Ubuntu is top notch , i got 20 CD's through the post for free !
Ive never found another linux distro like it

I have been hearing about Ubuntu a lot lately. Sadly, I have not had much time from my hetic work, and I have not been tinkering around at my work station. More over I am about to shift from one house to another. Once that is done (and few more from the to-do list), I woudld get back to getting a Linux distro installed on my PC together with a Windows XP (a dual-boot setup). Will keep you all updated.

What Linux you should use it depends upon yourneed
if you want to go for better graphics user interface (GUI)
Susi or Ubuntu will be better for you
if you want to go for server application
fedora will be a better option as it gives you so many applications full version may occupy 7GB
Presently im working on mandriva and it is great it has good graphics ,so many players ,text editors.....................

Live cds are also an option ( these are those cds through which you can run os directly without installing on harddisk)
qubuntu and knoppix are easily avaliable in the form of live cds......

I don't know which flavor you should really use...

But if you're into games, RedHat usually comes with some great games.

Of course, my version is really old...

a lot of distributions also include free games.

xboxrulz

All linux software runs on all linux distributions is true, but a lot of times you'll have to compile it yourself. RPMs work for SuSe, Mandrake and Redhat/Fedora. Mandrake is my favorite btw. I've used Ubuntu, Redhat, Fedora, Gentoo, Slackware, Mandrake, SuSe at least but you pretty much have to find the right one for you.

I had Slackware, but it was to comlicated. I couldn't even enable sound drivers. Then I tried Ubuntu but I was dissapointed when I realized that I have to download tons of drivers and codecs, and I only have dial up. I'm trying to get Simply Mepis, I heard that it can do all the thing that ubuntu can't, such as playing mp3.

Ubuntu can play mp3's, you just need to get a media player that plays mp3s, for example xmms and amaroK. Ubuntu is very convenient since you can use Synaptic to just search for a program you want and download it from there, but i do admit it is really annoying when you have dial-up. I don't have dial-up anymore, but i used to. I remember that my dad had these 4 cds that he downloaded from the internet before and i just installed everything off of them, but after a while the programs got a little outdated.

Why don't you have high-speed? Is it because you're in an area where you can't get it?

My need now seems to have changed a bit:
I am presently having my Windows XP installed on my 80 GB hard disk. I have alloted 10 GB to windows installation, and the rest I have divided into partitions and with format of FAT32. I still have another 10 GB left unpartitioned and unformatted. I intend to install a Linux there. I want a dual boot, but I do not want to reinstall my Windows XP. Is this possible? If yes, which Linux Distribution should I choose. (Note: My necessity for Linux is as a desktop user, and once I migrate my huge data files to linux, I will slowly eat away at Windows and let it remain only for my gaming needs.)

So, what Linux Distro should I use, and is it possible to do a dual boot, with Linux as the secondary OS?

As long as you have Windows installed first, then you don't need to reinstall anything.

I always recommend SuSE because it is highly stable, customizable, easy to use and configure and most of all, you will not run into any problems which Debian based distribution like Ubuntu faces. Which is, software incompatibility due to the hectic DEB package system.

xboxrulz