You do also have some other options.

Personally, I'm a fan of Centos, given that in effect, it's just RedHat Enterprise Linux for free. I used to use Gentoo way back when and am still a fan of it (It's live CD's were second only to Knoppix 8 or so years ago) but Centos can be a pretty good alternative to Ubuntu as long as you don't want or need cutting edge packages. It's simple to install and it's VERY stable.

I use it here on both the webserver and database server and have done for years now. I rarely install a GUI, preferring commandline whenever possible. Like Triggl I just use ssh to get on the boxes and they remain headless. Saying that though, the GUI's are easy to use, especially when you are new to commandline control (optional during setup).

It may take you once or twice to go through the install first and scrap it when you realize you wanted the partitions set differently for instance. Not a big deal. The hard drives I've sent in your big package probably contain a working centos install as is, but it'll be a from a few years ago and won't have GUI.

My advice : try each one. Give the live cd from Gentoo a go first and see what you think.