I am thinking of changing my home desktop computer to Linux OS from its WIN XP (I will still have my laptop as a XP format). I am a noob when it comes to Linux, but I thought it would be interesting to try it out on my desktop. From those of you who use it, would you recommend changing my home computer to run Linux? How technical savy should one be inorder to run Linux? So any advice or comments would be great, as well as any websites or articles that you have found useful.

___________________
"Trance, an art within itself, an art to listen to, an art composed within itself, can only be bettered by what the mind makes of it"

Linux has now been "dumbed-down" to the point where it is pretty user friendly. There are a few nice GUIs out there for it and running applications is as easy as windows. Expect to have to relearn all your basics again, including installing/uninstalling programs, personalizing settings, and learning a / based directory structure.

You won't have a hard time running it out of the box but setting it up might provide a bit of a challenge. Just have some patience, use the internet as a resource, and get a small book on your distro from the local library.

Linux is great I recommend SuSE Distro for your first time

Im currently learning Linux now on an IBM thinkpad 600x (PIII) and it it wasnt for my PC already being dual booted id put Suse on it now. I'd keep a working XP setup linked to internet because its very different going from MS to Linux.

http://www.linuxnewbieguide.org/ is ok for a very basic introduction guide.