Which version?
 

'm new at this but I want to use debian. I'll need to install it on a laptop. Which version of debian should I use? Sarge, Woody or Sid?

microsoft/linux

If you're new at this (meaning Linux), I'd highly suggest Mandrake, or SuSE, or another distro. Debian will most likely give you a distorted view of Linux (that it's weak/useless, etc) because debian (and gentoo, and sometimes slackware) assume that you're a competent user.

I recommend Mandrake, hands down, for newbies. SuSE is good too. If you're still in that "not sure" area, try Knoppix. Most importantly, don't assume one distro represents all of Linux.

That said, I'd personally load a system with woody (stable) or sarge (testing), then migrate up towards sid. The sad truth about Debian is that few debian users use the "stable" branch. It's supposed to be the most stable, but not enough people care about or use it enough for me to feel comfortable using it on my own systems.

If you're really into Linux installation pains, you might want to lean toward Slackware. Debian's great, but most other distros have adopted their biggest strength (apt--the install/upgrader) in one way or another. Politics wise, the debian people seem to be more worried about dotting the i's and crossing the t's than they are about producing usable software. (There's a constant battle about who's documentation is "freer", a petty problem at best, but one that pushed me away from Debian, because that seemed more important to the developers than the actual software.)

Moved: This thread is more suitable in the Debian forum and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

When choosing a Debian version for desktop machine, I'd take testing. It has new package versions, is quite stable and doesn't make you update every day.

I like slackware. I think debian is good now and if you get the current beta installer for it you'll run into a few problems.
1)
It'll say at some point "some packages failed to install" hit ok, then go to the choice to "finish setup" Once you've done that all you need to do is apt-get -f install. If that runs smoothly and finishes do apt-get dist-upgrade. You'll get with one of these commands a package (console-tools) which fails to set up. The file that's causing the problem is mentioned. All you have to do is rm /path/to/fille.gz (rm is the delete command btw).
2)
Then apt-get dist-upgrade again. When it's done you'll be nearly set up. With me it didn't setup kde on it's own though so I had to apt-get install kde. Then it installs most of xserver, etc. But not all of it.
3)
So you'll get an error if you run startx which says something to the effect that X is missing. Don't worry, you already downloaded the package it just didn't go through (don't ask why). So do apt-get -f install and if that doesn't find a package do apt-get install xserver This will list the packages that are part of xserver.
apt-get install whateverfileyousaw1
apt-get install whateverfileyousaw2
apt-get install whateverfileyousaw3

After this make sure to run xf86config and you should be good to go. Oh, also it's possible i had a few problems because I installed using the linux26 option for the 2.6 kernel. I'm not sure if that affected anything or not but I recommend you do the same if you want newer hardware support anyway. If you can follow directions like this you'll be set.

If you run into any problems be sure to say so though as it's definetly possible I forgot something

EDIT:
Something I forgot, it won't install gcc for you (and yes I did select development tools it just didn't do it) So when you get up into kde first thing you should do is apt-get install synaptic. It's a nice front end for apt-get and you'll like it. Then do some searches in the search field (top right corner). Search for g++ and right click to install it when it puts you there. It'll install everything needed for gcc to work properly. Then you may need to get automake, autoconf, and make (search for them all seperately just in case). This will make sure you have everything you need to install software from source or compile your kernel. If you want to use xconfig in compiling a custom kernel (I do).. make sure to install qt.

Does this sound hard? It's not, but it's lengthy I'll admit. Once you do everything and compile your own kernel I think you'll like what you get out of it though.

OH, and.. here is the i386 ISO image of that installer for you.. remember to use linux26 as a boot option if you want the latest kernel, it'll make the system 2.6 ready so you don't need to install module tools later on.

http://cdimage.debian.org/pub/cdimag...86-netinst.iso

Which desktop environment is bette? KDE or Gnome? Do either if them have a 3D graphics package that'll allow me to make 3D images?

try them and pick one...and tell us after which one you prefer, i don't like none of them

Do either if them have a 3D graphics package that'll allow me to make 3D images?
look for the available software and packages for linux

Ok, I ran into the exact same problems as you, and followed your steps and everything went good. Then, I ran xf86config, and still had no problems. Then I ran startx and nothing. It comes back with the error "fatal error no screens found" Any ideas what's going on here?