Well, my much loved windows 7 release candidate has started it's annoting two hourly shutdowns, a few months earlier than it should have.
It started after lunch today, when it was supposed to ne the 1st of august, oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

I will be buying a new laptop soon, and all the ones I am looking at have 7 installed, but I will have to re-install XP on this pc, or else give linux another whirl.

I just don't have any luck with linux, but as this pc is now about 18 months old, perhaps the latest linux will recognise all my hardware OK, as most times before I have had trouble in that area.

Someone suggested I try Mythbuntu, or Mandriva, so I may take that for a spin, and if any of you guys have any versions you suggest would be suitable for someone who has always struggled with linux in the past, I would love to hear of them.

The retail versions of 7 are such a rip off compared to what they charge for the oem versions.

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I think August is when it completely expires and you can't use it at all. The 2 hourly shutdowns are meant to be happening already I think. I noticed they mentioned them on endgadget the other day.

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Good choice.

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Contact the manufacturer and insist they supply Linux drivers. I just have a generic multimedia keyboard and it works straight out of the box.

ubuntuforums.com is a pretty good resource too.

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Going to use it as a media centre also?

I'm using Ubuntu now on one of my machines because Windows was getting too slow and quirky. I used Wubi to install it first off on the same partition as Windows.

It worked perfectly. Then it downloaded some upgrades and the next time it started I just ended up with a grub command line with simple bash-like commands. The Kernel didn't load.  I searched the net on Windoze and found that the grub update caused problems, so I repeated the installation and this time omitted the Grub update. I haven't turned back since.

I've managed to get everything configured the way I want it. I had a few bugs - Web cam / microphone etc, but a lot fewer than with an initial installation of Xp for example. The thing that impressed me was the fact that so many things were included in the installation, the speed of operation and the support that's available on line. I like the fact that I can choose generic alternatives to Java and Flash (I use Iced Tea and Gnash) and the freedom of the operating system.

The things that impressed me less were the problems getting out of the grub screen, the fact that fonts and layouts are not perfect on Firefox and the fact that Skype for Linux is abysmal (of course that's the fault of Skype)

The installation seemed to take forever. It used a torrent type download for the original Wubi installation and then it took ages to install all the Language packs.  
 
Overall, I'm happy with the system.

Oh - one other thing. Ubuntu actually told me that my hard drive was having health issues, so I now know why Windows was playing up. It just came up with a warning "Disk has many bad sectors" so I have a replacement on order.  That's one thing you don't get with Windows.  

Having used Ubuntu for a week, I've decided that it runs rings around Windows - even Windows 7.  The font issues seem to have resolved themselves.

I've told three work colleagues so far about how good it is , and now I'm going to install it on my netbook and laptop.

Skype is still a bit primitive, but at least it's useable. I use it to communicate with some family members who are overseas. The main gripe I have is not being able to optimise webcam settings within the application. Eventually they'll sort it out.

The final thing I got working was the PC Tools for my somewhat outdated Netcomm V100 VOIP ATA. All they had on the website was a Windows version of the firmware. So I installed WINE (Windows emulator) and it's now working pretty well.

There is a certain nostalgia, re-acquainting myself with Unix terms, tar files etc, from the time I worked with a Unix Mainframe in the 80's.

Some applications that are generic (non Ubuntu)  Linux require slightly less intuitive installations, but it didn't really cause too many hassles. 

I love the zoological release names.  Lucid Lynx is a very stable platform.

Right. I now have Ubuntu on two of my three computers. The laptop was a dawdle. This time, I just downloaded the ISO and installed it from the DVD ROM, wiping Windows completely. It took me about half an hour to get everything working. Now for the Netbook.