Just though I would put this as a comparison, as it does not concern Gnome at all I have put it on a different thread. A comparison of startup times for various software and hardware configs in the end would probably be usefull........... Anyway......... System Xaser6 MB ASUS P6X58D Premium CPU I7 960 at 3.2ghz (not overclocked) memory 3 x 4 gig modules (cat /proc/meminfo reports MemTotal: 12461480 kB) Harddisks WD 160g cavair blue, WD 1Tb Cavair black, home drive is a 160g seagate. Kernel Linux version 2.6.39.1 custom compiled 32 bit Linux distribution Debian 6.0x 32 bit with all current updates Windomanager good old fvwm, with a somewhat modified "fvwm-dorothy" config (Note 1) Shell access in X is by mrxvt System has no external network access, ie a standalone system, Debian being configured to disable all external access's such as DNS look ups. Boot time from LILO prompt, 18 secs X system startup using startx 3 secs Note 1: The "fvwm-dorothy" config is a highly graphical config for fvwm that is quite widely variable and quite good looking and I use my own backgrounds dsplayed with qiv. One can easily change the graphics to suit ones mood. I have altered some of the functions, keyboard and mouse bindings to suit myself. Note 2: Just in case, fvwm is one of the older windowmangers and has had some bad press in more recent times as it requires a good deal of work on the text based config file, it being one of the most configurable windowmangers on the planet, both graphicly and in behaiour and operation. One can get it to do and behave in almost any way as long as one is willing to put the work into the config file. Its sort of the unix command line of the windowmanagers, not really for the average joe looking for an easy life. Lindsay