see how much space the different directories under / use. Then you can repartition your drive into many more complex partitioning schemes that better protect and optimize your system for your computing habits.

Remember in computing and most things in life KISS! (Keep It Simple Stupid!) is a golden rule to live by to keep you and your machine up and running, safely and securely. I hope this helps.

Ciao