Linux recommendations please

I have just bought a HUGE external hard drive (300GB :D) and I want to be able to run a Linux distro from it.

I'm a bit of a n00b to Linux so I'll need a starting point.

1. Is it posible to have an external removeable drive as a bootable partition? (IE if it is plugged in, boot from that instead of the built-in windows disk). It'll be a firewire interface cable to it will be fast enough.

2. What would be a suitable linux distro for a novice like me to use in this situation? The easier to set up the better.

Cheers.

The King :D

Mandrake for n00bz.

Oh, btw... you're going to get about 30 different reccommendations for n00bs with reasons why. It's always good to browse around a bit, go to a few linux sites, ask there too. Then take all of it together, look at what's been suggested the most and then make your choice.

Redhat
Suse
Slackware
Knoppix(bootable)

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I would say Mandrake or Fedora and download Mono (.NET for Linux :D)

I tried Suse a few months ago on my other drive but it waited until the very last file had been installed to tell me that I had no space left to install it. Crapness.

What is the smallest available distro download? Anything smaller than 32megs?

MuLinux - Floppy Distro
Damn Small Linux - 50Mb Distro
Puppy Linux - FLoppy, Flash Drive, CD and Small Hard Disks

I'm sure the list goes on., but those are just the ones I'm aware of off the top of my head. If you just want to give Linux a try, download Knoppix, its a live CD distro and doesn't install anything on to the hard disk.

I would use slack, it has a gui install so it shouldnt be too hard, and if you have any questions just post them here and i will answer them...

If your planning a dual boot have a look at this the article is about Fedora Core 2 but I think the issue relates to any distro using the 2.6 Kernel.

for quality, i would recommend ubuntu (or kubuntu if you prefer kde over gnome). it is built on the stability of debian (with its 10,000+ packages), but has regular release cycles so it is constantly improving.

2 easy installations are Lycoris and Xandros

I dual boot with Mandrake, but I've always had problems with a damaged Linux partition, and then it's about impossible to fix it. If your like me, you'll install linux and never use it.

so other ppl do that too? lol. i installed linux just for the sheer novelty of having it... some of the screensavers r pretty gd tho :D

That's exactly what I do. Maybe having two operating systems on one machine might impress some chicks.