New Linux User?!?

Okay, i'm putting in an old Harddrive in my computer today so I can run Linux.  I've done some reasearch, but I don't know any Linux users first hand.

So, i'm a noob that would like to learn unix/linux...should I jump right in and go for Slackware or go for something like Ubuntu?  Or should I go with another distro altogether?  I'm not really going to be using it for anything other than programming/learning linux, because i'll be doing all my gaming/ect through my XP HD (hopefully).

Use Gentoo with sick CFLAGS.

depends on what you expect and what you want to do. if you want to learn about linux and it's way get slackware or any other "non-mainstream" (as in not for windows user) distro and use it.
if you just want to install and fuck around with it get ubuntu or something like that.

The BSDs are also good: FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, etc. A bit more of a learning curve, but you won't have to mess around with stupid  primary/logical disk partitions--why haven't they fixed that in Linux?

http://www.pcbsd.org/

Slackware GET

Download all four iso's, open thewn combine them as a single bootable DVD and install.

Its fairly straight forward to install 10.2 now.

My reasoning is simple.
You WILL learn more in your first week using and setting up Slackware than you would in 6months of using Ubuntu.
You will rapidly learn what a dependancy is and why its the root of all evil.
BSD style init's > SystemV
Its awesome in that you dont just click on install hold-my-hand-please.rpm's or .deb's and actualy question wether you really need the latest and greatest version of whatever-arch-2.01.1-r5.tar.bz2
This questioning instinct will likely stem from the month you spent tracking dependancies to get glGO-1.4.tar.gz installed and running.
Slackware is litteraly bullitproof, its never ever failed me.
My Ubuntu, Mandrake, RedHat, Debian install's all died because it was so easy to just click on whatever.[package] and not really pay all that much attention to what it was doing to my system.
Under Slackware im forced to know exactly whats going on at all times during installs of anything and trace back and recerch what the exact required dependancies do to my system.

>>4
You dont need to worry about primary or logical partitioning under Slackware i dont think, either that or i got off light, and the nightmare that is my current fstab is somehow magical.

archlinux.org

Easy.
Get either Debian if you want to learn something or Ubuntu if it's only purpose is to run smoothly.

And, if you REALLY want to learn, don't install Debian normally, but with the "expert" flag and install testing or unstable.

I will reply to >>8 and say that there is no use installing and setting up linux on your main box. Buy a computer specifically to run it and use it as a file/web/email/everything else server. I have several linux servers under my thumb (one at home, three at work, and a webserver I rent) and they are extremely useful.

I recommend learning how to use Linux and then setting up a secondary machine at home you interface with from your main Windows PC (using Cygwin-X or equivalent) over XDMCP (look it up) and Samba. Put four or so old hard disks in it until it has at least as much hard drive space (RAID 0 them for contiguous space and faster performance) as your main machine and use it to store all your shit on. This way when you need to reformat your windows machine (which will happen often) your stuff doesn't go away. You get bonus points for using gigabit interfaces and a gigabit switch so your secondary machine's network shares are even faster than your machine's internal hard disk drive. Then, use the graphical interface to control your soon-to-expand empire of cheap linux servers.

use ubuntu, cause it's easy