  Starting from the Boltzmann equation we calculate the frequency and the
damping of the monopole and quadrupole oscillations of a classical gas confined
in an harmonic potential. The collisional term is treated in the relaxation
time approximation and a gaussian ansatz is used for its evaluation. Our
approach provides an explicit description of the transition between the
hydrodynamic and collisionless regimes in both spherical and deformed traps.
The predictions are compared with the results of a numerical simulation.
