well, as of right now, you still may need windows for some stuff. however, many games now do have linux ports so you can play them like that. there are also windows emulators so you can actualy use widows programs

if you are a noobe, then mandrake is probably the best to go for since most everthing is set up automaticaly. and x-windows is very cool.

but as a gamer...linux still has its limits. try using windows 2000. its far superior to ME