Never had the guts to try a new OS. Recently I Got a Mac and have said never again to Microsoft.

Well my old computer is being used as a Home Theater PC (sort of) I have a All In Wonder card that I have hooked up to the TV. Now I dont have a fear of trying something new. But I dont know if my hardware will work with Ubuntu. I would love to dump Windows 2K Pro and install a new OS.
The W2K always crashes on me, even after new installs and the lot, its just not stable.

Older AMD Athalon(sp?) 900Mhz on a ATI

ubuntu is user friendly and it is more GUI based compare to some other linux OS. If you want to try linux for the first time ? then try ubuntu.

Really? Including SP4 and following machine vendors installation instructions?

Yeah with SP4 it makes little difference. It mostly crashes with using programs like VLC to play videos that wont play on WMP or Divx. I could spend some time with it and make it run better, but I could not be bothered now that I dont depend on it. I guess I am getting accustomed to having a Mac. virtually seamless with everything I have needed it do do. Spending time to keep a computer running is just not what I consider a productive use of my time.