Linux

What would be the best version of linux to get coming from windows XP? I'm getting tired of XP and want a new os and thought linux is the way to go. I was concerned with a few things however: How much more difficult is it to use compared to windows? And what are the major differences? (As you can tell I have 0 experience with linux)

Major difference is that it's less idiot-friendly (though not neccesarily harder to use if you're not an idiot) and most Windows programs won't work on it (though the wine project can get most basic files and a few good ones to work)

I'd recommend Ubuntu to get used to the basics (it's pretty hard to break and works pretty well with most things, and is well supported) but then definitely move on to a different one once you know the basics (Ubuntu is easy, but the easier a Linux distro is the more bloated it is and the more background processes you have usually)

i've used a few. ubuntu, debian, mandriva. and of all of those, i would say go with mandriva spring 2007. its pretty easy, getting things like your internet and wireless card to work are far easier. the one down side is the repos arent quite setup for you, but if you need help with that, feel free to ask me.

I would suggest Ubuntu or Kubuntu, I use Kubuntu 7.04 atm. Both have pretty easy installs, and a live cd at boot to test it out. Kubuntu's desktop uses KDE so is very configurable.

i recently switched to Linux, and choose Ubuntu for their unending support, after i tried one of the Live CD's. I had to do lots of modding to the system, like screen res. hard drive access level/partitioning, and card configs. for something that looks a lot like windows, try a KDE desktop like PCLinuxOS. but some people just want to get away from the windows feel. anyway, try a LiveCD of the Linux you want before installing it.