BleepingComputer.com: Best One To Get?

I think the topic explains its self what do you think is the best linux or unix distribution out there, I don't really want to spend any money but I want to be able to put it on my second hdd on my computer, I don't want a cd version where you boot up with it, thanks
Danny

hi xx66stangxx...to answer your question directly i'll say i like mandriva with the KDE desktop.

to offer more comments if i may i'll say in the end the best distro is the one that works on your hardware and the one that has the style and features you like. everyone is going to reply with a different distro so the best advice is to try a few different ones. one of the purposes of the "live" cd versions is to test them on your computer without actually installing. another way to explore distros is to emulate them with VMware Player or VirtualBox. these are great ways to find the best one for you. so i say try a few of the top popular distros from the distrowatch page hit ranking list. every one of those distros are freely available except for a couple. most of them are live cd versions but they have the option to install. maybe you can tell us if there's anything more specific that you're looking for and we might narrow the field for ya? some distros are geared towards doing different jobs such as; (running a server, office productivity, music or graphics production, games, forensic analysis, or just all around general use, etc). any good linux user has at least a dozen linux cd's laying around. i personally have collected over 300 in the last 2 years. some of which i have actually run on my computer and a few won't run.

http://distrowatch.com/
http://virtualbox.org/
http://www.vmware.com/products/player/

ok cool I will take your advice and look at these websites, thanks again

Ubuntu is good so is PCLOS07 (a derivative of Mandrake). If you know your way around Linux already try Fedora. If you like the Windows 9x look Gnome is the desktop for you. If you liked XP KDE is the way to go. If you want to try something completely new to you use the Enlightenment Desktop which is standard for SymphonyOS (a semi-defunct Ubuntu based distro, not on my list of stuff to try and expect to work). Play around with a few Live CDs to get the feel of what you like in a Distro. Ubuntu, Fedora (DVD), and PCLOS07 all offer a try before you install (its slower then a Hard Drive install but you can get the feel of what you like in a distro from a LiveCD.

Many of the top distros (Fedora, Suse, Debian) do not require any real special knowldge to use them. You'll learn the basics of it just like you did in windows. There will come a time when you will want to invoke the power of a terminal. This is when the real learning begins. I suspect the best answer to your question was given in the first reply, find the one which supports all of your hardware, suits your needs and you are comfortable with proceeding on. Try many, it won't kill your hard drive if you install, or if you prefer, live distros to try it out, which will not write to your hard drive at all. A live distro is an operating system that works and runs from your cd/dvd device. You won't be able to save anything to your hard drive this way, not without making some modifications anyways (which your live distro will have instructions of howto), but this will give you a great starting point.

This topic has been asked and answered countless times already.