I'll make two observations:

• MY distribution of choice is slackware, but I've been using it for five years. YMMV. Slackware 8.0 is out, and it's great, IMO.
• In Dallas, there are a number of Linux resources. DFWUUG (Unix users' group) meets the first Thursday of every month at SGI on the LBJ. NTLUG (Linux users' group) meets the third Saturday of every month at Nokia in Las Colinas. And the DFW.pm group meets (typically) one night during the last week of each month at the Londoner in Addison (check the mailing list, dfw-pm@hex.net, for exact time/location; our technical meetings are held elsewhere). Both DFWUUG and NTLUG often have either a giveaway or raffle involving a Linux distro. If you're obsessed with actually buying a distro on CD (as opposed to either giveaway product or just downloading and burning the ISO image), the deepest Linux software department I've found in the Metroplex is Micro Center at Spring Valley and 75 in Richardson. Other chains (Fry's and Borders, in particular) can be good sources as well, depending on the exact title you're looking for.

Spud Zeppelin * spud@spudzeppelin.com