Thanks for the info Phil, and glad I'm not the only one who'd not find Base that good. Although in fairness, and on reflection, perhaps I should have another look at it some time - it's likely to have been a couple of years since I last had a look. While I have used other databases on Linux, including at one time MySQL with a website, the Access type need hasn't really been one of mine in a long while.

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Thinking remote desktops. I can log into the living room computer (the one I’m likely to replace) from my PC that way. The main reason for this is for mythtv, which under the version it’s running (I gather a later version has a web interface that enables this) requires a graphical interface for tasks like the occasional rescan of channels and its rarely convenient to take over the living room tv to do such things… I may also, in lazy mode and because it’s there, use it for other admin tasks.

The performance seems OK but I haven’t the experience to say how I would find it for more day to day usage with a wider range of applications.