could someone please explain Linux and the varities of it. at uni i am doing a computer science degree and they use linux (not sure which version as its my first year there - already done a year somewhere else, which did not use linux). so what i was going to do is keep xp pro on one hdd and get another one (dont want to partition) just for linux (as the uni use win98 and linux of some sort)

well my question is if i download redhat, from www.redhat.com, for that version of linux would it be compatible with the file sharing etc from the linux machines at uni, and what are the differences between the versions, i.e. redhat, mandrake and other linux's?

regards
Mikee