Have Linux 5, can get 6/7 if needed. Have on Toshiba Satellite 2530CDS running Win98? Could not run Win2K (hardware does not support Win2K)...can it run Linux?

To start with, linux is the name of the
kernel....not the operating system, most
people make this mistake. The OSs are
referred to as distrobutions or more
commonly distros. The linux kernel is up to
v2.4 with 2.6 out pretty soon. (NB the odd
numbered subversions eg 2.3, 2.5 are
development versions and are released as
even numbers when considered stable eg 2.5
becomes 2.6 when finished.

You say you have version 5 and could get 6
or 7. I am assuming that you are referring
to redhat linux (which is up to v9 now),
one of the most popular distros around. v5
is pretty old so should run on older
hardware...then again so should v7 which
still seems to be used a lot these days.
Bear in mind that the first release of a
major version (eg 5.0, 6.0 or 7.0) can
often be a little unstable due to new/
experimental software, getting better with
following releases (7.1, 7.2 etc).

Getting back to your laptop, visit
www.linux-on-laptops.com and have search
through for other peoples experiences.

You can also visit www.distrowatch.com in
order to compare different choices, and you
can download them all from www.linuxiso.org