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Hello to everyone out there in Linux world.

I'm an absolute beginner to Linux but years of Windows use behind me. I recently got a laptop that was surplus to the owner, as it wasn't working and they got a new one. I stuck a 12GB hard drive in it from another old laptop and everything else seemed OK.

I thought that I might give Linux a go to see what happens.
Knowing nothing about the various distros (did even know that term till a few days ago) I downloaded some ISO images I to try them out: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Fedora, Knoppex and Gentoo. At the minute the Kubuntu is installed.

The first problem I came across was (as you may have guessed) playing DVDs (not to mention MP3 files).
I tried to look up information about how this is done but couldn't make head nor tail of the guides (even the ones for beginners!) as there is so much jargon used.

Could someone please explain in nice simple terms how to do this.

The Laptop is a Toshiba, 1496MHz Celeron with 512Mb and ATI graphics (Gentoo had problems with the graphics).
The Modem is a Speedtouch USB ASDL PPP with Tiscali.
Is there a distro that runs better on laptops?
I've just started to explore Linux and I have so many questions:
can it run *.exe files?
How do you install software,
how do you set up the modem for the internet

If all goes well I'd upgrade and stick with Linux, otherwise, sorry but it'll be back to Windows. I'm not a fan but at least it does get things done.

Thanks.

Thanks Shashank.
I still haven't decided which distro I'll stick with. So far I'm just playing around to see what's what. Since posting my message I've installed Fedora on the laptop. Are there any major differences between the various distros?