[chipmonkey75]

I'm going to throw an alternate thought out there just for you to chew on... try Slackware first. The common rhetoric is that Slackware is difficult to work with and not for the weak of heart.

That has absolutely been my experience too (I still have my 1995 Infomagic Slackware CD... the horror.)

But are YOU the weak of heart? Perhaps not, coming here to ask such questions. And, IMHO, what you learn from fighting with a more raw linux distribution like Slackware is actually a useful learning tool. You can learn a lot about drivers and hardware systems by having to fight to get them to work.

And as soon as you get sick and tired of it, install something else that someone more forgiving has already mentioned. :-)