-———————I’ve been tempted to try Linux on a spare computer I have here. Would you suggest Fedora for that?-———————
In a short answer, yes.
I would first attempt several live CDs. Boot the OS, see if your sound works, video works, so on and so forth.
Even if it is a spare computer, why nuke it if you don’t have to? Especially if you have CDRW disks, which is what I use.
Some live CDs take longer to boot than others, but they are fully functional operating systems when up and running.
Fedora and Ubuntu both offer LiveCD solutions that are easy to use, and easy to install. You could also try knoppix, but that one isn’t easily installable.(It’s goal is hardware compatibility, they don’t care if you install it)
This website has a ton of information about just about any linux distro out there. http://distrowatch.com/
And if the very first live cd you try doesn’t work, I wouldn’t put much stock into that. Try a different version, of even the same distro or try another distro all together. I have always found live cds to be flaky and not a great representation of an installed linux os. In every case. They have to make concessions due to the size of the CD they’re working with. But it will still give you some idea of what you’re getting.
Right now, I need another screen for my Dell Inspiron 9300 laptop (it has a 1 inch area of the screen from top to botom that shows nothing whatsoever, it's completely white), and I hope to be able to finally upgrade to a dual-core system (I'm running 3.4 P4 right now).