I'm looking to use a Linux OS and I'd like some recommendations on what are good FREE Linux distros.

This can be argued till you're blue in the face.  But the big question is: what are you looking for? Ease? Education? Speed? Security? Fun?

My first recommendation is Slackware, because that's the one I use 100% of the time.  Alternatively, Gentoo also seems quite good. 

If you just want to play with things, grab Knoppix.  Then you don't have to install it to your harddrive. 

If you want to do security/hacking stuff, grab Auditor.  Again, it's bootable. 

I've started using Fedora Core 4.

[quote author=MyndFyre link=topic=12905.msg129320#msg129320 date=1127691515]
I've started using Fedora Core 4.
[/quote]

Yeah, but you are the suck. :)

Sorc.Polgara, make sure your hard drive is compatible with the Linux distribution that you decide to use. My computer can't seem to run any version, versions that did log in to the desktop had display errors constantly. Anyways, I would suggest using Mandrake Linux or Ubuntu if you are looking for ease. Also, according to nslay, FreeBSD is a very good OS to use. FreeBSD isn't Linux, but I figured I'd suggest it anyways.

[quote author=Yegg link=topic=12905.msg129403#msg129403 date=1127764664]
Sorc.Polgara, make sure your hard drive is compatible with the Linux distribution that you decide to use. My computer can't seem to run any version, versions that did log in to the desktop had display errors constantly. Anyways, I would suggest using Mandrake Linux or Ubuntu if you are looking for ease. Also, according to nslay, FreeBSD is a very good OS to use. FreeBSD isn't Linux, but I figured I'd suggest it anyways.

[/quote]

You don't have to worry about hard drive compatibilty.  All harddrives are the same. 

You do, however, have to worry about hardware compatibility.  There's typically a way to get any hardware working, since there are tons of people out there writing drivers/code, but it might be troublesome. 

[quote author=iago link=topic=12905.msg129425#msg129425 date=1127777424]
[quote author=Yegg link=topic=12905.msg129403#msg129403 date=1127764664]
Sorc.Polgara, make sure your hard drive is compatible with the Linux distribution that you decide to use. My computer can't seem to run any version, versions that did log in to the desktop had display errors constantly. Anyways, I would suggest using Mandrake Linux or Ubuntu if you are looking for ease. Also, according to nslay, FreeBSD is a very good OS to use. FreeBSD isn't Linux, but I figured I'd suggest it anyways.

[/quote]

You don't have to worry about hard drive compatibilty.  All harddrives are the same. 

You do, however, have to worry about hardware compatibility.  There's typically a way to get any hardware working, since there are tons of people out there writing drivers/code, but it might be troublesome. 
[/quote]
Hmm, I thought that the harddrive could cause some interference. I guess I was wrong.

Depends on whether or not your kernel supports the interface your harddrive is. (i.e. I had to build my kernel specially so I could get my SATA drive working)

[quote author=Newby link=topic=12905.msg129440#msg129440 date=1127787868]
Depends on whether or not your kernel supports the interface your harddrive is. (i.e. I had to build my kernel specially so I could get my SATA drive working)
[/quote]

Well, true.  I was thinking of SATA and SCSI, but those are rarely an issue :P

My hard drive is just ATA.

Ubuntu...  Every thing just seems to "work" with it :).  BTW, linux is open source...  There is only a handful of distros that actually cost money...  Things that cost money for linux don't get the idea of it.

[quote author=CrAzY link=topic=12905.msg129512#msg129512 date=1127867896]
Ubuntu...  Every thing just seems to "work" with it :).  BTW, linux is open source...  There is only a handful of distros that actually cost money...  Things that cost money for linux don't get the idea of it.
[/quote]
LinSpire is said (and looks) to be pretty good of a Linux OS. It too costs money. $50.

Linspire is a distribution that tries to cater to people who aren't really ready to leave Windows yet.  I much prefer distributions that don't try to offer CNR constantly.

If you're just switching, I heartily suggest Xandros.

Slackware!  I only recommend it because it's the first and only distribution I've used, however.

I'm a big fan of Ubuntu.  I always loved the package system of debian along with apt-get, but I always hated installing debian.  Ubuntu brings this all together; it's so easy to install and deal with, but you can use apt-get or some frontend like synaptic to install anything you want.  I use it on my home machine and also at work.

Thanks for the replies.  Yeah, after reading all of your posts I realized that I wasn't very specific.

I'm looking to do programming and stuff with linux.  IIRC, programming in a Linux environment is somewhat better than programming in a Windows ones because Windows is very proprietary?  Dunno if I said that right, correct me if I'm wrong.

ANYBODY who uses Lindows or Linspire should be shot for the good of Humanity. 

I'm going to list some window managers and utilities instead of distros themselves, because with enough customization, anything can become anything else (its all built around the Linux kernel)


Ease?
KDE or GNOME.

Education?

Speed?
XFce

Security?
iptables
Knoppix-STD (security tools edition)

Fun?
Uh, same-gnome and ksame (same game for gnome and kde) are my favorite Linux games, I think. When I get bored enough, I'll load sol.exe in WINE (I actually like it better than the linux ones).

I use Gentoo Linux.  When I started using it though, it was a bitch because I didn't know what I was doing, kept failing in getting everything to work, but now I have it running great, using XFCe for my DE (nice, fast, and not too difficult to use).

The first distro of linux I used was Mandrake, now called Mandriva.  Its easy to install, pretty easy to use, but is big and slow compared to others, especially when you use KDE with it.

[quote author=Joe link=topic=12905.msg129770#msg129770 date=1128139307]
Fun?
Uh, same-gnome and ksame (same game for gnome and kde) are my favorite Linux games, I think. When I get bored enough, I'll load sol.exe in WINE (I actually like it better than the linux ones).
[/quote]

Frozen Bubble is definitely the best.  Obvoiusly :P.  Here are some of the best Linux games:
http://happypenguin.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=549