My recommendation:
Get Redhat 7.1. I'm amazed at how easy the install program is. It is very slick.
I've installed it about 10 times. (The only other systems I've tried are Redhat 6.0,
6.1, 6.2, and freebsd). Install all the packages. It should recognize your most
important hardware without any configuration (mouse, monitor, video). Printer might
be a different story.
Don't even think about freebsd. I tried that and it is definitely a learning project
on how to set up a system.
The trickiest part is usually partitioning a disk, but if you are buying a separate
disk for it, it shouldn't be a problem. So the slightly non-intuitive part might be
setting up Linux's filesystem. Do one swap device that is twice your memory, 32 MB
for /boot, and the rest on /.
Good luck.
Jon
