A couple more recommendations
Linux Mint 9 ("Isadora") was released recently. This is a very user friendly, good looking release, and again you can download the .iso image from this link and burn it to a DVD using IMGBURN or the like:
DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.
And to lighten up the thread a bit, do you like free games? (i.e. the ones you don't need to crack?).
This is an excellent build containing a load of free games:
Ultimate Edition Gamers | Ultimate Edition
It's big because some of the games are big, shoot 'em ups, and so on.
It wouldn't fit on an 8Gb partition on my netbook, so be warned :)