Need help picking linux OS for home PC

I'm having loads of problems with a home PC running Windows XP at the moment and I'm sick of them. These problems range from random rebooting to the traditional blue screens. I'm pretty sure it's all due to a software conflict with the driver for the video card (Radeon 9500) . The only XP driver I could find wasn't really specifically written for the 9500 version and the problems only seemed to start after I installed the latest Catalyst driver for the Radeon series.

I've been looking and they do have a driver for the 9500 for Linux. Add to that the fact I've been itching to try Linux on a home PC and that I can format it without any worries and I think I can only decide to switch this one to Linux and see if all those nice Windows XP inherrent errors go away.

I've got 2 PC's anyway, so one would be running Windows (been running without problems for about a year) and one would be Linux.

Which version of Linux would you recommend for a home PC? I believe I read in an article that there are emulators available for Linux so that Windows games etc. will run on it. If this is true, it would certainly be a consideration. Of course I'd like to be able to just download whatever I'm going to use free of charge off the internet.

Your advice is appreciated. I've only used Linux for hosting and have no idea which varient to use for a home PC.

 

 

 

 

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