Due to the fact that you're simply wanting to start a new system, I would recommend Linux over Solaris. Perhaps SuSE, which over the years has become quite user friendly, might be a solution. But if you want to start at zero and build up, then YES Mandrake is definitely #1 in that area. Its like freakin MSLinux, but at least ya got all the console commands to get familiar with. RedHat 7 was a true bitch with all its bugs, but 7.1 had great improvements.
I hope this gives ya some more info on what to expect.
