linux mint , opensuse or ubuntu would be good for a newcomer. if you plan to dual boot or triple boot oses make sure you install the microshaft os first it likes to dingle the mbr and your linux partition will just disappear. right now im triple booting winxp,win7 and linux mint.
try sabayon i86 .. binary based version of gentoo.. you will learn fast with sabayon.. steep learning curve, even though everything should work fine out of the box (and the flashplayer isn't broken) .. when you find out how to get java working that is
