Intro, and the dreaded basic question

[Larry Higgins]

Hello listers,

My name is Larry Higgins from Sycamore, IL. I am a first time poster 
to this list, although I have been subscribed to this list for God 
knows how long, anywhere from 8 to 10 years probably, and have taken 
only  a passing interest in possibly installing Linux of some variety 
on one of the many computers that have past through my life over 
these many years, but could never find the time or drive space to do 
so. My reason for getting at least serious enough to inquire is as follows.

A neighbor of mine took it upon himself to buy for me for Christmas a 
Dell Inspiron 530 computer that I really didn't need. This thing came 
with Vista, and I thought that after playing around with Vista for 
the first time over the next few days, I might get brave and tackle 
installing a version of Linux on that computer, either running a dual 
boot, or just removing Vista and starting from scratch.

Of course, my questions are the usual ones that might come from the 
greenest novice.Which version of Linux is best and most popular among 
Blinux list members, and what would I need to make installation 
as 	convenient, if not as easy as possible? I do not have a 
refreshable Braille display, only speech in the form of Window-Eyes, 
which I know from the outset will do me absolutely no good <g>.

Will I need lots of sighted help in order to get Linux installed, or 
is there anything like a hands off installation routine, or am I 
dreaming?  After getting Linux installed, how speech friendly can it 
be made to be these days? Also, is there any way to make a GUI speak 
in Linux, one similar to Windows?

With that, I think I'll wait for your answers. I must say, I have 
heard some nightmarish stories about these kinds of installations, so 
just hope I'm really ready for this. Heck, if I really want to 
attempt this, I made need a mentor or two <g>.

Any help with these issues will be greatly appreciated,

Larry

PS I'm sure you might ask if I have been reading this list over these 
many years, and the answer is no, I am ashamed to say, and I haven't 
kept an archive of my own either. I will proceed to slap myself on 
the hand real hard <g>.