ok - the main thing is, i need to know what you all would recommend for a first time user who just wants to get used to the idea of ABW (anything but windows).

i burned GoblinX to a CD and found that i like the "kde" choice better (cool sounds and stuff).

so, how do i make this my pimary operating system so that i don't lose information every time i shut down?

also, in the abiword thing - the spell-checker doesn't work and i can't seem to figure out how to save an abiword file to, say, my external hard drive (it doesn't give me the option for anything other than "root" and "desktop".

so, basically, i'm looking for the most complete setup (that is cool like that GoblinX/kde setup) that i can find for a first time user.

once i get used to it, i will start scripting my own stuff.

(i also have questions like, will guildwars run with it? teamspeak? dreamweaver? etc, etc, etc...)
if anyone would like to give me a hollar and maybe take me under your wing for a few days, i'd appreciate it.

p.s. - i've read all the "quick tutorials" i can find... still moderately confused...

Assuming you have reasonably current hardware, read the the blubs on this page ... http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major and pick one to install on your hard drive. If you plan to dual boot with Windows, look for some howtos related to that. You'll probabably need to clear some hard drive space. If that isn't a consideration, you're ready to start installing now. Just let the installer take care of the partitioning.

Note that many distros are likely to default to a Gnome desktop, so investigate the process of getting KDE instead for whatever distro interests you. It's not particularly complicated.

Hi and welcome to LQ. I have moved this thread to Linux Distributions, so that you get more input regarding choosing an appropriate Linux distro for you. Once you have chosen a distro and installed it, post back if you have any other questions.

By the way, if you are looking for a KDE centric distribution, then I suggest you take a look at Kubuntu, openSUSE, PCLinuxOS and Mandriva.

Kubuntu
http://www.kubuntu.org/

Mandriva
http://www.mandriva.com/community/mandrivaone

PCLinuxOS .92
http://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/metalab/dist...glish/preview/
ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/metalab/distr...glish/preview/

This is the distro I use and recommend, Why because it works right out of the box. No need to configure Everything, everything just works. It also comes as a 1 CD install that is a live CD that you can install later if you wish.

Mephis
http://www.mepis.org/

Blag
http://www.blagblagblag.org/download/

Distros for older Hardware:

Vector Linux 4.3
http://www.vectorlinux.com/

DSL
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

Puppy Linux
http://www.puppylinux.org/user/viewpage.php?page_id=3

Slackware
http://www.slackware.com/

SLAX Live CD
http://www.slax.org/

BeaFanatIX
http://bea.cabarel.com/

Elive:
http://www.elivecd.org/

Luit Linux
http://luitlinux.sarovar.org/