Linux

@ Smithchild. If you are based in London and want to do the install with someone who's done it a million times before you are welcome to come by my office one evening and I'll help you with it. Between me and Google we'll have you up and running pretty quickly.

PM me if you're interested. I always like to convert new people to Linux.

Cheers Brain-Flick, I currently reside in, whisper it, halifax so can't take you up on your generous offer. I'm back at the coal-face of ubuntu forums as we speak, your advice above seems fairly straightforward. I don't really have much to lose with the install, it's my secondary PC so i don't rely on it. Think i'll press on with the full install and go through each problem as it occurs. the display thing seems a uniquely dell related problem and there's quite a bit of discussion over the various forums.
Thanks all for advice so far, i'm going dark for a few hours, see you on the other side, godspeed.