I have been using Mandrake Linux for about a year now. My PC is a Win95-era machine, and when I had a hardware upgrade (more RAM + bigger HDD)the attempt to reinstall Win 98 failed and could not be persuaded to go. Mandrake loaded without a hint of a problem, and I've never really looked back since.
I have had a couple of problems, and in sorting them out I have found that although they seemed a bit daunting at first, when you actually delve into it the solution is not that difficult at all.
I bought the Mandrake Power Pack since at $NZ140 it seemed a fair price to me for a PC operating system, a large selection of pre-tested software, and access to support if needed.
Although I am operating in Linux-only mode, note that it is not necessary to boot Windows off your PC to try Linux. Most Linux distributions come packaged with a disk-partitiioning utility which lets you operate in dual-boot mode where you can select your operating system at boot-up time. There are also images available for download that you can burn to a CD to create a boot disk which contains the entire linux operating system and bundled software that all runs from just one CD.
For anyone who is curious about Linux, I do recommend that you have a play - its great fun, and it may well be the OS of the future.
