Hi all and a happy new year, i would like to get into this linux trend and would like to know where i can get some good sound advice on where to download it from, and what version is best suited to me, i am not exactly a novice round a pc but when it comes to linux i am totally a newbie so if anyone can help i would be much obliged

There are of course many different version to choose from but I can reccomend Mandrake 9.2 as it is easy to install and more important, it is easy to maintain. Even easier since it needs no instalation is Knoppix, it runs straight of the CD
Debian is considered to be one of the better distibutions but asks a whole shed load of questions when installing, not for the faint hearted, i'm afraid.

The link below has comparisons about many versions
http://distrowatch.com/

Mandrake is readily available for free download. Linux format magazine (and others) regularly have complete OS cover mounted on CD or DVD.

hth

Sorry but I have found Mandrake to be a bit buggy. Every time I have tried it there have been problems (9.0/9.1/9.2). Of the 'easy' Linux distro's Fedora (the successor to red hat) seems best.
I have tried a truckload of distro's & always go back to good old reliable Slackware.
You can buy Linux really cheap off of anyone who will sell it to you (the joys of its 'free' license - you can sell it on too!) or if you have broadband you can download all the linux you want.
A good site is
http://www.linuxiso.org/
As suggested Knoppix is a great place to start, It was my first distro; hopefully it will soon have you hungry for a real install.
Happy Linuxing
Friendly Guy

Once again the swimming pools of life had been tainted by the incontinent toddlers of fate

thanx for the help guys much appreciated ,,joe

I would go for Mandrake 9.1. It should still be downloadable (www.ibiblio.org may be a place to start) and it has loads of extras written for it (see http://plf.zarb.org/~nanardon).

As for someone having problems with it... it depends on your hardware. Mandrake is pretty good on most hardware, but the odd thing may trip it up which another Linux deals with OK, however, that other Linux can sometimes trip up on other hardware that Mandrake handles OK.

Don't let that put you off Linux, though. I mean some things require Windows XP other things run on '98 and not XP.

One thing though if you have an Internet Connection via ethernet, and an nforce-based motherboard, you may have to download the nforce linux drivers from www.nvidia.com BEFORE you load linux.

For the most part, though, you should be able to load Mandrake Linux off its disks, without having to search for driver disks for various pieces of hardware.

Best of luck!

once again i thank you