I have an intel dual-core 3.00Ghz processor with 2GB RAM, and 500GB hard drive. I have an ATI All-In-Wonder HD 3650 video card, and an old Sound Blaster PCI sound card. My printer is an HP Laserjet 4P, and have an HP Scanjet 4470c scanner.

I have a home business and have some Windows apps I have to run. I want to migrate to linux, but am not crazy about dual booting. Which Linux distribution would be best to put a virtual Win XP on there for my Win apps. I was thinking of Red Hat Linux desktop because you can get virtualization with it (for a price), but wanted some opinions from more experienced Linux users.

Windows just seems to get slower and slower, no matter which version you use.

Most distro's have XEN or KVM now, or you could go with VMware Server(free), I don't think it matters too much

cheers

You can run virtualization for free on Fedora or use CentOS (which is free and a clone of Red Hat). Centos comes with the XEN kernel for running virtual machines. Another popular VM is Sun's VirtualBox, KVM, ...
If you go with Redhat you are paying for support. Otherwise I recommend CentOs or Fedora. By the way, centos5.4 just came out.
Good luck.

What are your thoughts on ubuntu?

There are not that many fundamental differences between distros---start with anything in the top ten an the "hit list" at http://distrowatch.com

(Ubuntu is fine--my only issue with it is their policy of disabling the root user by default. Many people like this feature.) If you like Ubuntu, I'm guessing you will REALLY like Mint.

I really like kubuntu, the graphics are way better. I'm assuming virtualization will work there too?

I'd check to see what specific windows apps you need to run, and audit them. There are many alternatives in linux, not to mention using Wine can help with the transition, and avoiding any virtual machine. I use VirtualBox, with a 3g dual core. It's resource heavy, and I have 4 gigs of ram.

Can you give me an overview of what wine does?

For starters you can check out there homepage here. Then review there App database for application compatibility. The link is in the top right hand corner "AppDB"

Wine is software that supplies certain Windows dll's among others things, that allow you to run certain Windows apps on Linux. e.g Games, Production Software, Office ... etc. I was recommending that you audit your software setup, and at first look for Linux alternative apps, to wing you off Windows for good. There are tons.... I mean there are alot of apps you can get for free through Linux that will do the same as if in Windows. Though if certain apps that are a necessity for your business, and cannot be used with Wine.. or there is no Linux alternative. Then I would look into virtualization, and upgrade your RAM, your Windows apps will eat it up.

As for a good Linux distro to start off with, you mentioned Red Hat. Well there desktop line Fedora, is a good choice. Though you might want to also consider SUSE, Mandriva, Ubuntu. They all have great support and will easily get your hardware up and running. Though you need to consider the learning curve. So maybe a Dual boot, to learn the Linux basics. Try different Linux distro's and then make you choice.

I personally started with Ubuntu. Then realized it was restricting, so I moved on to more of highly customized distro with more flexibility.

I think I'm going to go with Linux Mint. I've heard it's fast

Which Windows apps do you "have" to run?

Almost every Windows application has a perfectly good Linux counterpart. For example, OpenOffice in Linux can do most everything Office can do (and things it can't), including saving things in the .doc Office format. Database programs are probably an even closer match.

So what in Windows are you trying to do?

I use Quickbooks Premium 2008 for my business checkbook, Quicken 2009 for personal checkbook, Adobe Audition 2.0 and Sound Forge Studio 9 for audio editing, and Vegas for video editing. Those are my main concerns

manwithaplan gave you some specifics on how to find out which windows apps work with Wine. Also, as has been suggested, noodle around here, and with google, for Linux-based alternatives. Check them out and see if they meet your needs.

I've never had to use virtualization, but I have heard that it can be slow (hence everyone telling you to upgrade your RAM) and resource heavy. Minimizing the times you "have" to use emulation programs is best.

Once you find a linux-based alterntaive that meets your needs for the Windows applications you are using now, I am sure that porting over your data will be easy.

Good luck, and welcome to Linux.

How good is Linux Mint?

Here's the LQ list of replacement apps http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/...ndows_software