I've been busy lately bringing up Linix (Ubuntu dist) on some old computers that were becoming nearly worthless under the increased demands of modern software. It's an amazing transformation: my tired old systems seem almost snappy. It was fairly easy to do, after a couple of false starts. The Linux world isn't perfect - there are some odd quirks here and there, but it was definitely worth the effort. If you've got an old system that is nearly worthless, give it a try. It's easy and free!