<p>With your bias towards ubuntu and all that RAM, a desktop environment is of little concern to you, it would seem. As such, I would start with <em>Mint</em> and <em>peppermint</em> then, if one would like to broaden his horizons gradually, go with a Debian-based distro like <em>MEPIS</em>. Next mini-step would warrant delving into binary-only Debian like <em>sidux.</em><br> For Fedora, check out <em>Xange</em>! In any event, welcome and have fun! Go Cubbys!</p>