Any tips or helpful resources for converting a Windows machine to Linux?

i grew up with PCs (back to windows 3.1, i think), but i switched to mac about 2 years ago. i have my old dell desktop just sitting around. it has been turned on twice since the mbp arrived. i have decided to convert the dell to a linux machine, more as a learning tool but potentially some sort of music server.

now that i’m out of school i’d like to keep learning new things. (i am a graphic designer working at/for an IT training center and i think some of it has rubbed off on me)

i’m not sure where to start and i have a lot to learn. what is the best course of action? do i wipe the current disk clean? there really is nothing on it that i would ever need again, or that i haven’t already archived elsewhere.

i’ve had friends suggest ubuntu, fedora, and suselinux.

the dell has a pentium4 2.2GHz 60GB hd with 768MB of 2.19GHz RAM. oh, and a usb wireless adapter.

any suggestions will help :-D

tks.