Yes, yes, I know I am behind the times, and I should be using FC4 at least, but I have everything set up (including wireless using the madwifi drivers) and it all works.
I have been running the Redhat flavor of Linux since version 5.1, and I am kind of used to the whole rpm thing. I must say that Redhat has improved tremendously in quality since RH 9.0 and then onto FC1 and FC2. On my desktop it detected /all/ my devices, only on my Toshiba Satellite laptop I had to go out and get the madwifi driver for the built-in Atheros 801.11abg wireless card. Installation has been a breeze since RH 9.0.
Since FC1, I have come out of "rpm hell" and have started using yum, which computes all the rpm dependencies for you.
I am planning to switch to Debian (sarge) though. The one major reason is that every time I have to upgrade my major distribution (from FC1 to FC2 for example), I have to make a backup and then reinstall the OS and restore. I suppose I should have partitioned off my drive into / and /home, but I havent done it.
Another thing I like about Debian (and I see it in FC2 as well) is that all the configuration files are under the /etc directory, so in the event of an OS re-install, you could simply back up your /etc to keep your configuration, provides a good starting point to customize your new installation.
I tried installing Debian when I wanted to upgrade from FC1 to FC2, I tried using the Prodigy disks I got at the local Fry's electronics ($20) but it turned out to be a disaster. Main reason is that I did not know much about the apt-get set of commands, and it was kind of late, so I did not fool around with it much, just went ahead and upgraded to FC2.
Plan to try Debian once again (instead of to FC4), this time with a CD I got from the Debian booth at LinuxWorld for a dollar...
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So I guess my answer to your question would be FCx or Debian, whichever works for you.
Peace,
Tutenstein