Debian, Fedora, or something else?

So I wanna jump into Linux, which free to download distro should I go with?

If you've never used it before, Ubuntu.

The first thing you'll need to know is that LINUX IS NOT WINDOWS.  You WILL have to basically relearn everything you know about operating systems (which probably isn't a lot anyway).  Most of the people that think Linux sucks just didn't give it a fair chance.  Note that you WILL be using the terminal.  It's not hard at all (after about an hour working with it), but if you've got religious objections to the CLI, don't even bother trying.

Now, I'm going to give you some advice, and if you're serious about getting into Linux, you'll follow it.

1)  Go to a bookstore and get a noob book about Linux.  One that teaches you some basic terminal commands and where to go for help.  It would be best if it's up to date and distro-specific.

2)  Get a noob distro.  Ubuntu/Kubuntu is good.  If you do go the Ubuntu route, there's a (supposedly) EXCELLENT book called Ubuntu for Non-Geeks.  Use this distro to get a feel for Linux.  Go through your book, try installing and configuring things, get intimate with the command line, compile your own kernel, etc.  Now, the noob distro is just a taste.  You'll probably run into a few walls caused by your own noobishness.  That's normal.  If, after two weeks you aren't scared off, move on to step 3.  Do not get comfy with this noob distro, or you'll never really learn anything.

3)  Linux From Scratch.  It's time to hand compile an entire Operating System.  Sound daunting?  It should.  LFS is a freely available guide, and all you have to do is follow it.  If this doesn't scare you off, nothing will.

4)  If you're still paying attention, move around and experiment with different distros.  Among the key distros to try are Gentoo, Debian, openSUSE, and Fedora.  Become familiar with their package managers, support forums, etc.

5)  Finally, find any distro you like.  I settled on Gentoo after trying about 30 distros.

compile your own kernel

For a noob distro?  Good luck converting people to Linux.

Kubuntu = Ubuntu - GNAAome + KDE

I will modify what >>3 said.
1) Get Ubuntu. If you run into problems, look on the forums to see if anyone has already asked about the same thing. If not, go ahead and ask. You shouldn't have to use the command line unless something goes horribly wrong.
2) If you want to find out more, you can look around for guides online on how to use the command line. A book is fine too, but there is a ton of freely available information online.
3) Chances are you will be satisfied with Ubuntu for a while, but eventually you could try out different distributions to see how they compare. You'll notice that after installing and setting things up the way you want, all the major distributions are basically the same.

I say, go ahead and get comfy with the "noob distro". Most of the knowledge you gain will be distro-independant anyway.

OP here. That sounds good. I just switched my major to CS and I figure it's time to start using a man's OS. I have Running Linux, but I can still return it and get a book specific to a distro.

Sabayon

Steer clear from Fedora. Their distro contains braindead decisions that really makes you think "what the fuck were they smoking?". Not to mention the shitty default theme (of which some parts aren't changeable).

>>9
what braindead decisions are you talking about? the only bad things I can say about fedora is that yum is slow, mixing software repos can sometimes break things, and kde got the shaft

other than that I thought is was good

>>10
Don't mind >>9, he's just retarded.

Though I'd also be very interested to hear his reasoning, seeing as we've been using Fedora Core 2-6 in my Linux Administration and UNIX Programming classes and haven't run into anything braindead.  And everything about the theme is absolutely changeable, he's just doing it wrong.

>>2
ubuntu is made of hard and hard if you dont find some info on what libraries you need to apt-get and etc.





And before you say it YES I KNOW I'M RETARDED.

>>12
Tough. Ubuntu is about as easy as you're going to get right now. Yes, it's still a fucking pain unless all your hardware works out of the box and you've got a wired, always-on internet connection, but if you want to get into Linux it's a good place to start before graduating to a big boys' distro.

>>10
The FHS is braindamaged, but almost all distros are FHS-based. Few are bad enough dudes to use a sane directory structure.

>>12
Uh... You don't need to apt-get libraries, that's the point of APT. Just load your Adept manager, enable universe packages, and click whatever you want.

P.S.: Try Kubuntu, it's KDE-based. Less GNAAome file choosers.

lol GNAAome

Fedora is a fine *nix OS for beginners.

Seconding Kubuntu.  On my machine at least everything just WORKED right away.  I have since had to do a few things but all of it was fairly easy.  The KDE programs are also very nice.