Good Linux distro comparison list

[Fender]

My work PC is so bogged down with extra crap that I'm contemplating purchasing my own HD for my notebook and installing Linux on it. I'll basically need to run Firefox, Thunderbird, Pidgin, OpenOffice and Eclipse. At home we might do some basic photo editing. My wife uses Picassa for that right now, I don't know if there's a Linux equivalent for that. Several years ago I ran Linux as my OS on my home PC, but haven't kept up on the distros for the past couple of years. Any suggestions?

[obsidian]

I've been pretty happy with Ubuntu. New major releases every 6 months (Hardy Heron's scheduled to be out soon), easy updates, GPU drivers easy to install, wireless works pretty well in the last couple of versions. Try the liveCD to test before actually installing.

[^misantropia^]

As a new (or returning) user, you can't go wrong with Ubuntu. The Gimp does everything Picassa does and then some.

[+JuggerNaut+]

another vote for ubuntu or linux mint (derivative of ubuntu but with media codecs pre-installed). the only choice you'll need to make either way is which desktop environment you'll want to roll with (kde, gnome, xfce, etc) totally depends on your taste. good thing there are live cd .iso's available to try them out.

[Fender]

thanks

[+JuggerNaut+]

so did you try anything yet?

[Fender]

No. Too busy with new kid and playing ikariam. Maybe I'll go get a live ISO to burn and play around with today.

k... wtf are there 6 different mint 4.0 CD editions and no product comparison matrix?

[obsidian]

They are just different desktop environments. Just pick one. If you want to install one of the others you can always install it manually later.

[+JuggerNaut+]

Maybe I'll go get a live ISO to burn and play around with today.

why yes...yes you will. put the new kid down and get burning.

[Fender]

k, /fail
CD booted to menu, then got disk read error.

[+JuggerNaut+]

you burned it wrong then. or md5 that bitch.

[obsidian]

Linux installs these days are supposed to be foolproof. Guess not.

[+JuggerNaut+]

i've burned LOTS of live cd's (everything i could get my paws on) and have only had a few "fail" because of my 22" monitor.

[Fender]

The KDE Community Edition DVD is working. Posting from it now.

[Fender]

What will probably decide it for me is how easy it is to setup a 2nd monitor.