Ok, as the title of the thread, I am going to buy a cd of linux, I need to keep up with the times, and I would like to retire RedHat 9. The problem is I dont know what distrobution is stable (like my RedHat 9) and supports SOUNDMAX audio. Has any got a distro to work with Sound Max?? Already tried, Knoppix 3.3 also. No go. I would go buy a new sound card, but I dont have a job anymore (only 15) and I have 12.50 on my Debit Card, half goes to Transgaming, and half I would like to use to purchase a new distro. I am buying from www.cheapiso.com, any one with info on a good distro would be greatly appreciated. NOTE: Im looking at 2.6.3 linux kernel or newer, (but not the ones that have broken nvidia modules or something, I believe thats 2.6.6?) has a ton of drivers, and software, and specificly supports SOUNDMAX audio. My motherboard is an ASUS A7V600, if that helps. Thanx in advance!

I dont know what your skill level is, but maybe it would be better to focus more on a distribution which meets that level and has the sort of progs you want. Then you can compile a custom kernel with the drivers you need.

If you are happy with RedHat fedora would be the obvious next step, SuSe and Mandrake are also good ones for ease of use.

Moved: This thread is more suitable in Linux-Distributions and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

I've tried Fedora, im sick of dependacy errors, I cant install xine, or SDL, or other libraies and apps, im kinda done with Fedora. And I cant install a new kernel, its too dificult, thats why I want a distro with 2.6 kernel preinstalled. Mandrake 9.2 was good, 10 wasnt what I would liked. Sry for whinning but I want a distro thatll suit my needs, gaming, supports my onboard sound (SOUNDMAX), and programing (C++). Im not too good with linux, but u can say Im meadium.

I am not sure about you sound but maybe you should try suse.

But I would really recommend trying to compile a kernel or attempting the linux from scratch project as a learning effort.

It sounds like you are experienced enough to know what you want, you just have to learn how to get it. Kernel compiling isnt hard you just need to try and follow the HOWTO at tldp.org I didnt get it right my first attempt, so don't expect to, but you will eventually get it.

Good luck

Use PCLinuxOS

Having trouble with Fedora?

You talk about kernel 2.4, so I'm assuming you've only tried FC1. I'd recommend giving FC2 a try! I've installed it on boxes with both AMD and Intel processors and had very little trouble. FC2 comes with a 2.6 kernel pre-installed.

If you're sick of dependency problems then Fedora C2 is perfect for you. Just burn some cds (or purchase them if you need to) and either let it upgrade your RH9 system, or better yet, do a fresh install. I've upgraded a couple RH9 boxes to FC2 and while it did work, there were a few error messages. The fresh install works much better.

Once you get it booted up, use RPM to remove the default YUM package (it doesn't work right) and then surf on over for www.freshrpms.net and download the latest pre-configured version of YUM & install it. It will take care of all your dependencies for you on install. “yum -y install xine” is all you'll need to type to get Xine up and running.

I would reccomend FC2 except for a few things.

1)There's a problem in the 2.6 kernel that ships with FC2 that misreports drive geometry. This causes a dual-boot situation to render the XP/2000 and sometimes the entire drive unbootable. Be wary.

2) Right now (and this will change soon) there are more rpms available for FC1.

I used to use FC1 all the time, and it was a very solid, if a bit slow. the lack of MP3 support was a little annoying, but hey.

But I've been tremendously impressed with PCLinuxOS, try it!