Switching to different Distro... Suggestions here please ^^

You read it people i need a more expert-oriented linux distro with a GUI and i want suggestions!

Thanks for all those who post here and who have helped me in the past ^-^

Forget Linux and go with FreeBSD. That's a real Unix.

The nice thing about most linux distributions is that it don't cost you a thing to play with them, so pick a few that look interesting and try them out and you will eventually find one that you like more than the others. Gentoo and slackware have a kind of reputation for being a little more advanced if you are looking for a challenge, and fedora is the closest thing there is to true redhat, which is an industry standard operating system for mission-critical systems, so any of those would be good ones to try out.

Count me in on the FreeBSD bandwagon.

what is the diff between freebsd and other linux OS............its confusing........

FreeBSD is not Linux, it's Unix. The Linux kernel was written based on the original Unix and seems to have gained popularity. I started with FreeBSD, then I tried Red Hat and some other Linux distributions, then I went back to FreeBSD. I happen to like it better, mostly because Linux dependencies are a pain in the butt. It's all personal preference. After you've tried whatever you picked, search Google for the "Unix Haters Handbook" and read it.

you could also try out PC-BSD. its based off FBSD, not a bad little distro. otherwise i'd echo the fedora suggestion, although F9 uses the 2.6.25 kernel and a version of Xorg that has insufficient video drivers atm (there is the open source, community produced drivers that work). so Fedora 8 may be a viable option to try until things get straightened out with video drivers.

What about doing fedora 8 to get the good drivers, then use the upgrade option in anaconda to get fedora 9 with the fancy pants drivers from fedora 8?

i would imagine the upgrade in packages from F8->F9 would require updated drivers as well. usually newer package versions aren't compatible with older packages. so upgrading the X server would require an update to the video drivers which ati hasn't released yet. -.-

there is a method of downgrading the xorg server to the F8 server by removing the one in F9, adding the F8 repo and installing x, then installing the driver for that version but *shrug* if i wanted F8 packages i'd stick with F8. if this is a desired option, the process is discussed here