Which linux to get for specific hardware
 

Hi,
iM not entirely new to linux. Ihave tried a few of the more common distros like SUSE and Mandrake. ANyway Ive been out of it for awhile but now would like to try Linux again and was curious as to whichdistro would be best for me specific needs secifically for using my Sony Cybershot and MP3 player.
Are any linux distros compatible with these two types of harddware?
The rest of my system specs.

Abit IC7 Motherboard(Intel 875P chipset)
P4 2.8 CPU
OCZ DDR400 Ram
9700pro Video card.
LG CD-Rom
LiteOn CD-RW
Western Digital 60GB HDD.

The really important thing is being able to easily use the Sony Camera and my MP3 player. As well as using a program like KazzaLite or some other form of linux compatible file sharing program. Also, I was considering getting a S-ATA hardrive so the distro would preferrably have S-ATA drivers are be compatible in some way.
I loked on a few distros websites, but found no specific info outside of the standard computer hardware lists for support.
I would prefer to go completely MS free if possible.

Hardware compatibility in linux isn't really a distribution specific thing. They should work on any distribution the same.

Most cameras and MP3 players just need the USB Mass Storage Driver to work.

I see, so this USB mass storage driver is different than the standard USB driver I take it.
I dont see the MP3 player being a problem(im guessing though) but the camera I could see that it might have to be dtected as a different type of device.

if windows will see your camera or mp3 playes as usb storage devices(under my computer), then linux will be able to see them also. Many(probably most) cameras have drivers that will work for them(assuming it does not function as usb storage device)

With my Sony cam, I had to install a Sony Usb driver(listed in the add/remove programs), but for the MP3 player I just plug it in and a windows pops open. No need to install software as I guess Windows XP already has it.

Guess you should try new versions of Mandrake.... if you're up to spend some money on it maybe SuSe easy-to-use-windows-like distros..... looking for something deeper? Slack or Debian (argh! ;))....

Check the Mandrake-Linux website before installing LM 9.2 on your system. The LG cdrom drives use a non-standard command to upgrade the bios that overlaps with a CD-R/W command. There is a list of affected models on the website.

linux is just a kernel, so for every distribution there is really no specific hardware support as they all use the same kernel, which has a set amount of hardware which is supported

That's been patched. There are finally firmware fixes from LG as well. If this is a custom box, I doubt that'll be a problem. There are so many other CD Rom manufacturers to choose from.