Hi,

I'm about to buy a new linux system, and while I do enjoy tinkering with Linux, I was wondering what distribution would be the easiest, most painless to install. I have used debian way back when, and it was pretty easy, but I haven't used linux since 99, 2000 ...

Also, I'm seeing these really cheap linux boxes at places such as madtux.org that have linux already installed on the units. What are your thoughts on these units and is there any better places to buy pcs with linux pre-installed? I want something that has a good, fast GUI, but doesn't have anything fancy with support for 3 monitor setup.

Thanks again linux users for your help!

If you are familiar with Debian, you might just want to go with it again. It has (some / a few / lots of) improvements since "way back when".

Ubuntu is based on Debian, and is very popular, according to the DistroWatch site ( http://distrowatch.com/ ), and also judging by it's hot forum activity. It, like Debian, uses a GNOME gui. If you prefer KDE, which is more Windows-like, Kubuntu is the same product except with KDE instead of GNOME.

Others that work nice out of the "box" are Mandriva, PCLinuxOS, Mepis, Fedora Core, and probably some others I will get flamed about for not mentioning. I just mentioned the ones I have used myself.

Almost any box can run Linux if it has standard hardware. The things you need to watch out for are any uncommon pieces, or anything that is newer than the distro you want to use. I wouldn't worry about getting Linux pre-installed unless you don't already have access to a computer that can download and burn iso cd's. By installing yourself, you can try several different distros until you find the one that works best for you.

One thing you might try is to find a used Windows XP computer that some poor schmuck abandoned when he had to get new hardware to run Vista.