I am in the process of building up a back-up comp out of spare parts. I will take the plunge and use Ubuntu 7.10 as the OS. I have never used any OS except Windows, so this will be a learning experience for me. I hope the learning curve is not too steep.
For day-to-day use, you'll find it's not steep at all.
When you get the box put together, either download Ubuntu from here:
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/downloadOr order a a live CD from here:
https://shipit.ubuntu.com/If the live CD runs O.K., your hardware configuration is fine. If not, you can usually find fixes here, by simply searching the forums, or posting a question in the "Absolute Beginner Talk" forum:
http://ubuntuforums.org/From Negeltu's post:
It starts getting sticky for most when you start playing with the desktop effects (Compiz-Fusion). I had terrible trouble...
Don't let those comments scare you. Personally, I don't like the desktop effects, and don't use them. There's a menu option not to use, and if you run into similar problems, don't use the eye candy, until you're more familiar with Ubuntu.
But since you're building your box from spare parts, if you have an older video card installed, the eye candy options probably won't be available anyway. The installation process will automatically recognize whether you can use them or not.
For normal everyday use such as checking email, browsing the web, desktop publishing etc... it's very easy to use.
I assume this is what you're looking for Gene, and after you are familiar with Linux for everyday use, you can jump in and learn about the operating system as deep as you like.
Have fun.