:-offtopic Sorry to hijack the thread...
I wanted to try Linux, but was so confused by the choices. I think I decided my Windows 98 probably couldn't handle even that.
First off, Linux is simply an operating system like Windows 98 is. In other words, it's of no consequence what Win98 can handle as Linux would be running within it's own environment (unless of course you were running an emulator but that's a whole nother topic).
Regardless of the hardware constraints that usually tie most Windows versions to a specific minimum of hardware requirements, Linux, for the most part, can run on almost any computer regardless of how old or slow it may appear. Heck, I've been running Linux on a 15 year old computer for the last 11 years that has a 100mhz Pentium with only 32 megs of RAM. Obviously in today's world, this computer may seem obsolete but it runs my network and is basically a glorified and heavily customized firewall/router.
With that said, Linux is not the panacea to replacing other operating systems. I've been using Linux off and on for 15 years but it's never been able to replace the need for having a Windows system because it cannot natively run Windows applications without the use of, you guessed it, an emulator. Plus, older computers are so cheap these days, you can easily get one just to slap Linux on it and give it a try without replacing your current setup.
While I'm not hip to all the new Linux distros that are out there (I'm an old school Slackware hacker for those that know what that means

), Linux can be a bit daunting at first if you are not familiar with such systems which is where a good reference book or two can come in handy.
Do you like Linux better than Mac? I love my Mac, minus the fact that I can't use Paint Shop Pro 7 on it and I can't afford Photoshop (the full figure, not elements).
Depending on what type of Mac OS you are running, Apple's
OS X is basically a flavor of Unix (which is basically what Linux is). I'm not sure about the portability of certain Unix/Linux apps for OS X, but I'm sure that if you can get your hands on the source code for whatever app it is you want, you can probably compile for your system to get it to work properly.
In regards to Photoshop, there's a free graphics program called
GIMP that might be worth checking out.
Having said all of that, if your Mac and Vista computers are doing what you want them to do, don't worry about Linux. After all, Operating Systems are merely tools that you use to do work. You use the right tool for the job. Linux is merely a different tool to do some of the same type of stuff but in a different way.
And don't believe the hype that Linux is far more secure than Windows or OS X, all operating systems are prone to break-ins and other malicious intrusions like viruses and the such when not setup properly, I should know, I used to keep company with a bunch of Black Hats back in the day.

The only reason why Windows gets a bad rap more frequently is that it's the most widely used commercial operating system in the world, so statistically it's going to bear the brunt of the majority of break-ins and such especially considering the fact that the overwhelming majority of Windows users do not know how to tweak or modify their systems to get the best type of security out of it.
Now back to your regularly scheduled program...