I bought this system from a local shop:

CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E8500
Motherboard - Asus P5Q -- on board LAN + audio
RAM - OCZ 2Gig 1066
Hard Drive - ST3500320AS
DVDRW - Samsuung SH-S223F-BEBN
Video Card - Asus EN9600GT-HDTI-512

I first tried to install Fedora 9, which went well up to setting the network connection. It turns out I need to compile and load the manufacturers module for LAN. Would not be a show stopper, except the dependencies are not available - kernel source that is. And just my luck, the only way to install any package in Fedora 9 has to be from an online source. I stopped short of editing the yum configuration files to use local repositories - which I never did before, but according to advice received should work.

I figured I would save myself a lot of hassle - plus I might get lucky with a default LAN driver - if I just switch to Debian.

This is where the big surprise happened. I downloaded and burned the Debian latest stable release 4.xx, and tried to install. The installation started ok, went into GUI mode, asked about language and keyboard, and then .. asked for the CD module! There is no CD, only DVD, and the program was already using it to start the installation .

In summary:
- compiling network module a big hassle in Fedora 9 - no idea why installing rpms was crippled
- Debian 4 does not recognize my DVD - I would expect more from a distro that champions completeness

My questions:
- Might I have better luck with other distros?
- Not that I could fix it myself, but how come the Debian DVD sees my DVD and uses it, and then asks for a driver for it?

The Debian issue is odd.

Try booting with the all_generic_ide option.

Also adjust the bios. dma beyond 6 may not be needed

disable raid if you are not using it.

Is your media detected during install? (after Debian starts the install!) Is it ok?

You could have a go with Ubuntu ,it may or may not work with your lan .
Fedora has been having a problem with wireless and some wired . the ntwraper ( for the MS windows ONLY cards has some bugs .