I have seen mandrake in action and it looks pretty good, although I had a lot of problems trying to install it on a home computer I have.
A number of problems kept coming up during the install and I got tired of trying after a while, especially since I was just testing it out.
If you aren't looking for a very complex OS, you could check out knoppix.
It is a linux OS that runs from CD and the whole OS fits on the one CD.
I have it here and it is actually pretty good, comes with a lot more than you would expect to be on the one CD and running from it.
No install needed so it is a quick easy option.