re:serial port

[Alan]

Andrew, yes the motherboard (WinFast 760GXK8MB) does have the pins for 
Com3, the book suggested it did and have visually checked that  they are 
there. so now all I need to do is get a cable and find some way to mount 
a socket for it(I think)

Regarding Thunderbird, I have that installed in Windows, should I go 
ahead and install in it in Linux?

Alan