Depends, how will it be used? (Score 2)

Short answer. Mandrake for a GUI local terminal, or Slackware for a cmd-line and/or remote-access system.

Long answer:

If this going to be used primarily at the local terminal, I'd suggest Mandrake (What?! I said the samething before using it). It's a RedHat varient, and is very easy to install, admin and use.

2 downsides are that, until you know the distro, stick to the "Recommended" install. It's picky about certain things in the expert.

Also, unless you tell it otherwise during the install, you're stuck in the GUI. Great terminals, but I like a true prompt.

If this going to be used remotely via telnet/ftp/samba/etc., I whole heartidly recommend Slackware.

I run Slack7.1 on both my home and work desktops. I (personally) find it's way of orginizing the resource-config files much more friendly than RedHat/Mandrake.

Also, if you note my signiture, every one of them is running slack (most with 90+ days uptime, one just broke 400).

In the end, it's all a matter of choice. I went through 5 or 6 distros before coming back to slackware.