I am wondering what I should do. Should I spend $600 on a Mac Mini when they release new models. Or should I install Linux and dual boot XP on my PC. If I should install Linux, what would be the best distro? I don't want to pay for a linux distro. These are the Specs of the machine I would install Linux on: CPU: AMD Sempron™ 3100+ Processor (1.8GHz, , ) Operating System: Genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP Home (SP2) Chipset: VIA K8M800 chipset Memory: 1.5 GB DDR (1 × 1GB) (1 × 512MB) 400MHz (PC3200) Expandable to 2GB Hard Drive: 100GB HDD (7200rpm, 2MB cache) Optical Drive: 48x CD-RW/DVD Samsung Writemaster 18x DVD-RW/CD-RW Combo Drive Media Reader: 8-in-1 digital media manager (Secure Digital™ (SD), Smart Media, Micro Drive, Memory Stick®, Memory Stick PRO, Compact Flash, Multimedia Card, USB 2.0) Video: AGP 256MB ATI Radeon 7000 Series Sound: AC '97 Audio, Dolby 5.1 (6-Channel) Network: 10/100Mbps integrated Ethernet LAN Modem: 56K ITU V.92-ready Fax/Modem (with RJ-11 port) Peripherals: 5 USB 2.0 Ports (1 in Media Reader, 4 in back), 1 VGA External Connector, 1 Serial, 1 Parallel, 2 PS/2, 5 audio ports (2 in front, 3 in back) Dimensions: 14.25"H x 7.25"W x 16"D MB: MB,MS-7142 K8MMV 104759 CPU: CPU,AMD SEMPRON 3100 1.8GHZ 1600FSB 256K 754P CPU Fan Type: FAN,H/S AMD3100+ 754P HDD: HDD,100GB 7200RPM Memory: MEM, DDR-RAM 1.5GB (Max. 2GB) ODD1: COMBO,N3LC CDRW48X32X48+DVD16 Samsung Writemaster 18x DVD-RW/CD-RW Modem: MODEM,FAX CONX RSLG V.92 56K 56PRC CCOM Power Supply: PS,300 WATT LAN: LAN, 10/100 Integrated Multimedia Reader: MEDIA READER,8IN1 Video: AGP 256MB ATI Radeon 7000 Series Chassis: Chassis,Nexgen 3 MAIN FRAME

am wondering what I should do. Should I spend $600 on a Mac Mini when they release new models. Or should I install Linux and dual boot XP on my PC." spend $600 or not?? I say don't spend the money. Your current machine has the specs to run any distro out. The problem with dual booting is the xp cd you have. since you have a emachine you likely have a restore cd. To dual boot, you need to partition the drive and install xp on a separate partition. A restore cd may not have this option. There are other solutions, like a virtual machine. You could try partitioning after the xp install, and then installing linux & setting up a dual boot. larry

I agree with larryf215's response. Your system has the specs to run any Linux distribution you may want to try so there is no sense spending six bucks needlessly on a mac (unless you want to learn OS 10). If you are new to Linux - or - if you are unfamiliar with disk partitioning, I strongly recommend you install a Virtual Machine, then install the Linux distribution of your choice in the VM. There are several very good VM's available (both commercial and free). MS has a VM you can get at no cost (I think), and Sun Microsystems now has Virtual Box, an Open Source VM ( I use it here to run Win XP and Solaris 10 under Mandriva Linux). After you become familiar with Linux, if you decide you want to set up a dual boot, make sure to back up all your original data in the event something goes wrong (like a power failure during a disk partition resizing operation) and go for it. Ernie Registered Linux User 247790

"If I should install Linux, what would be the best distro? I don't want to pay for a linux distro" The vast majority of Linux distros are free. Which one to get? It's hard to say...there are literally hundreds to choose from. Ubuntu is the one getting the biggest push. Using WUBI is probably the easiest way to do it: http://wubi-installer.org/ "If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions" - Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction

Jam is correct. There are many distributions you can choose from. Linux is an Open Source OS so you can legally use nearly all of them at no charge (free editions are available for download). The distributors earn their income by selling support. If you go the VM route as I suggested in my post above, you can try several distributions by loading them from the iso image (as if the image was a CD) in the VM. Many distributions provide a Live CD (a bootable CD image with a usable installation of the distribution on the CD). The idea of a Live CD is that you can get the image and burn it to a disk, then boot from the CD and try out the distribution without having to install it on your computer first. If you like what you see on the Live CD, you can then install the contents of the disk to your computer. By adding a Virtual Machine to this concept, you can boot the VM from the iso image (no need to burn it to CD). This way you can try Suse, Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, Mandriva (my distro), Fedora, and any other distribution you want to try without wasting a disk. When you settle on a distribution, you can install it to the VM and get to learning about using Linux. The good thing about learning Linux in a VM is that even if you trash your Linux installation beyond repair, your 'real' system is unaffected. All you have to do to get going again is reformat or re-create your virtual hard drive and re-install Linux. HTH, Ernie Registered Linux User 247790

I downloaded a copy of Mandriva. I will try it out later. I have had success in the past dual booting Linux and XP. I will most likely install it on an extra 20GB hard drive I have sitting around. I have also used Wubi before but it was not very stable.

Looks like I won't be putting linux on that computer. The harddrive and motherboard just died. Looks like I might be buying that new mac afterall and running OSX. :(