honestly mandriva is probably the easiest linux to use, then after that it is a tie between ubuntu and fedora, though i give ubuntu the edge there because it uses less beta software and is therefore more stable.
by easiest i mean everything actually works out of the box; if you start talking command line stuff like lemmon there, the order is reversed, fedora being the best then ubuntu then mandriva.
do not bother with any other distros. stuff like SuSE and xandros are terrible unless you are a linux guru.