Ubuntu is probably the easiest for newbies. (like me) I've been using Ubuntu Edgy for around 2 months now and love it. I've tried out the other flavors, as well..Kubuntu, and Xubuntu.

I don't know about easiness, but I've also played around with the SimplyMepis live CD. It looks pretty straighforward as Ubuntu. I'll be curious to try PCLinuxOS, but I'm holding off until their newest version, .94 (or 2007) to come out, which should be soon. I've also played around with the VectorLinux live CD, DreamLinux, LinuxMint (just a different flavor of Ubuntu) Fluxbuntu (Has Fluxbox instead of Gnome on it), Elive (Which uses the Enlightenment or E17 desktop. Lots of eyecandy, but not very intuitive. But it's impressive for sure, even on older computers)

Thanks for reply. Am I able to install Fluxbox or Enlightenment in Ubuntu?

Yes. I had Enlightenment installed over one of my Ubuntu installations

Here's a good link on how to install Enlightenment:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=319336&highlight=enlightenment.

This is exactly how I did it and it worked very well.

At some point, there'll be a distro that combines E17 & Ubuntu called Elbuntu. You can see more about it here: http://e17blog.tuxfamily.org/ebuntu_en.php/

Fluxbox should be in the repositories (I've never looked tho, since I've not used it before). Either open up Synatpic Package Manager and do a search for Fluxbox, or open up a terminal and type sudo apt-get install fluxbox.

Or, 3rd option. Just download Fluxbuntu from here: http://fluxbuntu.org/

One last option, is IceWM. It's also in the repositories. The original theme is ugly as heck, but it's highly configurable. It takes a bit of getting use to to feel comfortable to set up, especially if all this is new, but once you get the hang of it, it's so easy. Reminded me of setting up a webpage editing HTML coding.

Here are a few links I've used to help set up IceWM

IceWM and ROX filer:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=171203

Read through this entire link below. It's long, but highly useful on what to do with IceWM and how to get it looking good:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1549508#post1549508

Go down to post #58 by aysiu. He has a great little script he wrote which installs IceWM, Thunar (file manager--looks & acts a lot like Nautilus) and nicer looking themes than what originally comes with IceWM.

Message Edited by sultanaofpersia on 02-13-2007 03:19 PM

Hi Nate:

I've been using a number of Linux distros over the years, with varying degrees of success. A few months ago, I decided to try PCLinuxOS, after using Mandrake for some time and trying Ubuntu (somewhat problematic for me).

If you'd like to try a KDE-based distribution rather than one based on Gnome, I would highly recommend PCLinuxOS. It's the most polished Linux I've ever used, and works really well with a 5-year old Dimension 4400 PC.

The newest version (PCLinuxOS 2007) is currently in beta and the final release should be out by March, but the second beta release is ready for "prime time", so you might want to try it on live cd.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info. I'm gonna try the pclinux disk. Is there a gui that is more macos x like?

There's no Linux GUI that is more Mac-like, to my knowledge. KDE is more graphically rich than Gnome (in my opinion, anyway) and the applications are better integrated into it than Gnome. But, it really isn't "Mac-like". In fact, visually it's more like a hybrid between XP and Vista.

I really like it; maybe you will too.