i RECENTLY INSTALLED mEPIS 7 ON A PENTIUM 3 for my daughter. She says that it runs way better than windows did, and she is using it regularly. Mepis 7 is quite up to date, and fujll featured. I would suggest that yuou just install it on the same drive with windows If that drive is big enough. Check in windows by looking at Start - My Computer - drive c: -and look at properties. That will tell you how big the drive is, and how much space is left on it. If you are only using less than half of your drive c: then install Mepis 7 on the other half. Mepis 7 comes as a free download "iso" file, or you purchase the disk for about $5.00 and boot from you CD drive. after booting, you can click on the install icon, and install it. Just follow directions. What you want is to install it as a dual boot system. Afterword Mepis will ask if it should write to the MBR. You should let it. It will find windows,and set up you hard disk so that when you boot it will give you a menu at start up so you can use either windows or Mepis.

There's an even better way using VMware, or Virtual Box (I prefer virtual box), but you don't want to irritate the wifef.

Before you start do a search on google using windows, with a line like this:
windows 2000 linux install "dual boot" tutorial
That should give you access to several tutorials on the subject which you can print out and have them before you while you work. If you can find one on Mepis 7, great, but most such installations are very similar. even if it is a tutorial on installing Debian or Ubuntu, the steps are going to be similar.

Sonshyne5