my main objective will be surfing internet and downloading.
i want to make linux more familiar to me than windows as it is open source.i would like to bring this free os on home pcs of india,were we use pirated window os,i have ubuntu but it is giving some kernel panic message during installation.

I think you're using the wrong architecture for your distro.

For being usable, I would say try Mandriva Linux.

Just try several distros until you find one that installs and that you like. Many people have good success with Ubuntu, but it sounds like it doesn't like your hardware. Others like Fedora or Centos or Mandriva or whatever. Debian has always worked well for me.

Might be a good idea to post exact error message if it is more detailed than what your previously posted. Also, hardware information on your computer(s).

thanks for yours kind reply,the exact error message i am getting is,

"[152.741588]..MP-BIOS bug:8254 timer not connected to 10APIC[152.9205487] Kernel panic-not syncing:10 APIC+timer doesn't work ! BOOT with apic=debug and send a report .then try booting with the 'noapic'option.

help me out

also tell me from were i will get the mandriva
i want linux for surfing and downloading

After u Choose your language in the boot menu press F4 & choose Safe Graphics mode & give another try .. Ubuntu is really working with me great

The error message is telling you exactly what to do. Please hit the search button over on the right and search for "boot noapic".

You can either fix menu.lst with a liveCD, or you can interrupt grub, change it, boot, and then update the file. I'm not sure if you can save an updated grub file while booting, as I've never been faced with this problem.

If you don't see a line with the boot options when installing, press the Escape key. Add "noapic" to the end of the line. I would try "nolapic" if this is a single core processor. I'm not certain but this may be less drastic of an option.

I have a laptop that won't boot if a cf disk is connected in the reader slot. Another thing that can cause problems is usb devices. If you have a usb device other than a keyboard or mouse, disconnect if and try again. This problem has only happened intermittently for me, and occurs booting both Linux & XP so it is probably a hardware issue.

Also try booting up with different live distro's. It could be a problem that occurs only with a certain kernel version.

Sometimes the acpi of a motherboard are buggy and if you disable "acpi enabled OS" is the bios, you will let the kernel perform the tests directly instead of using the MB's functions.

You might also try entering your particular computer model in www.google.com/linux. Maybe someone else has already solved the problem.