I Want to identify best Linux approach, and any pitfalls

I have use Linux a fair bit, but not for some years and never as a desktop..simply couldn't get the applications for it..

Now it seems that enough of the applications I need are available for me to almost switch off Windoze forever - or at least relegate it to an old machine in the spare room.

what I would desperately crave from the buttembled experience is a guide to what machine, OS version, and indeed extra software - free or commercial - I would need to get the required functionality.

The machine will be run as a wired networked machine with one MAC OS9 and one PC Win 98SE on a local network, behind a NAT router broadbanded to the Internet. I am happy with nearly all of the networking issues - atalk and samba etc. I include that for reference only.

Printers will be an ageing Laserjet 6P (already networked: Talks LPR)and a HP designjet 650C large fornmat inkjet...parallel only that one..be mice if teh MAC cold talk to it though..ghostscript?

I believe drivers are available for both.

I will need some form of CD-ROM or DVD burning for backups and data exchange.

I'd like to play DVD's as well, but I understand there are issues.

Ideally I'd like to use an integrated cheap motherboard with Intel graphics chips. Built in sound and networking etc.

What I need is a desktop that is as near Win98 as I can get, without exccessive configuration..I don't want to waste time learning X windows subtleties if I can avoid it - and a reliable web browser - Firefox NEARLY works, but some sites I used daily require IE6 rendering engine and Java implementation..what else is there? Mozilla with IE6 rendering? Yes, I know the sites are broken but....

Mail and Usenet is fine with Thunderbird.

Word and Excel? Well open office of course...but will that print labels and envelopes? I.e. will I have full access to both trays and so on with whatever drivers the machine can be equipped with? And will the open office understand how to use them?

I have very little requirement in terms of interoperability with MS products, other than being able to spit out files that WORD can understand, and read my old WORD files.

Other things I want to do involve graphics, and here things get trickier.

I want to scan in stuff on my HP Scanjet 4100C...it LOOKS like there is support for this at least.

I have a Nikon Coolpix camera with USB interface...I'd really like to be able to pull images off that and delete them on it without going mad...

I want to edit bitmap pictures - basically Photoshop functionality..I guess GIMP will do?

I want to do CAD and drawing work - this has so far been a bit of a problem..I would really like to use my CorelDraw, but it simply won't do the biz even on WINE allegedly..Xara suite may be an option if they ever port it..and I have been investigating CAD stuff like qcad, but its not that good. Any discussion on CAD and 'artistic' drawing programs that run native would be of extreme use. I will pay for the roght software here as this is something I use a fair bit.

Apart from that of course a decent C, C++ and maybe Java development is needed..but thats a little down the road. To start with I want my normal desktop day to day tools running.

What I am hoping that you can help me with is deciding which hardware NOT to get (more than identifying the correct best spec units) and identifying anything that WON'T work.. I am leaning towards SUSE Linux, but have no particular religion - used Debian and Redhat in the past ..

Plus any extra software that would be needed to get functionality up to roughly what I have here, without crashing...;-) :-) Mind you, since installing Thunderbird it all seems more stable anyway..

Please feel free to open up debates on any and all issues.

If you want to reply to one topic only - may I suggest you trim the post above to just the relevant areas...hopefully this thread will be of use to others than myself.