I first started using linux with FC2, I also tried other distros but definetly FC3 is the best. Many variety of programs to work with, pretty fast boot up, and all types of program you need except an mp3 player :(. After learning to use yum it made my life much easier to get the updates and Mplayer. If searching for a great distro with a wide variety of programs i'll recommend it to any1

Fedora Core 3 has a nice graphical installer, but it once stopped midway on me. Once installed, it crashed several times, even though I only used software on the CD. It didn't configure fstab or some other files manually, despite being 'newbie friendly'. The boot process was troublesome, and fsck didn't always work right. It's shutdown and startup times were very long, too. There was a lack of documentation, and most manually installed RPMs failed to run, or even install.

This is a very good looking and relatively well done distribution. Like most people say there is alot of unnecessary packaging with this one. Also, there was alot of necessary packaging that was missing. For instance, drivers for wireless cards seemed fairly sparce. I had to install drivers, and even then I had problems (couldn't get a console up as root while necessary folders). I also had problems with the disc I used, which may be some of my problem. Still, it's an easy distribution if you aren't doing wireless and only need wordprocessing and websurfing.

I have used everything from Redhat 3.0 to Redhat 9, Slackware, Trustix, Mandrake, and FC1-2. Fedora Core 3 has my vote, it is easy to use, stable, detects most of my hardware without much trouble. Works wonderful with debian's apt-get and synaptic software management.

My Box:
Pent II 450 Mhz
159 MB Ram
120 GB Quantum HDD(split into a couple partions)
Dual Monitor Setup(VooDoo3 and Generic(SIS) AGP card)

lspci:
root@dsl092-134-242 html]# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 02)
00:07.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02)
00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)
00:07.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01)
00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 02)
00:0c.0 Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq ES1371 [AudioPCI-97] (rev 04)
00:0d.0 VGA compatible controller: 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. Voodoo 3 (rev 01)
00:0f.0 Ethernet controller: D-Link System Inc RTL8139 Ethernet (rev 10)
00:10.0 USB Controller: OPTi Inc. 82C861 (rev 10)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 300/305 PCI/AGP VGA Display Adapter (rev 90)

I've setup my box with MythTV, shoutcast, and as a file server for my home, and it works great! I now have a TiVo and multimedia center that can be accessed inside and outside the home. I don't know how I lived without Linux before.

hmm.. i've been using redhat for as long as i can remember, i switched to FC3 and so far i haven't encountered major problems yet...

It took me 15 minutes to go from a boot error (windows) to linux
Works like a dream, easy to program upon and easy to use