@moudy
2: Puppy Linux is more focused on providing a very slim OS for older hardware or (and that's what I use it for) for disaster management of MS systems...you can simply do a quick boot with it.
imo it's the best to get one of the big distros for the main system because they simply provide complete software packages. the specialized distros are a little overrated imo, to be honest I see no real use in Backtrack for example except using it as live distro for a quick job...there is nothing than can be done with it that can't also be done by a "regular" distro.
there are only a few specialized distros that are really useful imo, like the superlightweight ones (Puppy Linux, Damns Small Linux, Knoppix), or RIPLinux for file/disk management, or Helix for forensic issues.
so before getting into exotic distros I recommend to use one of the big distros like Debian or Ubuntu.
@Pong
there are codecs, but I am not aware of a package like the K-lite one.
if you are planning to use your Linux box to watch movies and listen to music a lot I recommend to get a distro that is not too strict about open source, a good example is Ubuntu....most codecs are already included there. but if you chose "strictly open source" distros like Debian you will have to install most of the codecs manually, they are not included because most codecs are not open source and therefore not included.
the only codecs that are generally problematic on Linux are the ones for .wmv and .wma, you will find no distro where those codecs are included, installing a wmv codec on a Linux box is even a "criminal act" because of copyright violations....
but of course there are howtos on the net for installing such codecs, and the codecs itself are also not hard to get.
so if you want to get into Linux I would recommend Ubuntu to you, here's a install howto:
http://developer.novell.com/wiki/index. ... all_Ubuntu
as you can see it's not harder than installing Windows..
