I am sick and tired of Microsoft. I have always heard that Linux is as stable as it gets. Only problem is, I know nothing about Linux. How do i know if all of my software will work on a Linux system? Are thre different versions of Linux? Which one to choose. I have an AMD XP 2000 1.67 processor, 768 mb RAM Save me from the blue screen!

Virtually none of your software will work in Linux. One of the advantages of Linux is there are other, free programs as alternatives to the programs you use in Windows. There are a few excellent web browsers, the best of which is either Mozilla or Mozilla Firebird, in my opinion. Linux has media players covered with options like MPlayer, Xine, and VLC. I use MPlayer and it supports Quicktime, Windows Media, divx, MPEG, DVDs, VCDs, and just about everything else. For an office suite, I use OpenOffice.org. It has most of the functions of Microsoft Office, but it's 100% free. There are plenty of other examples for things like MP3 rippers and players, peer-to-peer programs without spyware, instant messaging programs, CD burning software, etc. The hardest part is finding the Linux programs that do whatever your Windows programs do now. My point is you probably don't need your Windows software. If you play games, some like Quake 3, UT 2003, Doom III (when it comes out) run natively in Linux, and others like Half Life 1 run with the Windows compatability layer called WINE. If you really want to run Windows programs, you can even get a version of WINE that runs Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop, but it's not free. There is only one "Linux". It's the kernel, core of the operating system. One should call a Linux system GNU/Linux because it uses a great deal of GNU software, but usually we just say "Linux". What you're looking for is a "Linux distribution" or simply "distribution". The more popular ones are Mandrake, RedHat, and SuSE. Any of the three won't be too difficult to install like some, Gentoo for example. Mandrake is probably the easiest of the three. You can download CD images of Mandrake and RedHat from their websites, but SuSE doesn't like giving away images. You could still do an FTP install and pay nothing. One of the advantages of buying a boxed set distribution, however, is you usually get an instruction book and support.

From the hardware you mentioned, yes, all will work. And most of the other common hardware (i.e. printers, video cards, monitors, etc.) will work. Some obscure brands will be diffcult, or others like scanners and cameras can give you a little difficulty if you can not find drivers for them. In advance I would suggest that you, if you do not have it already, find yourself a hardware modem (serial external) as opposed to winmodem, for that is the one sure headache with Linux. 99% of winmodems are not supported by Linux. If you are on broadband then you are ready to go and don't need to worry about the modem scenario. And before you think to yourself " which distro is best" (we've all thought and or asked that same question before :-) there is no such thing as " one is best" . IS really all a matter of preference. As Jake says, you can download or FTP install the most common ones for free, or get CD's from books/magazines and try them. The more you try, the better decision you'll be able to make as to which one is better for your purposes and interests. And remember that you don't have to install everything from any distro all at the same time. If you get a hold of diff distros and can get them installed, as long as you have the Kernel and a few needed packages, the system is already usable. Then you can download/install more software as you need to or as you want to try new ones. There are literally thousands of packages out there to " play with"! You can check this site: http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/win-lin-soft-en/ and check the list of MS applications and the Linux equivalent/substitute. You'll see how many there are, and some are even better (IMO) than the actual MS version. HTH and good luck! And have fun trying the new OS! Best regards...

I think Jake explained everything really well... But I think the kernel is the OS. Everything else is just addon. You can boot a kernel without glibc or anything else (but it wouldn't be good for anything). So you can choose what "addons" you need...Its a different thing that glibc is needed for all "addons", but then you can use some other libc like dietlibc or something... And even if a lot of GNU software is used, you cannot call the whole system GNU/linux there are hundreds of other groups also involved. KDE comes from the KDE project, XFree86 comes from the XFree86 project, and they are both EXTREMELY inportant for a desktop system (gnome sucks). Now you would say that the basic utilities come from the GNU project, but you can also install the BSD version of these instead as I have. Infact Redhat comes with a LOT of tools ported from the BSDs. Besides, Its linux which makes everything work. All the device drivers, filesystems are a part of linux.

ok... whats a good site I can find a FTP install on with a common version of linux? -Gooley

www.linusISO.org that site has almost every single version of linux on it.