I finished installing the last four Linux distros. On my HP mini internal disk, I have Fedora, Linux Mint, and openSUSE. On an old USB thumb drive, I have Ubuntu. On a external USB hard disk, I have Xubuntu, Lubuntu, and Mageia.

Mageia is a fork of Mandriva Linux, and released version 1 just before Christmas. This morning I finished posting my reviews of these distros on my Low Cost Computing blog. Fedora and Mageia are really for intermediate to advanced users. For beginning users, I would recommend openSUSE or Linux Mint, with Xubuntu or Lubuntu as alternatives. While billed as an intuitive desktop, Ubuntu's Unity desktop is rather non-intuitive. Trying the Live/Install edition is a good way to find the desktop, which matches your comfort level.