A thousand thanks to those who replied to my PS/2 mouse problem. After following their advice (and only reinstalling a further two times), I now have a system that responds when I 'startx'. Only thing is, I just see a window that I can type commands in - not a huge advance on what I had before!
Obviously I need to be hitting the FTP for more stuff; but what? I guess there must be graphically-oriented programs that enable me to do Linux-type things. Where should I start? Many thanks. John Midgley