Definitely more HD-install friendly than recent versions of Knoppix. I used to use Knoppix in my Linux admin class but had some stability issues once it was installed. Kanotix works a treat, however.

I've had problems with Mepis (and Mepis-Lite) on older hardware. I do agree it's extremely newbie-friendly.

[link|http://www.xandros.com/about/downloads.html|Xandros Open Circulation Edition ] is pretty good as well. I use Xandros Business Edition on my office PC at school.