Which one is best? Debian Lenny, Ubuntu, Mint 8 or .....?

I would stay below Mint Linux 8. I had a problem with it and could not get to my Windows partition. It didn't even include it in the Grub Boot Menu. Nice for a one system only computer, formats at a higher secured format, which is a little difficult to work with. Out of 250 different Linux distributions, this was the one that I had problems dealing with for a dual boot system.

Ubuntu is the one most highly recommended, even though the root access at boot is disabled and you can only acces it through SU or Sudo console commands. Your user password will allow you to use the package management programs. It's good for beginners and experience Linux users. I am not knocking it. It's just not my choice of an operating system.

I can't say much about Debian since I can not get it to load or work with Wide Screens for some reason.

Mint 8 is based on ubuntu, and in my opinion much better. I highly recommend using mint 8, or at least ubuntu in general. It's quickly becoming dominant for its ease of use for the end user. If you want a really lightweight distro you could go with a an ubuntu variant xubuntu which used the xfce desktop environment which will run a little faster on slower machines. good luck.

I thoroughly recommend Linux Mint 8 Main Edition which is built upon Ubuntu 9.10 Its easy to install and easy to use plus it comes with much of the software you are likely to need preinstalled

Linux Mint 8 Download

http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=44

The Perfect Desktop - Linux Mint 8 (Helena) Installation

http://www.howtoforge.com/the-perfect-desktop-linu...

You download the ISO. image of Linux Mint 8 then you need to create a Bootable LiveCD for installation

Linux Mint 8 can also be run direct from the LiveCD from Booting up without touching your Hard Drive

Also worth looking at is Ubuntu 9.10

Ubuntu 9.10 Download

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

The Perfect Desktop - Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) Installation

http://www.howtoforge.com/the-perfect-desktop-ubun...

As with Linux Mint 8 Ubuntu 9.10 can be run straight from the LiveCD

LUg.

Ubuntu

Hello,

I have been trying the new Ubuntu 9.0.4 it is very good

INSTALL GENTOO