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?

Hello,

Windows XP Professional is the best ever OS

And you got the wrong info. from your friend that the XP can be insatlled with Limited # of times.

Actually the fact is that the Hard Drive is the case sensetive in such cases.

A user is never suggested to Format his Hard Drive frequently with high level format.

So I would suggest you to go for
Windows XP Professional

Regards.

The EULA for WinXP only allows you to install it on a certain number of machines (2 IIRC but I could be mistaken). That said, for your programming it's a toss up. I find that a Linux distro is great for C, whereas C# could be a pain. If you stick with Windows though, you can use VC# express, which is a pretty nice IDE. I don't know how well VC++ express would suit your needs for C though (I haven't even used it for several years...)

If the cost of OS is prohibitive for you I agree with infarction go for a linux distribution.

Check out this article I just found:

http://www.csharphelp.com/archives2/archive317.html

Some would beg to differ my friend...

thanks. i think i shall go with linux. my chief problem was C# and chess. thanks to rwaforums' link i have at least one problem solved and the other would be fine.

go for linux. xp pro has its own share of problems.

I dual-boot both xp pro and linux, btw