www.picstop.co.uk list the read and write speeds of all the cards they sell
I recently bought a Sandisk Extreme III 4Gb SDHC - it came with a little USB card reader which was good as I found out that all my SD card readers won't do SDHC.
But the card reader really, really flies
Matt

Or, better still, use FireFox - which has full spell checking built in
Matt

Go ahead and buy it
The "Early Preview" supports the K20D
(And they say they've improved colour temp for the K10D etc as well)
http://www.isl.co.jp/SILKYPIX/english/download/early_preview/?20080319

In my experience, the Early Previews are as stable as a final production release so don't worry about using it.

Enjoy
Matt

Eric,
For polarising, I use a Kood P-style polariser and with the Cokin slimline adapter you should be fine at 77mm.

It's certainly easier having one polariser that fits all lenses through the P-filter system

(Think I bought it from www.srbfilm.co.uk Just checked and it's about £25 for a P-size circular Kood.)
Note that some on here have said that a LINEAR polariser works just fine with the Pentax AF system... but don't quote me

Matt

Agree on that George
As I said, once I find an application I like if there isn't a binary for x86 on the website then I Google for one... usually some kind person has a build
Matt

dcRAW is a special case, George. Added to that is the fact that, unlike Windows, Linux runs on many different processor platforms So, someone can write a nice little application, test it on an x86 machine and release it to the world to compile and run on Motorola, ARM, PowerPC, etc, etc, etc.
It's quite likely they won't have every machine to sit down and build an executable binary for each CPU.

Added to that, there are a few windowing front ends - e.g. Gnome and KDE - which have different programming interfaces. Again, a programmer may create a lovely application that can be built for multiple window interfaces.... and you can see that the number of binaries required goes up!

Often you can scour the 'net and someone has produced a binary for x86, and possibly even an RPM file (a RedHat Linux installation file). That usually eases the pain The larger applications have people contribute builds, or if they're really big, they provide installations for multiple platforms (like OpenOffice). But, for those on quirky platforms there's always the compile-it-yourself approach.

It's the huge flexibility and variety of Linux that makes some installations a little tricky.
Matt

Just to add to the mix...
Although I use PCs 100%, I'm increasingly fed up with MS stuff.
Bear in mind that Mac users can also get products like VMWare Fusion that provides a seamless way to run PC software on the Mac

There are also other free products that will provide virtualisation without requiring Boot Camp - such as VirtualBox.

I use VMWare and VirtualBox on an XP PC to provide Linux, older Windows and other OS testing environments. And now I've got to the point where I'm seriously considering running Ubuntu Linux as the main OS and having Windows XP as a virtual machine... and the Mac looks seriously inviting too

Comparing the RAM and CPU usage is tricky. I did read that Windows Vista performs AES encryption between the OS and the video driver - leaving the PC with little power to actually do anything else. When MS speak of "security" they are obviously placing a high prominence on securing content, and not necessarily your machine Looks like they are trying to make a platform that can be considered "safe" for premium content like movies etc. Having read that, I'll never, EVER, use Vista for anything except testing.
(If you want, I may be able to rustle up the URL on it)

Matt

A snip at between $12500 and $36000 - depending on what back you get
I wouldn't hold your breath for a Pentax digital MF....
(You may go a very odd shade of purple )
Matt

In a business environment - not overpriced at all
We have the Premium Creative Suite 2 here and I've used it all. In fact the InDesign part paid for itself in one job... so that means Photoshop effectively came for free

I know it doesn't help home users - but Photoshop Elements is, IMHO, an excellent package that allows a very easy migration to Photoshop in the future. And for doing layer-based non-destructive editing I haven't found anything faster than PSE or PS



Like the OP, we took an upgrade path and Adobe were extremely helpful
Matt

LOL! I did that for nearly a year... until I compared against a 31 Ltd - here - and was astonished at the small difference (at least in this very limited test). Certainly saved me several hundred quid (although the 31 is incredibly made). Since then my regard for it has grown and it's been on the camera almost 100%. Related to this, I took the 16-45 on holiday last year and didn't get anything that really "bit me"... this year the 12-24 & 24-90 are coming
Matt