Is Linux for me..(?) (Score 1)

I'm a veteran user of Window$, but I've heard a lot of good things about Linux and have a spare 4.3 gig HD to use. I'm running on an o'ced PPGA Celery Stick 300a, w/64 mb of SDRAM, and great game performance w/Voodoo 2 on ADSL.

I use my machine mostly for games, 'net browsing, and word processing. Can someone help me with: 1)What are the advantages to using Linux as an alternate OS? 2)Assuming I *do* go Linux, which "distribution" would make for the most comfortable (and cheap) conversion? Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with Unix at all.

Thanks a million for helping out! :o)