If you guys haven't already checked it out you should. Arch Linux would rank among such distro's as Debian and Gentoo. It's a bit tricky to install, but if you visit their site (http://archlinux.org) and wander for a bit around the board you'll find all the questions answered already. This distro is the fastest distro I've seen in a long time. It runs faster than both Gentoo and Debian system that I've installed with the default kernel. If you have tried it, leave your praise if you have any, and if you haven't then leave questions about it. Try it out, its worth it

hmm... I think I'll try it... I'll have to read more reviews and feedbacks though....

I've tried to install it but it never install correctly. I always get Kernel Panic error messages. But I've heard good things about it.

Maybe when I get a second hard drive I will try again.

Did you install just the base system? Or did you add more packages? It usually messes up if you dont use only the base system install.

Yep, I had only the base...I couldn't get pass the base. Once I was ready for the first reboot, I always got kernel panic errors.

Did you run lilo before rebooting?

Arch runs nicely for me too. A little tweaking needed but what would linux be without it? I got it running the way I like it in one evening (having by that time used linux for 4 months, 3 being RedHat).

I wasn't able to get beyond the first reboot.

You have to run lilo before the first reboot (and edit lilo.conf to point at your chosen root partition). I am not sure this is the cause of your problems, it might also be that you have hardware that is not supported by the stock kernel.

If you are ready for another try you could ask for help in the arch forums or at irc.freenmode.net#archlinux where people who know more than I hang out.

I am to assume you did go through and change ALL of the .conf files under the System Configuration part. I'm not sure, but you might try asking your question at http://bbs.archlinux.org and see what they can come up with.

Just a thought: Did you notice that Arch uses devfs? If not that could be the cause of the problem. Check the unofficial faq for an explanation.