Hi, My current situation: I have a p2 400 with 256mb ram and a 4 gb hdd. I used to run win2k on it until recently when it started to run out of space with all the newly installed applications. I want to use it mainly for: 1. surving the web and use it as a server which i can leave it on 24/7 2. occasional use of word & excel. 3. playing mp3, divx, rmvb 4. communicate with my other window-based pc NOW: I want to do a clean install of a new OS that would satisfy my above needs, meanwhile accomodating my 4 gb hdd space. My choice is either Linux (I have no clue which one is good for newbie) or WinXp. I know nothing about Linux, but I'm very much willing to learn to use it. However, I really want to know how everyone thinks I should do before really going for Linux. All commments and suggestions are welcomed. Bgor

check out http://distrowatch.com/ It gives you access to hundreds of distros and links to reviews & experiences by your average Joe Public. Just select any distro which catches your eye, scroll down to review and see what its all about.

I wouldn't suggest XP on that hardware, neither would I one of the more "bloated" GNU/Linux distros running the latest KDE/Gnome, especially if you want to use the desktop occasionally. Slackware and Debian would run fine but have been known to be difficult for a beginner to install...to be honest it has got a lot easier with later releases. For a desktop window manager try something like xfce or flux/blackbox. Other than that pretty much all distros will include apache (web server), office apps, media players (NB a few like redhat/fedora dont come with MP3 support out of the box...but it can be added) and samba (for windoze communication).

WinXP will take much of that 4 gig drive anyway! Think Mandriva.