Hi Loy,

Yes, you could consider Linux.
You could also find that you may have a hard time with it.
The file system is quite different and there's a fair amount of command
line
instructions.

I'm a person that tries almost anything and have tried about a dozen
different Linux distros. Can't say I was overwhelmed with ease of use.
Contrary to what one is made to believe , Linux doesn't necessarily run
on all old
or older computers. The trouble there is the drivers for hardware.
Eg. I always run a dual monitor setup - believe it or not, ATI doesn't
provide a Linux
driver for my graphics card nor did the Linux community develop one.
So none of them give me a proper display.Same problem with other
hardware.
For me it was just interesting, rather than being useful.

Nevertheless, do explore how a Linux distro will work for you.
The easiest way to do it is with Wubi.
It just installs in a folder on C and when booting up,
 you select XP or Linux ,like Ubuntu.
http://wubi-installer.org/index.php

There are others that sortof work on the same principle:
CoLinux  http://www.colinux.org/?section=home
AndLinux http://www.andlinux.org/
Topologi-Linux http://topologi-linux.sourceforge.net/

Or you could try and run it in Virtual PC (Microsoft) 
or VMWare Player. None of them require re-booting or partitioning.
See this article
http://www.pcreview.co.uk/articles/Windows/Run_Linux_in_Windows/

There are about 350 different versions of Linux ,see
http://www.raiden.net/articles/is_there_too_many_versions_of_linux__no/
While I may not necessarily share the author's view, it is thought
provoking ;)
Also see http://distrowatch.com/

Later you may want to try an installation on a separate partition
formatted
as ext2, ext3 or ext4, ReiserFS, JFS or XFS depending on the version of
Linux,
ext3 being the most popular for a lot of the distros.

This is a whole different world !!!!
Be prepared to spend a lot of time leaning about it.

You won't necessarily lose home network connectivity,
but may have to install some programs on your other computers
 to read and/or write to the Linux OS .

Have fun.

I will spend some time to control Windows the way I like it and will
have time left
which I would otherwise have spent struggling with Linux.
But don't let me keep you from trying -it will be an eye-opening
experience ;)
You will find lots of opinions on this subject ;)

Peter E.


> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [PCBUILD] Learning  Linux
> From: Loy Pressley <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Wed, October 14, 2009 10:09 pm
> To: [log in to unmask]
> 
> 
> Good morning,
> 
> I want to learn to use Linux. MS Windows is becoming more and more 
> trouble and much more intrusive. Learning and using the Linux operating 
> system is a way to begin weaning myself from Windows. I have an old Dell 
> 800MHz computer on my home network. The hard drive in it is one of a 
> number of backup locations for my data files. Turning it into a Linux 
> based machine would help me to learn the operating system.
> 
> The Dell currently has WinXP Home as the operating system, 512K of ram, 
> and lots of empty disk space. Should I format the hard drive and install 
> Linux on it? Would it be better to dual boot and install and run Linux 
> in a separate partition on the machine? How do I install Linux and set 
> it up to dual boot with Linux and WinXP? Will I loose connectivity with 
> my home network if I install Linux on the Dell computer?
> 
> Thanks in advance for the help and guidance.
> 
> Loy

              The NOSPIN Group is now offering Free PC Tech
                     support at our newest website:
                          http://freepctech.com