Linux Related and stuff

[Jenkin]

Okay. Here we go.

My personal computer is very dead. Basically Windows is dying, and all drivers are gone. Problem: I long ago lost my XP reboot disc that came with the computer, and I'm not exactly looking forward to reinstalling ALL of my drivers. Basically, I'm effed. (note: for whatever reason my CD drive works, although it won't autorun or anything.)

Now:
I could buy a new copy of XP and see if I could get things fixed from there. (My computer is in serious need of a wipe anyway)
Or I could try Linux. I have 0 experience with it, but I am very sick of XP and am willing to figure it out. Plus that way I'd be the cool kid who has Linux.

Here is my question(s):
1.)If I were to get a Linux distro (I was looking at SuSe), would it fix my driver problem? Someone earlier said it has "built in drivers for most hardware"...?
2.)Would I want to install it out of Windows (which is dying and low on disc space), or would it be possible to format the hard drive and boot off a linux CD (/would I want to do this with no linux experience?)

Thanks a lot. Help would be greatly appreciated. I really don't know what I'm talking about.

 

[Cx]

1) Well, just about all the hardware I could think of would work with linux.

2) I don't recommend installing with a live cd from scratch unless you print off the installation guide first. I've never experimented with SuSe so I couldn't tell you. After it's installed it shouldn't be to hard to figure out how to open up a browser, and go to a forum and ask questions.

 

[Dark Assassin]

2) yeah, i just installed linux after formatting my HD and it worked fine, although i was grateful for my installation guide...it helps a lot...

 

[Satori1]

1) If you have any sort of wireless device, I can almost garauntee you it won't work out of the box.

2) It is my recommendation you always boot from a CD to install Linux, formating whatever need be on the way.

 

[iamroot]

You install GNU/Linux the same way you install Windows. Most GNU/Linux distributions do have built-in drivers for most hardware but that depends if you have any fancy stuff like Creative Extigy or some weird graphics card. Then you might have some problems. Wireless hardware is still a problematic issue. Some work and some don't.

I would personally not recommend Suse for one reason. It's not Free. Not-free is code and price. Use Fedora Core.