best distro to replace xp
 

currently running XP on desktop I am having Major
problems with laptop and cannot have Any probs.
With desktop WORK is important and I may have to
use office 365! Also have a lot of files and several apps I would like to keep! One more thing one of the last XP updates blew out/uninstalled
discombobulated my DVD drive so would need to use
that again please help!o,e,m,n

Linux is not Windows so "keeping apps" is not going to happen -there are many substitutes for Windows programs though. Much depends on your system's hardware like processor, RAM and video so without some more info nobody can give you any advice. Since it's an XP machine, I suspect you'll have to go for one of the lighter distros as the "big" distros tax hardware near as much as Windows does...

I suggest you purchase a Windows 7 install disk and licence key (and expect to pay a lot for a genuine, legal, one.
If you need proprietary software to make a living then I suggest you buy it while you evaluate your options.

dell Vostro 400
 

system is dual core CPU running at 2 gig and 3gb ram also running at 2gig
with a Nivida 7500 graphics card.
Thanks o,e,m,n

That's enough to run just about anything you'd like. A good general purpose distro is Mint as it works pretty seamlessly and is solid & stable. Your choice of desktop environment as well. I prefer the Mate or XFCE versions myself...

yukky poo
 

Ya like a 139.99 and it won't authenticate thanks best buy! If I have to give up a bunch of apps to use Linux fine I liked 18 and twenty is OK too just can't get the stinking battery to charge! o,e,m,n

Edit Later

Now unplug the power adapter brick/charger

So is Office still a requirement? If not, the "usual" (but not only) linux replacement would be Libre Office, which usually comes with most distros (or is in repositories).

I put linux on this XP machine with less power and ram than you have. It is much faster than XP was for me. What I did is a dual boot. So I still have the XP on the pc too. You might consider this if you just have have a few microsoft apps that you have to have. I think the recommendation you got for Mint (Mate or XFCE) is good for you.

As others have said if you absolutely have to use Office, then stay with Windows. The stated machine can run newer Windows. However:My thought of caution here is that I suspect you'll need to also upgrade MS Office because whatever you have to XP is seriously out of date versus what can run on Windows 7 or 8.

As far as WINE goes, that's a Windows emulator, I think there's some fence somewhere where IMHO no one stands on it. You're either a person who does use WINE and does so successfully, therefore a proponent. Or you're someone who doesn't agree, therefore not a supporter. In my futher humble opinion; I've seen tons, literally tons of posts over the years where things are not working under WINE. By the way, to clarify WINE is something you install on Linux to be able to run Windows EXE programs. The problems are numerous and I recommend you just google for problems running MS Office under WINE to get an idea. I think you'll see a lot of "I tried to install MS Office under WINE on (distribution name), but ..."

Further, comes the question of the version of MS Office. XP is old, similarly I'm guessing your MS Office is old. Well, new MS Office trumps the old one a great deal, especially when they went to their new document types.

So I think you need to decide if you can live with OpenOffice or LibreOffice. You can certainly try a live distribution, I recommend MINT17. Get it on a USB stick or a DVD and boot live allowing you to view your existing files and see if you like it and can accept the office alternatives. If you boot off live USB you can also then try to install WINE and see if you can get that working.

Best of luck.

As the others have said, that computer will run any Linux without trouble. You'd probably find the Mate version of Mint the easiest to get used to after XP. To see the sort of software available to replace Windows stuff, look here
http://linuxappfinder.com/alternatives

This article, although old, is still worth reading
http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

as it was mentioned any linux will run. As it was also mentioned linux is not windows, therefore most probably you will not find your usual apps (the same ones) on linux, but probably you will find similar ones. You need to take care about the installation, because you want to use your important data. So make a backup, and take care about them, otherwise you may lose them during the installation.

yes you can run office in Linux I do sans outlook.

buy a USB Drive or 2, and make backups of the documents you wish to keep.
Compress them first, if necessary.

To test if the Windows OS has fried your DVD device, download a LiveCD and burn it to media using unetbootin for Windows, and then boot to it.

What Windows discombulates Linux can sometime un-discombulate. eg: What doesn't work in Windows may very well work outside of it.

Additionally, Linux anything is not a replacement for Windows, but an alternative to it.

Or can boot from cd/dvd in "toram" and then try to burn a dvd and read it back.

I doubt "windows" or any other os can burn up a dvd drive. They just go bad.