If you realy want to learn about linux as you do it, you could try Linux from scratch. Basicaly, you build your own distro. By the time you finish you\'re either done with linux for ever or a linux God.
If you want the easiest to set up, I\'d have to say Mandrake. It\'s what i use at home, (I\'m using it right now in fact) and it\'s pretty good. |they just released the final Official version of Mandrake 10 and it\'s got some great new features.
last is Good old slackware. If you want one that is as \"no-nonsense\" as it gets, slackware\'s the way to go IMHO