Getting close to finishing up my first build and am looking for OS alternatives. Found out my son has to have braces and don't have the $ to buy XP. What I was wanting to ask is what are my alternatives? The only OS disk I have access to is Win 98. All my other machines came with Compaq and Dell disks with the OS on them. It is my understanding that they can only be used in their systems. I also thought about Linux, but have heard that it was hard to learn. Any ideas that you folks may have are welcome.