Which Linux should i get??

[sburk]

I have a home built pc and saw on another site that based on hardware some linux will work better than others on different pcs. My specs are:

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.101026-1503)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
System Model: System Product Name
BIOS: BIOS Date: 06/28/10 10:32:44 Ver: 04.03
Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 955 Processor (4 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 4094MB RAM
Page File: 2882MB used, 5303MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7600.16385 32bit Unicode
Card name: ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series

I wanted to run a live cd first to see if i like it and then use an installed version. I was just wondering which live cd and regular versions would be best for my hardware. Also which one would be best for modding, hacking, and programming etc. but something with a simpler code so that i can understand it better as im just a noob programmer.

[MikeTbob]

Any Distro should do, but here is a list of the "Major" distros. Be advised, the last 3 or 4 distros are pretty much "advanced" distros and are not usually for the newbies but there are plenty of newbies that have used them all, so do what you think is right and you can't go wrong!
DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.

[MASONTX]

Go to distrowatch.com and browse the different distros. Burn an ISO image of the ones that interest you to a CD-RW and try them 2 or 3 at a time as a live distro. Try distro's which have different parentage, i.e. are based on different branches of linux, Debien, Red Hat, Slackware, Open Suse, and ubuntu at least. Also try different desktops, Gnome, KDE, Xfce, LXDE, JWM, Open box, etc. I found that I liked ubuntu/debian based distros running gnome or Lxde best, but in linux land you will find advocates of them all. The beauty of linux is that you can select a distro which meets your preferences and way of using a computer. happy hunting.