If you wan't to try Linux but don't want to lose Micro$oft Win, 3 basic options. You can buy a new Disk ( wich aren't as expensive as they were) and install it there. You can partition your disk so that you'll be able to boot under win or linux. Or you can run VMware, wich is a great Virtual Machine. You can run VMware under Win and it can "emulate" the enviroment that linux will need to run. You can even run other OS like other versiosns of Win, Free BSD, and even Mac OS (but it's not very easy to do so). To learn more about VM, go to their website: www.vmware.com. I'd recommend you to use Linux Mandrake. It's the easiest to install. Partitioning your disk with it will be very easy adn it has a very user friendly interface. If you plan to use it with VMware, i'll work as good, but just a little slower.

I just went to the VMWare homepage and found out that you can't run it with Win9X. The only supported operating systems are NT and 2K. Just thought that I would let you know.

Take program "Partition Magic" from www.powerquest.com and make your partiotions under Windows without losing data. Then install Linux. I'm using Linux RedHat 7.1 with Win98 and WinNT 5.0