Looking for advice

I have made the decision to switch from MS Windows to Linux. I am leaning 
toward Linux Redhat. But I am not too certain what I will end up with after 
making the switch. My intention is to maintain the ability to use certain MS 
programs (namely MS Word and MS Excel spreadsheet) after making the switch. I 
could do this by maintaining MS Windows on a separate partition of C drive, or 
by running Windows on one machine and Linux on another. I purchased the 
allegedly Windows-compatible program Partition Magic about two year ago for the 
purpose of repartitioning C drive without first having to reformat. But the 
repartition failed. Partition Magic failed to accomplish the repartition. I 
made the effort to repartition for the purpose of installing Linux on the new 
partition.

I am now considering a couple of options on how to get Linux installed, while 
also retaining the use of Windows applications. A) I could format C drive and 
repartition it as two drives, and install Windows on one and Linux on the 
other. B) I could obtain a new machine (a more cost option) and run Windows on 
one and Linux on the other.

I am uncertain on how to proceed, however. My current machine has an AMD K6 cpu 
running at 350MH with 128KB of Ram. The hard drive is 10GB. I worry that I am 
or would run out of hardware resources. So that leaves me with the thought that 
(1) I should either upgrade my current machine, or (2) not install both OSs on 
my current machine and instead obtain a new machine upon which to install 
Linux.

Some of the other questions I have about migrating to Linux have to do with 
hardware device drivers. For instance, does Linux Redhat (my currently favored 
version) have hardware device drivers for the HP-III laser printer (old but 
still cranking), my HP 1215 ink jet printer, and my HP Scanjet 5200C scanner? 
It would be useful for me to know whether these hardware devices are supported 
by and will function with Linux applications.

Another question I have is what MS Windows programs are currently ported to 
Windows? If the several Windows applications I wish to maintain (at least for 
the present) are ported to Linux applications then I may not need to maintain 
Windows when I switch to Linux. And, as I mentioned, I am heavily leaning 
toward Linux Redhat. I remain open to advice and suggestions, however. I like 
the idea of an open-source company such as Redhat with its reservoir of 
computer expertise looking out for the interests of its customers. I do not 
have such expertise and never will. My focus, from the beginning (my first 
machine was an 8088 running at 4MH) has been on running the applications, the 
word processors, the spreadsheets and the databases. I am not a code writer. I 
never seriously considered writing code because I was always and remain too 
busy running the applications. I consider code writing a special talent. It 
just not my talent.

I subcribe to Linux Journal. The editorial content of that magazine, however, 
is geared toward Linux administrators, one of which I am not. I do read the 
magazine, however, looking for information that might be useful to a 
non-programmer, end-user like me. I remain on the watch for other Linux 
magazines or sources of information that might be useful for the end user (more 
so than a system administrator).

Any advice from the Linux community on these matters is truly welcome.

Dennis Auvil
Chehalis, WA