ok where to start... well I've been wanting to try linux for awhile now. I decided to try it lastime I formatted however the distro iso's I downloaded were either corrupt or not bootable CDs (wich I'll be in need of since my a drive is all but dead and i have no floppy disks even if it was working). so I decided to go on and forgett about it for the time being. Well its about time for me to formatt again so again I'm going to see about trying linux but I'm going to be more intellegent about my attempt thistime. So I've come here for some advice and input.
What I'm looking for is a newb friendly distro that still has all the advanced features so I can learn it but not be thrust into an advanced linux enviorment befor I feel I'm ready. I also need something that isn't going to take alot of long load times on my machine (P4 2.4 ,512 RDram, geforce 4 4200) (I'm patient when it comes to software but lag and loading please wait gets on my nerves)
As stated above I'll need to know where to get bootable CD ISOs of whichever distro it is. I'm open to all suggestions and any extra suggestions or adive anyone could give would be apriciated (spelling?... im tired lol). also I heard theres a special process for dual booting windows XP and linux distros (besides the one used for 2 windows versions on diffrent partitions).

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PS: I come here asking as I find other people as a more reliable source of info and suggestions than articles and such

You should browse this forum a bit before posting. This question (in various contexts) was posted many times before. And you'll basically get the same answers.
Anyway, I won't express my personal opinion here because I'm much of a noob myself, you might wanna take a look at www.distrowatch.com. You'll find there links to download sites for each distro.
Good luck!

Ah, I think Mandrake might be a good noob starting point... Or try knoppix bootable CD a while..