All the different linux sites that allow you to download the .iso files give you like 20 different .iso's. Which one do I download? Some say there are like 5 disks?? Do I really need to download all 5 .iso's and burn them to a disc?

I am currently trying to download knoppix from: http://www.knoppix.org/ and i'm not sure which one's to download.

Blah, why is linux so confusing and frustrating at times! haha, i guess thats what keeps it interesting though right?

Well, it depends on the distribution and version that how many ISOs you need to download. As far as I know for Knoppix you need to download a single ISO file and that's supposed to be an ISO for making a Live CD. If you feel confused looking for ISOs over the web, you can go to the Download Linux section of this forum which is located on the top-right menu.
This is the direct link to download the Knoppix 5.0.1 ISO
http://iso.linuxquestions.org/downlo...6-06-01-EN.iso

A distro will have a several gb of free software that comes with it. Also, a distro may be compiled for different type's of computer architectures. If you have a pentium computer, you don't want to download an iso file that has the letters ppc or x86_64 or i64 near the end of the filename. For SUSE, the 4th and 5th discs may contain extra kde and propriety software such a flash plugin for firefox.

The first cd may contain a list of what packages are available on the other discs. If not, there may be a list on the distro's web site.

If you live near a Barnes and Nobles book store, or one similar, they may carry the magazine "Linux User & Developer". This is a UK magazine that will have a different distro featured on each issue. The latest, Issue 61 has a DVD for Fedora Core 5. A previous issue featured OpenSUSE. I noticed that the computer section also contains a book/distro for SuSE 10.1. One of these may be more convenient if you don't have broadband.

More....
The choices will include things like "x86" , "386", "686" , "xxx64", and more. These relate to your cpu architecture. x86 works on any intel cpu, 386 on 80386 and better, etc. xxx64 is for 64-bit processors.

You also might see tar.gz and tar.bz options. Only difference here is the compression. Not an issue with a linux system, but if you need to extract on windows, the gz might be easier.

alright, thanks guys that does clear things up for me a bit.