Help me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

i am confused between choosing the correct linux operating system
I have 3 operating systems downloaded:
linux mint
frodera
open suse

and i am using ubuntu 11.04
please help me choosing the correct distro and please note that i spend lot of work on the desktop

and kindly please suggest : i am using a desktop:
:confused:

Ubuntu is probably your best choice.

If you're already using Ubuntu, what do you like and dislike about it? That might give us some basis to suggest something better for you.

I have no idea what you are saying or asking about the desktop. In Windows, the desktop is fully integrated with the local file browser. When I use Windows, I heavily customize the right click menus, so I can do a lot of my work in the integrated desktop / file browser. But Linux desktops aren't as integrated with file browser, and right click customization either isn't as possible or at least isn't decently documented. So whatever desktop you use, it will be a little short of what you might be used to in Windows.

Its possible that with more information that people might make suggestions, but only you can really decide which distro suits you.

By the way, 'Help Me' is not a good thread title. Its better to use a title that is relevant to the thread, in this case I would suggest something more like 'which distro is right for me'.

Your question is flawed. All of the distros you list are "correct."
The real question is: Having tried them all, which do you like best? :)

There are any number of variables that might give us a clue regarding what to recommend like:
Home use
Business use
Cutting edge
Stable
Hardware resources

and so on.

Even so, the right one is the one that feels right to you.

What distro is best depends largely on personal preference and what you want to do. ubuntu, and mint, and openSuse are all good for general use.
I prefer Slackware on my heavy-use machines, and fedora on my play-around machine. Fedora can be good for general use, but it tends to be bleeding edge, thus it can break at times, rare but still something I've had to deal with a few times.

In the end, the best way to find the distribution(s) right for you, is to distro-hop until you find your favourite. For a first distro, any of the four you mentioned could work. I started on fedora a while back, many start with mint or ubuntu as they're designed to be easy to use for less technical people and people new to linux.

All good advice.
 

The other responders have all given good advice.

My suggestion, stick with Ubuntu for the moment and use it. Use a virtual machine such as VMplayer or VirtualBox and load up some other distros to be able to compare them. Saves loading and replacing distros all the time and you retain your Ubuntu " reference" system.

When you prefer one, make that your native distro.

Most of all have fun and be productive!

I've never understood why so many people suggest distro hopping or virtual machines or use of liveCDs to find out which distro is perfect for you.

The differences aren't that big. The extra work and confusion from trying several outweighs any likely benefit from finding one that is a slightly better fit.

As you become experienced with Linux, the distro differences matter even less, because almost any one of them can be easily customized (by an experienced user) to have any specific benefit you might have found in a different distro.

If there is something you don't like about Ubuntu, post a question about that:
1) Most likely, it is something about Linux that is bothering you (because you're used to Windows). So at least you find out it is not specific to Ubuntu and isn't a reason to try a different distro.
2) Second most likely, there is a trivial adjustment you can make to eliminate the undesired behavior. Better to ask than to suffer.
3) Less likely but possible, it is something you don't like about Ubuntu that you would like better in a different distro. If you post a specific issue, you can get a specific answer with another distro suggested for good reason rather than just the personal bias of the person answering.

The reason I suggest distro hopping, is primarily for package management and for changes to things like how runlevels are handled and what scripts run at startup etc.
for example, ubuntu makes booting to runlevel 3 a pain in the butt, I'm sure it's possible but if so it's very annoying. As for package management, I don't like automatic dependency resolution or automatic update systems etc. when I do use package managers that handle deps I use yum but only because I like to see whats new in linux on fedora, because they keep up to date. Otherwise, I use slackware and slackbuilds or compile myself, so I can easily manage all my software and even the update-all feature of slackpkg allows me to go through and deselct certain things that I don't want updated.
I'll agree that for a new or inexperienced user, or someone who doesn't do things like compile from source, etc. etc. then most modern distros will be essentially the same thing with different defaults, and making Ubuntu and Suse and Fedora work the same is mostly cosmetic, the only major difference being the package managers, which are also very similar anyway, just requiring different package types (.deb or .rpm)

I believe that for users who primarily stick to the GUI and want home/multi-media type usage, some distros include ( or allow easy additions to) repos that contain non-free and/or non-OSS SW, which can theoretically be a legal liability (eg licensing) ; hence RH systems don't include those ...
There are always ways to work around it, but simpler is best for a beginner.