My friends who own laptops are more or less tired of windows.
And a whole lot disappointed with vista especially.

They are looking to me to switch them over to linux,
but the trouble is that their requirements are quite different from mine.

For example, they only have Wi-Fi connectivity (which i have no experience of) and are heavy multimedia users (all media players on earth and all the available P2P software for movies).

Now I want to help them switch over to linux but i do not have the time to offer any maintenance, like installing new software when they need it. Also i lack experience in configuring networking.

So I need a very intuitive distro with multimedia capabilities out of the box. Please suggest me some distro which is really dumbed down to the limits. ( You can f*** customizability, they have lived with windows all their lives and they can do without it, )

If they really have had it with ClippyOS then they should be ready to make their own informed choices. Not have a distro dumped on them by somebody who states up front he won't be around for them providing aftercare. Any other way will most likely not result in them being happy customers. But since you like to think for them and hold them in such high regards I don't know if you even care at all. With all due respect.

I would say that the thing for you to do would be to show them what you like about Linux, and demonstrate your setup. They need to chose which version of Linux to use, and be prepared to set it up and maintain it.

The fact that you lack experience in networking and know nothing about setting up WIFI does not put you in a strong position to setup a laptop.

All Linux distros can be customized, so I'm not sure where you are going with that one.

what you are looking for is a reasonably evolved interface that they can relate to their windows experience. the beauty of the configurability of linux distros is that once you know enough to want to modify its behavior, you can. if the default setup works for you, no harm done to anybody in leaving it as the developers did. i'd give a nod to any of the most popular distributions, they all can be desktopped with gnome, kde, xfce, or other lighter window managers, depending on the limitations of the hardware.

Simply Mepis, my absolute fave distro and it has the terminal but everything can be done with a GUI great choice for someone who wants the benefits without the hassle of linux. Isn't compatible with every computer but its great if it is. Works best with computers running XP.

Thanks to all who responded,

i would like to re-state my question, and see if it appeals more.

I want a distro with easy interface to set up wi-fi. I have decided that KDE would be fine for them. But I want your experience as to whether its easy (compared to Window$) to set up wi-fi. I dont have the requisite bandwidth to download a bunch of distros for testing, so your views will be appreciated. Think what would you get for your movie fan Grandma who has a shiny new laptop.

Since you are not going to support it you could make some suggestions for Distros they will be able to get support on, on their own.. The standard Suse, Fedora, Ubuntu, etc.. http://www.distrowatch.com

It is not so much the distro that determines whether wireless is "easy" to set up, but the wireless hardware in their computers.

Across distros, the basics of the kernels tend to be much the same, and if the wireless chipset can be detected at install time, and there are kernel (not "distro") modules that can handle that chipset, then it'll be "easy" to set up. In fact, you may have to do nothing at all if there is an open, unencrypted, wireless network nearby.

If the wireless chipset isn't supported by the kernel (Or, rather, the chipset manufacturers are unwilling to release details so the linux kernel can support them) then you are going to have to jump through some hoops: with ndiswrapper and firmware cutters and whatnot, but you'll probably get it working in the end.

tredegar is correct...

However, it is nice to have wireless work out of the box. I've seen this lately when trying Mint, PC-OS, and Sabayon. I'm pretty sure that the 'buntus, Fedora, OpenSUSE, etc. are at the same level of maturity.

The real issue here (IMHO) is leaving users running Linux boxes with no way to get help. If they don't have the minimal skills to get help somewhere like LQ, then they are going to have to pay for support. They need to understand that going in.

Personally, If I saw someone who seemed like they would struggle with maintaining a Linux system, I would never start them down the road. If they took the initiative, I would of course help them with any step they requested.

I agree with your views Pixellany.
My intention is to have them dual boot ( thats not too difficult to understand for newbies) and they will find out whether they like linux or not. As for me, i came into linux out of idle curiosity and since i like to learn, i have learnt my way through most things i need my box for.

I think i will try mint. The out of the box multimedia capability (codecs and stuff) is a pretty strong draw. And as u say, wireless is also easy, i will try that out.

Thank you.