what distro/version of linux would be best for me?
 

since SuSE 9 wont install on my computer i was wondering what distro i should use next. i was thinking about redhat or debian. i have an 8gig hard drive, 128 ram, and a 333 mhz pentium II processor. which distro/version should i try to install next?

also if i formatted my c drive would that erase everything off my computer making it have no OS or anything? would that make SuSE work?

To install any version of Linux you'll need free space. If you have your disk full it may be the reason SuSE doesn't install.
Formatting won't change the situation (I understand you have Windows installed now), because Linux needs different partition type than Windows. You can remove all the Windows partitons (using fdisk) and try to install SuSE - it should help. Or you can resize Windows partitions (using parted or PartitonMagic) to make space for Linux (it should also help SuSE).

i have only used 1.45 out of the 7.83 gigs i have to use on my computer. i dont understand why it has problems partitioning.

I don't know any distro that resizes a partition (even when there's free space on it) by default. The reason is simple: it may be dangerous (usually it's not). That's why you must do it yourself.

i tried to partition it using Fdisk but i dont really know what im doing so i was just guessing what to do but when i tried to modify something it wouldnt let me.

fdisk doesn't allow to change partition sizes - it only allows you to delete, create and so on. To resize you need parted (should be in the rescue mode from Linux install cd) or PartitionMagic (commercial).

Fedora Core is a good option
 

I started with RH 7.2 and moved to Mandrake 9.0-9.2 as it was easier to use, but then I changed motherboards and Mandrake 9.2 didn't like it ( Nvidia NForce2 chipset ), so I installed Fedora Core 1 ( successor to RedHat for home ) and love it. The yum package updater/installer/finder program that comes with it is phenomenal! . http://fedora.redhat.com/ is the link. If you find Yum is kind of slow, look around for a better yum.conf file, I will post mine here if you want it. Enjoy.

if ur not gonna use the partitioning software above but instead wanna use fdisk to start anew, here's what u gotta do (warning: fdisk will delete any data resting on the partition(s) that ur changing):

1) Make a Windows Start-up disk

2) Boot from floppy, and type fdisk when dos is loaded

3) Chances are that you only got one partition, choose delete primary partiion and follow the on-screen instruction to delete it. After successful deletion, go to main menu and select "display partition information", and nothing should be listed. Now exit fdisk.

4) Shutdown the pc, turn it back on, and boot w/ ur linux distro cd and try again

hope it helps

The installer for Mandrake 9.2 has a partitioning feature that seems to do a nice job of creating / editing / formating etc partitions.

Mandrake 9.2 (you can download it for free) should be able to partition your drive and install itself quite easily. I'm a newbie, and this is the easiest distro I've found.

I'm running it just fine on a laptop with specs similar to those of your machine, so there shouldn't be any problem with disk space or RAM requirements.

If your laptop currently has Windows 98 or ME, it probably uses the FAT32 file system. That means you have to defragment it before you partition it, otherwise files could be taking up bits of disk space all over the place. You'll have to defrag it manually in Windows, there should be a utility in your Start menu somewhere.

Fortunately, Linux is much more advanced, and doesn't have fragmentation problems. ;)

Depending on the file system you use in Linux, you could get fragmentation.