hi. i am planning on assembling a computer by buying and putting together motherboard, processor, memory etc. The problem is an operating system. windows vista costs a fortune.

But worse is my intended use for this computer. i am planning on learing the C programming language on this computer mostly. but I have seen some information on sites and in posts // threads that C programmed incorrectly will mess up your computer system. So i assume that I am going to re-install the operating system more than once.

the problem is that one of my friends told me that windows XP can be installed only a limited number of times. i am worried that vista might be the same. then i would have to re-buy after a certain number of mistakes.

so can you guys recommend an alternative operating system? i am also going to use it to learn C++ and program in C sharp. in addition it must be able to use a reasonably good word processor and I would also like to install a chess program on it. the chess program must be reasonablystrong and i would like to be able to set up positions in it. chessmaster comes to mind but i am not sure if it works on linux. in any event the chess program is of secondary importance.

i was thinking of linux especially since it is free but i know nothing of linux. can linux do all of the above? or what operating system would be good?