Picassa on Linux.

Installed Picassa on SuSE 10.0 . The Wine package provided by SuSE did not work, had to download and install the rpms from winehq.
With the rpms from winehq IE6 and Piacassa insatlled smoothly and I am able to run them with no problems.

Samba and XP Home.

Finally managed to get my XP Home machine to access the Samba share on my Linux box. The problem was in the McAfee firewall. It was blocking Samba traffic though it was disabled, took many frustrating hours to figure it out.

Linux ethusiast.

This is my first posting. I am an enthusiastic linux user and my enthusiasm sometime borders in obsession. I prefer to use Linux as my desktop. However, forces beyond my control (I am married and I use VPN to access the network in my office) compel me to continue using Windows. The problem with Windows is that it is difficult to experiment on the system without buying expensive software packages. Hence, to overcome this problem I am setting up my own linux playpen on an old Dell Optiplex GX110. It will be running Suse 9.2 and will be functioning as my own web, ftp and VPN server. I will be using Apache webserver and will be hosting www.avasarala.info and I am hoping to use the VPN server to provide an extra layer of security on top of the WPA-PSK that I use for my wireless network.