Linux beginner question

[G Man]

A bit off topic but --- Im having difficulties with what OS to choose. I know windows very well but eveyone says linux is best.

[namespace7]

There is no such thing as a best OS. There is only a best OS for a specific scenario.
So, what do you want to use it for? If gaming is a must, then the answer is Windows. If video editing and motion graphics is a must, then Windows is the answer. For most other things, I would go for linux distro. Any will do to start with, but I always recommend CrunchBang. Simple to use and very elegant and fast.

[Polyphony]

I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, I was referring to the init system of ubuntu and linux mint (sysv instead of bsd style init scripts) arch's init system is super simple because it's the rc.conf hostname and a couple other files, you'll never be able to come up with an equivalent of that in a sysv init system like debian and ubuntu based distros have.  I wasn't saying Linux mint is hard to learn lol just the sysv startup system is complex and overwhelming with rc.0/ through rc.6/ and all of the soft links in the /etc/ folder

[namespace7]

I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, I was referring to the init system of ubuntu and linux mint (sysv instead of bsd style init scripts) arch's init system is super simple because it's the rc.conf hostname and a couple other files, you'll never be able to come up with an equivalent of that in a sysv init system like debian and ubuntu based distros have.  I wasn't saying Linux mint is hard to learn lol just the sysv startup system is complex and overwhelming with rc.0/ through rc.6/ and all of the soft links in the /etc/ folder

Now I got what you were saying
Yeah, that does make sense.

[EmilKXZ]

My recommendation would be: Ubuntu Server. It is not precisely lightweight, but it comes stripped down of most of stuff you'd for sure not use by a start.

You don't have to install daemons if you don't want to (you can just install base system and forget about the LAMP thing). When you get used to the command line, you can proceed with installing xorg and gnome or whatever you like.

Now, it might be easy to do all of this stuff, but don't forget that "installing everything" makes you weak when you have to compile stuff. I'd advice you to have it about 3 months or so, and when you get used to it, move to something more advanced, don't get stuck.

[Mioskava]

Take a look here http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major Grab a few of those and run the live sessions in virtualbox. Once you had a play about you'll find one you like. Either that or grab a copy of Debian. It's use friendly but not too polished that everything is done for you.