OpenOffice 2.0 series-- Has anyone been using the betas?  I've been on 1.0.2 
cos I don't want to download 115Mb on a 56k connection, so I'm wondering if 
the geological-time loads have been improved any?

A pathological inability to delete large files which slowly swallowed my 
Linux and BSD partitions has left me in Windows-land for a while.  I finally got a 
DVD burner, so I now have the space to do a new install.  Can I break an NTFS 
partition down gracefully with gratis tools?  I just want to chop 20 or 40Gb 
off the end.

What's good choices in a 64-bit distro (x86-64)? Do any BSDs do a decent job? 
 Cost-free Solaris?  (I like *ix, however I fear the GPL will eat my soul)  I 
formerly did Mandrake and Slackware like a few years ago, never really felt 
confident with Mandrake.  I don't trust pretty and easy.  The distro has to not 
rely heavily, or indeed at all, on decent networking.  I can't spend six 
weeks apt-get dist-upgrading just to get out of 2.0 kernel land, Debian fans. :D


Is USB handling any better in 2.6?  I recall how my seemingly standard old 
digicam which emulated a disc drive in Windows could never be recognized in 
linux.

I'm probably going to get OO on a disc from one of those "99 cent linux CD" 
houses, cos I'll also need the windows version for the dual-boot and for a 
friend's machine, so I figured I'd perhaps select a distribution at the same time 
and pay only one postage.