"What other operating systems do u suggest?
red hat Linux or what."<P>

Yes, I use RedHat 7.3, even though the latest version is 8.x (or are they at 9.x now?). It works fine running 8052.com, on my home server, and on my laptop.

You can't run all Windows program, but I bought a program called Win4Lin which essentially is a Windows emulator that runs under Linux. Using Win4Lin I am able to run every Windows program I've tried--Visual Basic, Visual C++, QuickBooks, Quicken, Microsoft Office, Adobe. Yes, Keil works under it, too. Pretty much everything does.

Win4Lin is great for those that want to upgrade to Linux but have some legacy Windows apps they can't just stop using. I find that I spend 95% of my time in pure Linux, but it's good to be able to get into Windows when I need it. As time goes on you'll find you spend less and less of your time there--and even when you're in Windows under Linux, a virus would be limited to destroying your Windows installation--it couldn't go off and infect your entire Linux system. So in a worst case you just nuke your /win directory and re-install Windows, which only takes about 3 minutes under Win4Lin.

Regards,
Craig Steiner