Being a compulsive scripter I have to ask this: Is there an applet that determines if the GUI is available or can I just check $DISPLAY ??? If there is no Applet does anyone know roughly where in the API a system call for this might be? Sometimes you need to check your not in a telnet session. On the same topic. Discalmer: there is no one right shell or scripting language. But it would be nice to have csh for those familiar with it, and SSH. http://messenger.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Messenger - A great way to communicate long-distance for FREE!