ok id like to start off by saying that for years my friends have been trying to get me to switch from windows to the linux world,i just recently figured i would make the transition after microsoft banned my cd key for windows xp after i had a small hardware change, this angers me to death because i feel like i shouldnt have to pay twice for somthing that i have already bought,over the past few days ive been experimenting with the different distros, ive tried, free spire,suse 10.1 , mandriva, and ubuntu, and ive narrowed the final choices down to ubuntu and mandriva,i liked the look and responsivness of mandriva but i cant get the sound to work after i install it, it seems to work fine when i run it from the cd but it crashes after i install it, from what ive seen so far with linux i prefer the kde enviornment as it has the windows look to it, i was wandering if you guys knew of a ubuntu distro that had the kde enviornment or another linux distro that is user frendly and installs programs with ease, i am also planning on installing beryl/compiz so it must be compatable, thnx

Hello and welcome to LQ. Have you tried Kubuntu? It's Ubuntu but with KDE instead of Gnome. Or you could install Ubuntu and add KDE to it. Hope this helps.

thnx for the reply,does kubuntu have all the features that comes with ubuntu, the website says that its a lite version for people running older computers, my computer specs are intel pentium extreme edition qx6800 2gb ddr2 2x 8800 ultra sli , also what is the difference between tar files,rpm files, bin files and yum files, all this puzzles me as i dont know which one this os uses thnx

Xubuntu (which uses the lightweight XFCE) is the one more tailored for older/slower computers. I use Kubuntu on my main desktop because I prefer KDE rto GNOME, and it's just the same as Ubuntu in just about every way other than the default desktop environment.

ok so if i get the lite version called kubuntu does it still come with the kopete messenger and the media player so that i can watch my online videos,can i still get beryl to work on it, also i was wandering if it supported the cube 3d enviornment thnx

I suggest that you download it and try it ---- you'll soon answer your own questions .... as far as Kopete is concerned, it's a part of KDE (notice the K!!!). Which media player do you want? I am sure you can get Beryl to work but I can't help wioth that because I don't use it.