Thanks to all for your advice on this question. My Intel-based system is now running smoothly and quietly) with an "amd64" OS. There were two keys to the solution: 1. despite the "amd64" label, 64bit OSes work on Intel chips as well; 2. many longstanding usability and functionality limitations (e.g. Flash, multimedia) have now been resolved. Happy New Year. -- Bruce Miller Ottawa ON, Canada bruce [ at ] brmiller [ dot ] ca (613) 745-1151 This message is from a webmail login and not from my regular mail system. It does not have my customary digital signature.