Here are my favorite top three Linux distrobutions for complete Linux beginners. However, I assume that you already have some experience with personal computers, possibly you have already used MS Windows before.
I. FreeSpire
Has all the multimedia stuff you ever dreamed of (incl. Quicktime codec) already on board and perfectly configured; installalable LiveCD so can be tested without risk before installing it on harddisk. Very good hardware detection. Free. Currently not suited for professional use because there are no update options (easy to add for an experienced Linux user, but not for an beginner).
II. Mint
Fully Ubuntu compatible, installalable LiveCD so can be tested without risk before installing it on harddisk. Good hardware detection. All necessary multimedia stuff preinstalled. Free, based on Ubuntu Linux, therefore very good security updates. However, less commercial multimedia codecs (to play various commercial formats) than FreeSpire.
III. Ubuntu
Perfectly userfriendly, multi-language support, very reliable update system. Huge and beginner-friendly community, extremely good online support (see my Ubuntu links here). Very good hardware detection. Free. Very reliable security updates. LiveCD for risk-free testing available - you can directly install from the LiveCD. Very well suited for professional use, too. Multimedia support has to be added after installation.
Also very good and definitly worth a try:
- Dreamlinux - extraordinary beautiful design of the user interface (looks better than Apple Mac), contains all necessary codecs for multimedia, based on Debian.
- PCLinuxOS - very good multimedia support, but a little bit slow on older machines
- Xandros - best for users coming from Windows XP, but not free
- openSUSE/Novell - brings you full 3D-desktop features, but needs some manual user interaction. No pre-installed multimedia-codecs, therefore not suitable for the absolute beginners.
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