At the last count I have 4 Dell C400s. They have a particular video issue, but it can be worked around. The distro that worked out of the box is: Crunchbang - http://crunchbang.org/. The Waldorf (Debian Testing/Wheezy) version. If you don't like Openbox you can: sudo apt-get install xcfe4*

I have always maxed out the memory of my Dells to 1Gb. If you can, increase the memory.

Welcome to linux.com!

How are you trying to connect? Ethernet? Wi-fi? Something else?

Check out:
Keryx Project - http://keryxproject.org/
Sushi,huh? - http://sushi-huh.sourceforge.net/
APTonCD - http://aptoncd.sourceforge.net/

Most of the stuff mentioned as supported by Wine are games. You could look at e.g. WineHQ - http://appdb.winehq.org/

There can be "layers" over Wine, but Wine is at the bottom e.g. PlayOnLinux http://www.playonlinux.com/en/ to Commercial offerings like Crossover http://www.codeweavers.com/products/

Redhat is a Commercial Linux. You have to pay for support. There are free versions of Redhat e.g. Centos - http://www.centos.org/

I wonder how Windows 8 is messed up. A virus? Just borked?

Dual booting will give you a chance to try out your various hardware works under Linux.

1) Don't throw away Windows! Investigate downgrading to Windows 7. You can try Linux without touching your hard drive by:
1. Live CDs / DVDs
2. Live USB with persistence
3. Puppy Linux
4. WUBI (on its way out...)
5. Side by Side Installation (known as Dual Booting)
6. Virtualisation
7. Putting on an external Hard Drive

(There are hundreds of LiveCDs to try. Look at http://livecdlist.com/operating-system/linux )

2) There is an old adage: Linux is not Windows and Windows is not Linux. MANY of your Windows programs will probably not run (well) under Linux. It is a completely different OS.

Some Windows programs will run under Linux using the app called Wine. But not all.

Linux has it's own apps. Some are familiar like Firefox or Google Chrome. but others are different.

So, if you keep some vestige of Windows you can use that.

3) In Ubuntu 11.04 just means it was released in 20011 April (Fourth Month). They usually release in April (04)and October (10). Linux Mint is possibly easier than Ubuntu. It is based on Ubuntu but has the extras already added. Zorin Linux is a good choice for Windows transitioners. (Some people don't like the way Ubuntu is going with its own interface)

As I say - do not throw away Windows!

Zorin OS http://zorin-os.com/

Define "freedom".

Linux is case sensitive.

Make sure your password is correct.

Use capital letters and lower-case letters where necessary.

Check with your friend?

Can you connect by ethernet?

Open a Terminal.

Input: lspci
and/or
lsusb

That's l for lemur, not I for India.

What is the outcome? Copy and paste the result here.

You should install the distro YOU like and which suits YOUR computer. Only you will know that. We can't tell you exactly.

In terms of popularity look at Distrowatch "Page Hit Ranking" @ http://distrowatch.com/ ---the table on the right hand side. It's not 100 accurate for the most popular distro but it is possibly the best we have got.

For a link to many Desktop versions look at http://www.livecdlist.com/purpose/desktop

Try a few different distros.

Fans of particular distros will tell you to use that. Use Ubuntu. Use Debian, Use Slackware. In the end it is your decision. Just because somebody else likes a particular distro, which suits their computer, doesn't necessarily means that it will be good for you.

Do not immediately and totally get rid of Windows. You can use both through LiveCDs, LiveUSBs with Persistence, Puppy Linux, Wubi, Dual Boot, Virtualisation. See "The few cases where you should stick to Windows (for now)" - http://www.whylinuxisbetter.net/