[Samuel]

If you are going to get rid of W2K and do Linux then you are going to have to wipe the hard drive entirely unless you already have it partitioned, in which case you only have to wipe one but keep the other. You will lose all data.

But again, before even thinking about that look for "Vector Linux". Another is "Damn Small Linux". Get the "Live CD" and try them out before doing anything. See if you like it first before replacing W2K. Also, KJTrek is correct. If all you need are typical applications then there wont be a problem finding Linux equivalents. But once you start getting into more specialized stuff it might take some more work. For example, because of copyright issues you wont automatically get MPEG codecs (video and mp3). You will have to go find and install them yourself. Of course you will not be able to use any Windows based programs.

http://vectorlinux.com/downloads (scroll down to "Live CD"... yes its free so dont click the 'buy' one above))
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org (designed to be run from CD or flash drive)

I suspect you dont want to do anything special with this laptop. In which case stick with W2K. I agree $500 will get you a pretty good laptop these days. Not out of this world but it will do everything you want short of things that work better on a tower. Given the choice of Photoshop on my 15" laptop vs 22" PC+LCD, there is no contest.

Go check out Inspirion 15" at Dell for example. The $500 version its a great deal. The $350 model isnt too shabby either.

Lets see: assuming they arent already maxed more memory + a new hard drive will be around $100. If you were to go get Windows XP add another $100 at least (which you cant use anyways). Spend another $150 instead and you have a brand new system. At the moment a new system comes preinstalled with Vista. Im sure soon it will have the option for Windows 7. Long long post but in the end I really think you will be best off to stick with W2K as your primary OS, play around with Linux live-CDs, and save your money for a new laptop.

[tomcatjosh]

So Vector linux replaces Win 2K? Would i have to completely uninstall Win 2K?

[Samuel]

Originally Posted by tomcatjosh

So Vector linux replaces Win 2K? Would i have to completely uninstall Win 2K?

If you install it to the hard drive the process will either erase everything (OS and all data) or simply reformat the drive, depending on what you tell it to do. No exceptions. There are some partitioning ways around that but doing it to an existing OS with no pre-existing partitions takes careful work and is not recommend it for first time users.

So again, download the "Live CD" image, burn it to a CDR, and boot directly from the CD drive. The directions will explain everything the process but its no different than booting directly from a windows install disk. It wont erase anything unless you tell it to. Example: if an option says "Install to hard drive" do NOT choose it.

[tomcatjosh]

If it did happen though, could i install windows media player and Firefox back on it?

[Samuel]

Forgot to add....

When you boot directly from the CD you may or may not see the hard drive depending on whether or not its formatted as FAT32 (yes) or NTFS (no).

[tomcatjosh]

Ok im going to try it!

[tomcatjosh]

I hope this will do good. Im doing 64 Bit Live CD.

[KJTrek]

wait... I don't think you have a 64 bit computer... or am I crazy? Wouldn't you have to do 86 bit or whatever?

[tomcatjosh]

I stopped the download.. i need an upgrade to this computer. How can you see what type of if its 64 bit?

[KJTrek]

Go to control panel,
Then click on "system".

I think that should show you... question: Were there different options for the download?