Hiya,

I have an XP machine that is so badly pooched....a windows re-install is necessary. But before I do this, I am getting curious about this Linux thing. Besides, the last time I re-installed windows, I got a message telling me I had to call Microsoft because I had installed it too many times. I ended up talking to some clown who didn't speak English, trying to explain that three installs was not excessive. He let me go, but I imagine a fourth install would require a note from God and my first-born male child.

The machine is home built P4 (2.4 ghtz) with 1 GB of RAM. It's a Gigabyte board with Intel chipset. Two partitions on a 30 GB hard drive. The system is about 7 years old.

1. Can I wipe the drive and install this Ubuntu thing on it?
2. What about hardware drivers? I still have the mobo driver disc....but will it run?
3. The machine won't boot into windows.....how do I get Ubuntu to it. Burn something?

Any advice appreciated. Be kind.....up until a few years ago, I thought Linux was a command-line OS. That's how dumb I am on this.