LinuxQuestions.org - Using kernels for a newbie and other questions

Please can you help me? :confused:

I am running an AMD K6 2-400 with 640mb ram /SoundBlaster Awe32 with Debian Sarge using the standard kernel (2.4.x.x)

I am getting so cheesed off at trying to learn how to configure the o/s instead of using the box to Just Do Work On I have read so many forum pages here and elsewhere on simple how to's like sort out the lack of sound and all the solutions involve lots of typing script into config files etc, etc, also I have been looking In Vain :mad: to install a 2.6.x.x Kernel as many forums say sound problems are solved with 2.6.x.x etc.

Of all the distro’s I have tried (as live CDS) the Slax 5.07 is totally awesome, and if it was installable, I would use that type of set-up as the basis of my desktop Linux box because all my network, internet, soundcard, etc, all works "out of the box" and it lets me get on and do work on it.

Please, please, please, can someone tell me if:

A/ Debian is the right distro for newbies,

B/ is Slackware easier to install to get a hard drive install that looks and runs like Slax 5.07 (rather than using Debian)

C/ what is all this stuff about kernel compiling?
If a live distro like Slax will work out of the box why can't a standard install be as efficient?
Why would I want to learn all about compiling unless I had nothing better to do?
Do I have to do all this mucking about just to get a system that works as well as a Slax live distro?

D/ would I be better paying another (Big) lump of money to Bill Gates and get an o/s than falls over at least once a day, but works (most of the time) straight out of the box? This one is not serious- just feeling fed up. :(

I am running an office with 3 x Windows boxes and 1x Debian Linux box over an ADSL LAN and am still trying to build the Linux box so that any win user can browse the Internet and write documents and spreadsheets.