My brother's PC got a virus and needs to be re-formatted. He lost the original XP CD and was going to give up on the PC, I'd like to try out some different Linux distros.

I have Ubuntu on a laptop, so I'd like to try something new.

Here are his system specs:
2.17GHz AMD Athlon XP 3000+; Nvidia Nforce-2; 2 GB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; integrated GeForce4 MX 64MB; integrated 10/100 Ethernet port; WDC WD1600BB-00FTA0 160GB 7,200rpm HD

Ideally this distro would be compatible with most hardware/windows drivers. Once I move out of the house I'd like my brothers to be able to use it also. They're relatively good with the PC, but Debian would be way over their heads.

Also has to be a free distro.

Please let me know your thoughts! Thanks in advance!

hi

my first advice is do not install any linux to the hard drive.

downoad linux live cds or dvds...most are free.

some allow you to run an app called clamav....knoppix has it that may help with ms.

live cds can also be installed...but there is no rush to make a decision.

firstly your bro needs to make decisions ....gnome....kde...other for desktop or windowmanagement
(knoppix has both kde and lxde from memory)

And make a decision on package management....rpm....deb...tar...etc

so he can have fun trying out various live cds....and can use them to access his hard drive and recover some files for re-scanning with ms scannners.....and/or fix his pc

No doubt, my PC is real similar dog.
I have a hp pavillion amd athlon64 3300+ 2.4ghz
I'm on it now.
I am running from Ubuntu-SE-8.04 which has awesome themes an wallpapers
( http://ubuntusatanic.org/ )
Haven't tried 8.10/9.04 se
If you look at my box on the left I have all that on this PC.

Very similar; I lost Win XP in dec 08 playing with Unetbootin, too dumb to have xp disc and too dumb to realize all I had to do was fix the mbr.
Anyway, ditched windows and started banging different distro's thru it, punishing the hd with multiple partitioning schemes etc.
Now, I got a website 6mos later and you can check out that stuff; tomorrow comes tinycore_2.0-usb and grub/isolinux cd's too.
Anyway, I would try se or any good Ubuntu like
ArtistX
Kubuntu
Ultra X Linux

And if he likes tinkering Slackware 12.2 is the most stable distro I know of.

With this computer every Distro should run well.
To try out different distros the way via LiveCDs is best.

Tastes are very different I just can recommend you those I had good experience with.

Mandriva, openmamba, SAM, Sabayon, Puppy,..
Knoppix, SLAX,... (better as LiveCDs than installed)
But also debian is good (except the installer).

Thanks for all the replies!

Which distro's are the easiest to install software/hardware/drivers/etc? This is probably the most important factor for what I'd need.

Which do you feel is the easiest to use? Which has the most features?

Good to keep in mind, thanks..

hi

well since you are asking opinions forgive me for saying if your bro is used to ms...choose kde for ease

the negative of kde is that it and gnome are called bloatware as both are big and kde is bigger than gnome so if free space is a premium??

choose rpm or deb but I am leaning towards rpms as my preferred disro for a newbie would be Mandriva as their control panel is still the best one imho.

Mandriva of course can still offer you gnome and minimial window managers so its a big distro with lots of support.

2) if you are smart you can use a low spec WM but still have kde or gnome packages installed....but to run a particular kde/gnome package you may need some kde services running

I vote for Mandriva and Ubuntu, in that order.
aus9, he has 160GB harddrive...

saivin OP may download isos...movies...mp3s....games...and have no free space.

160GB +DVD burner +1 TB external HD... I think he'll be alright.. lol

I went with Linux Mint 7 and it's gone well so far..

that's probably as good as any to point your Bro at . ..