ubuntu is very popular for the cummunity and i am a straight debian person on desktops and servers, but i install suse desktop, (not opensuse) at work because it has the best driver support out of the box and seems to be the easiest for windows office type users to jump in with.

If you want to learn linux i would definitely suggest debian,but if you just want something easy to use and that works with most stuff out of the box like printers, scanners, wireless cards, etc, i would buy suse

As was suggested, trying live CDs of a few distros should help a lot. Keep in mind they'll run slower off CD than when actually installed on the HD, but they can give a general idea of use and overall feel.

In this case, since the idea is to learn Linux to go along with using a N900 and Maemo is Debian-based, just makes sense to use a Debian-based distro (uses .deb packages) such as Unbuntu, Kunbuntu or Linux Mint, rather than a distro like Fedora, Mandriva, CentOS (uses .rpm packages) so learning software installation is the same. But neither package system is necessarily superior to the other. Software installation in Linux is different (better!) than Windows, mostly a matter of setting up online software depositories. Once that's done most software installation is a simple command or a click-click of the mouse and the package manager automagically hits the 'net, retrieves the package + any additional packages necessary to meet any dependencies, downloads, installs - done! No rebooting when installing/removing software. Almost all drivers needed are already included in the Linux kernel or from the distro package manager.

KDE or Gnome, the debate about which is better is endless. Both are very Windows-like and easy for new users to get used to. I like something NOT Windows-like, so I use Fluxbox, one of the simpler 'window managers'. Google or some live CDs will give you some idea of the difference. KDE is Qt, Gnome is GTK, not that it matters much from a user point of view. I have little use for either one - see above. But Maemo is moving to Qt, so... That said, personally I can't stand KDE or it's buggy apps like Koffice. Gnome bothers me less, but I try to avoid both as much as possible. Again, Maemo is going to Qt, so...

Somebody mentioned Firefox being slow on Linux. Not so. Firefox 3.5 runs great on my CentOS box and my dual-boot laptop, even running a 3-year-old version of Mandriva.

Bottom line: Google is your friend. Read plenty before choosing a distro. At this point, if I were a n00b and wanting something to go along with the Debian-based N900, I'd probably go with Linux Mint. It can use whatever desktop you want - KDE, Gnome, Fluxbox - whatever you decide you like. Very n00b-friendly, lotsa software, good forum support.
http://www.linuxmint.com/
Here's a nice guide to setup of a basic Mint system:
http://www.howtoforge.com/the-perfec...nt-7-gloria-p2
It's for Mint 7 and I think Mint 8 is out now, but should be about the same.

I use CentOS, which is a free version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, but it's really primarily intended for servers. I like it 'cause it's bulletproof, software support is excellent and I only have reinstall every 5-6 years, but as a desktop distro it's not for n00bs.

My 2 cents...

Build-essential is a meta package. Have you ever tried installing that support using just .debs from the repo (no direct internet connection) what a pain. In this regard Gentoo has the strength. However, this could be easily fixed if the devs didn't feel so strongly against the occasional compiling from the source.

I am already sorry for joining this Distro flamewar thread...

You mean "apt-get install --download-only build-essential" and then copying the .debs over to the other machine? (and there might even be a better solution I'm now aware of right now...)

You want to compile from source? "apt-get source --build <packagename>"

Oh, and you probably know http://funroll-loops.info/ already...

Fedora. XFCE version.

Well the forum profiles should show what devices a user has, what PC OSes he uses, etc. We have some of that on our forums, and it helps alot. Might want to add such fields in the future here.

You mean its above my head? Because I don't know the difference performance wise.

I don't know if I mentioned I can't even find a hard drive to install on, so it may be awhile. I won't use XP at all, so it will be a naked install of Linux only. I know I have plenty drives, but they all are full of Nuendo and Protools sessions, and I can't find one I'm willing to hose. Still looking...

Neh. Rather, Direct3D is the 3D API part of DirectX which is Microsoft's proprietary alternative for OpenGL. DirectX is so much more than merely Direct3D. Like for example DirectSound. The Khronos Group (non-profit organisation who own the manage OpenGL) also released other open standards which compliment OpenGL, together providing a stack which competes with DirectX. Same with Qt, although both library stacks are LGPL.

LiveCD/LiveDVD, WUBI...

You can try a live-cd or, even better (for speed reasons), a live usb stick.
here you'll find instructions on how to transform a mandriva one iso image into a bootable usb stick, elsewhere you'll find instructions for other distributions.