Based on your answers, my usual recommendation would be either Windows-2000 if you need Microsoft application support OR linux if you do not. Windows-2000 works well with the internet (as a standalone machine) and supports not only business applications but many (not all!) games, and even legacy DOS applications provided they don't use anything above VGA or the text window. The disadvantages of Windows-2000 are

  • Its unusually high cost. This can be offset in part by getting an OEM version which you can do legally provided that you get a hard drive, motherboard or CPU at the same time.
  • Not all hardware works with it. In some cases the manufacturer hasn't written a driver yet, but in other cases it simply won't work, period. Some examples I've seen so far are : ISA network cards that are NE-2000 compatible but not plug-and-play, ATAPI CD changers, and TV capture cards. The first two work fine under NT4 or linux.

    • If for any reason Windows-2000 is unsuitable for you, or you just think Microsoft's pricetag is too high, then the choice is between Windows-NT4 and Linux. If you already have or plan to have a consumer version of Windows installed on the same machine, I would almost always recommend linux. Recent versions of Linux are easier to set up than NT4. Also NT4 can't read the FAT-32 filesystem that is normally used by Windows versions since 1996. And it may be tough to get NT4 -- although if you can it should be cheap, as industry is discarding it in favor of 2000. However, if you want only ONE operating system on the computer then NT4 would be a better choice IF you want to use Microsoft-only apps like Internet Explorer or Office. But keep in mind that Netscape can browse the net also, and that Star Office can read MS-word files, and both will work on linux.

    If you wish to use NT4 anyway, then you'll need to upgrade the browser, which is IE2. (Hint -- it's a lot easier to install Netscape FIRST, THEN upgrade to a recent IE -- Microsoft's own web site doesn't work properly for IE2 users!). You'll also need to install a service pack -- recommend 5 or later. and Remote Access Service, and ISA-PNP if you have a soundcard. All this requires that you first have a computer that's working on another OS so you can download the "service pack for network" from Microsoft, and save it to a file for either dual-boot access or burn a CD.