Brand new to the world of MAC--Mini running OS 10.4.8. Will install Parallels.
Need something very friendly to non-techie user to run a couple of pieces of
Windows s/w. Is Mandrake's Discovery 10.1 a choice? Anything else that I should
be looking at? Any inherent problems with Discovery that I should be aware of?
How comprehensive is the documentation?

Thanks

You want to install Linux on a Mac so you can run Windows SW?? If there is no other reason, why not install Windows?
Linux will run---using WINE--some Windows apps, but not all. Please tell us exactly which apps you want to run.

Anything in the top-ten on the "hit list" at Distrowatch.com will be a good choice. Personally, I recommend the Debian/Ubuntu/Mepis family---because of the package managements system. PCLinusOS also uses the same system.

Pixellany--

Thanks for your prompt response.

"Why not install Windows?" I may have to but this would be the last resort. For the 2% of the
Windows capabilities that I would use, there is a lot of excess baggage to deal with. And I am
tired of having to deal with all the virus and malware threats. Plus there are a bunch of other
objections to Microsoft's business practices and forced obsolescence.

"What apps?" I have a couple of music apps--Midi-Notate from Notation Software that translates
midi files into sheet music, has lots of features for manipulating the score, and plays the
midi selections, and, Write Music 2000 that lets the user write score with the mouse plus other
related stuff I don't use much of. These are both narrow niche products and it is understandable
that the authors would see little profit in having a Mac version.

I checked out Wine and did not find either app listed.

Nothing exotic or technically demanding about the apps. Even the most modest games are probably
several times more involved and stress the computer resources accordingly.

Thanks for your help.

there is a wine port for OSX called darwine

You might want to check out Rosegarden for the notational music ... I don't know the program, but it's making waves in the Linux world recently.

Check out FINK. You may be able to run free software natively.