Hello everyone,

I'm a noob to Linux and confused of which distro to choose, since there are so many options.

My needs are:
~ Blender 3D
~ Gimp
~ Video/audio player (.AVI, .MOV, .MPG, .FLV, MP3, etc)
~ Internet (Firefox, Thunderbird, Pidgin, Yahoo Messenger, Skype)
~ OpenOffice
~ 3D games like Wolfenstein Enemy Territory, Sauerbraten

My hardware are:
~ Pentium IV 2.4 GHz HT
~ 1 Gb RAM
~ GeForce 6600 GT VGA card
~ 20 Gb available HDD space
~ Huawei E220 modem
~ Logitech IM webcam

Other criteria:
~ an attractive UI, easy for newbies
~ wide-range hardware compatibility
~ a full package in CDs or DVDs, no need to download from repository (due to my internet quota)

Suggestions awaited.

Thanks in advance,

Bimo

Welcome to LQ

Every major distro would do
Take a look at
http://distrowatch.com/

You need to understand that Linux distributions don't stop you from running any software you care to. Some Linux distributions have more applications precompiled and ready to install via package managers, that's the only real difference.

This will be a problem regardless of which distribution you choose. One cannot realistically update and maintain a modern Linux installation by way of CDs and DVDs.