Well, if your want to know more about Linux, it is not the best idea to start using such nice graphical interface like that one in Linux Mandrake 8.1, the best way to learn linux is to study more about Linux (UNIX) console commands. So Slackware Linux is also good.

You can download the Linux of your choice from www.linuxiso.org (almost a complete list of Linux OSes available for free downloading)

AIDeveloper.