What distro is right for me and my computer
 

my computer hardware is as followed

2.5ghz intel celeron processor (pentium 4 i think)
intel gfx card 8xxx series 96mb
512mb ram
wusb100 wireless card hardware version 1

i need something that is easy to use at first and when i start to learn more i can make more modifications to the os.
something that is easy to install java in will help.
i also am a novice programmer and will be trying to make software. i need a distro that will at least look nice doesnt have to look awesome just nice maybe xfce desktop to improve responsiveness.
something that a good repository of packages
i just came from windows xp but i have been looking into linux for awhile and tried puppy... doesnt fit what i need

thank you all

With this hardware specs and the needs you have I would recommend to use either Xubuntu (Ubuntu with XFCE), Linux Mint XFCE Edition or Debian with XFCE. All of them are easy to install and have very large software-repositories. Debian is a bot more "plain" Linux then the other two, so my personal recommendation would be to use that, if you want to learn more about Linux after becoming comfortable with the system.

thank you for the suggestion i will look into them.

Welcome to the forums Summers. My first distro was Ubuntu and I turned out okay :) Xubuntu is Ubuntu with the Xfce desktop environment; I think it would run well on your hardware. Also Mint Xfce is worth a try. If you are looking for something a little different you might give Fedora Xfce a test-drive. Good luck! :)

thank you, im glad the community is willing to help a person coming from windows. I will try your suggestions and post any troubles i have

ok im on the linux mint xfce live cd and it detects my wireless netorks fine but when i click on the network it will do the connecting thing and after awhile it will say you where disconnected from the network but it never actually connects.

lol my first problem, but i like linux mint so far

What wireless adapter are you using? If not sure, you can start Linux and type one of the following commands into a Terminal (you should find that in the menu):
For USB-wireless type:For an internal wireless device type:In both cases look for something like network controller and post that lines here.

i know im using a wusb100 card from linksys

What we need to know is which chipset this adapter is using. Please post the output of the mentioned lsusb-command.

lsusb
bus 005 device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux foundation root 1.1 hub
bus 004 device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux foundation root 1.1 hub
bus 003 device 004: ID 046d:c50e Logitech, inc. mx-1000 Cordless mouse reciever
bus 003 device 003: ID 413c:2010 Dell computer corp.
bus 003 device 002: ID 413c:1003 Dell computer corp.
bus 003 device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux foundation root 1.1 hub
bus 001 device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux foundation root 1.1 hub
bus 001 device 003: ID 1737:0700 Linksys
bus 001 device 002: ID 0781:5406 SanDisk Corp. Cruzer Micro 1/2/4GB Flash Drive
bus 001 device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux foundation root 2.0 hub

this is all i got when i ran the code... idk whats wrong

Well, that output is not very helpful, linksys did no good job with just naming their device linksys. Without knowing the chipset I am not able to help you.
But there may be a little chance that the hardware driver program can find the appropriate driver for the device. You should find it under the settings option in your menu. Start it and see if it finds any drivers to install/activate.

i think the driver is rt2870 does that help any?

edit: i did the hardware thing and it didnt find anything. also i tryied install windows driver thing and install the right drive but still nothing should i reboot?

While you're in Windows, try this shortcut:

Right-click My Computer and select "Properties" from the menu.

Select the "Hardware" tab, then the "Device Manager" button.

Find your wireless device and click the "+". (might be under "Network Adapters")

That should show the model/chipset for your device.

Hope this helps.

well after i rebooted i installed the windows driver using the install windows driver program... at first it didnt show a network at all then suddenly it popped up and said connected to Internet... woot

now for the other question does linux mint come with java pre installed?

It should have the runtime environment pre-installed, but once you have installed Mint it is a thing of a few mouse-clicks to install the JDK.

i want to thank you all for being so helpful and patient with me linux mint seems to be doing fine so far if i have any problems i will be back ^^