Hello Everybody. I need help looking for a new distro to try out.

Here is some of the things I want from it.

XFree86 4.2.0: This is a requirement with the Distro since I have a Radeon 7500. And I want full support from the start.

Easy Installation: I'm fairly new to Linux and still need a fairly easy install. However good documentation can help. And I'm not afraid from having to learn new things. I just don't want to jump in too far. I tried Gentoo and didn't have much luck

Good Stable Version: I'm not looking for the most "popular" but instead a distro that is very well put together, and will not crap out on me alot. And something that updates easily to keep it stable is a plus.

Variety is Good:I've tried RedHat and Mandrake and they are all right, but I'm willing to experiment with something more unusual. So don't think most popular is a requirement.

Speedy: My computer isn't the newest, so a speedy distro would be great. I've learned to like IceWM, so that helps.

Something that Configures easily: As a left handed person, I appreciate distros that make it easy to switch the mouse without having to type in the terminal to do so, and create start-up files and so forth. So a built in Configure type option would be great.

This distro is going on this box:

333Mhz Celeron overclocked to 375mhz
33 gig IDE harddrive (All of that space is available)
Radeon 7500 video card
M$ Intellimouse w/ wheel
M$ Office Keyboard
Acer 36x Cdrom
Creative 4x DVD drive
Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 sound card with IR
NEC Multisync A700 Monitor


Distros that I have tried:
Mandrake - All right, but seems "quirky" at times
RedHat - Too slow for me
Gentoo - never could get it to install correctly
Libranet - For some reason it can't get past basic install. I tried burning the disc again, redownloading, nothing helped.
Vector - Evil Distro. Me no like


That's about it. Any suggestions people?

I've checked them out and it is a really good site. The one thing it lacks though is the great public opinion I can get from here. I really would like people that have had first hand expereinces with some of these to tell me.

Slackware is good. I used it back in 3.6 and really liked it. (That wasn't so long ago, they skipped from 3.6-7.0 IIRC). I would've gone for 8.1 were it not for download complications.

I got the impression that Slackware is not a newbie Distro though.

(I did try Slackware 8.0 once, but on the first install I got some error saying it couldn't get mount /VAR, or something like that)

Slackware 8.1 comes with XFree86 4.2.0

Slackware isn't a graphical install but its straight forward and easy to install.

Slackware. They're all stable, but I never have any problems with Slack if you customize it to your needs.

Slackware is not the most popular but it does have the most loyal supporters. Its not really unusual but the most Unix like distro and still the oldest surviving one around.

I have Slack on a Celeron 400mhz, 128 megs of RAM with a 16 meg Video card and it is fast enough considering the machine that it is on. It boots up in about 27 seconds and running Enlightenment on it its evern faster. You want it to be fairly fast, go with a smaller, non-resource hungry Window Manager or Desktop.

Slack doesn't come with alot of GUI tools but once you get familiar with it, its quick and easy to customize and configure. Also this is a plus cause it lets you learn and know how to fix things on your system without letting the stupid GUI tool your using do it for you.

Just my thoughts on it. I would go with Slack if I was you, or at least give it another try. I've tried many distro's but always come back to Slack, or always prefer it over any other distro.

Ok, well I would have suggested A solid Mandy, maybe 8.2, but you seem to not want to go with that one. Slack rules, and it's not as bad/hard as it may feel at first. Just do your reading, and it will go much easier. SuSE seems good, but not very Linuxy. It may be what you want to get you started though. The install might be a bugger, but once you get through it, not too bad.

Cool

Update:

I just installed Libranet 2.0. I replaced my CDROM and found that it was the problem with my previous install.

I am glad to say that Libranet is up and running great. And so far I am very pleased with it.

SLACKWARE 8.1, trust me I bounced from one distro to another, tried Slackware and am very happy with it! Have three linux boxes, and they are all switched over to Slackware 8.1 now!

I tried Slackware and kept running into problems with X and Xfree86 configurations.

i went from redhat7.3 to slackware8.1 and am planning to try gentoo when i get my cable modem. i found/find slackware to be a little overcomplicated you'll find out what i mean when you do a kernel recompile. i guess my only problem with slack was that there's no set way to do things among the distros, for example, to add a user in redhat you use the userconf command and in slack you do the adduser command; im sure every distro has there own way of doing things so i cant blame slack. so, to summarize i've got no problem with slack it seems to be very stable and the startup is lightening fast (compared to redhat) i may use it as my distro of choice if gentoo doesn't work out. the install is scary, atleast for me it was being non gui based and all but i do recommend you try it. also, what problems did you have with gentoo?

useradd you can also use in redhat, its been there long before userconf. userconf isn't the original way to addusers, that is something new to several distros as its an added utility.
to me slack seems more staight forward than others, it hasn't changed really since the beginning, its all the other distros that have changed.

anyways, that's my two cents.

i see what your saying trickykid but redhat was my first distro so i make comparisons on how i originally learned to do a task. all i ask for and am frustrated about is that theres not a "standard" way to do things, but if there was i guess there'd be no need for different distros.

Well, the one thing I like about Slackware is that its the closest thing to running a true Unix box, as its the most Unix like.
Yeah, there needs to be standards but it seems that about every distro out there is trying in one way or another to bring their own ways of doing things with the OS and Distro.
That's one thing that has stuck around with Slackware, it really hasn't changed a thing since its roots/beginning.

But oh well, we won't see any standards set for a long time, most of the distro's will do their own thing with their own distro.