Hello, I am new to this forum. I would like to use a version of Linux as my new os, but I need some direction. I currently have xp64 bit os and it is ok but I am tired of microsoft. I would like to know if anyone knows which version of linux would install on my machine with little or no problems and would be very stable. Here are my system specs:

Asus A8N-VM Motherboard
Onboard graphics and video
AMD 3200 Athlon 64
2 gig kingston 3200 ddr 400 ram
36 gig wd raptor hd
Liteon 52X cd rom/burner
Sony Dvd Dru 540A Burner

Any help would be appreciated!
Lance

That poor hard drive is abit out classed on that box!
I'm having no problems with FC5, Mandriva Beta and PCLinux on my asus box.

The hard drive is small but I had a 120 gig before and it was too large. The most I ever had on it with os, files, music, ect. was about 7 gig. I store all movies on discs.
Lance

I have a similar setup and am running Suse 10 with great results.

I have also installed (as a dual boot) Slamd64 (slackware) on a spare partition that I am using to test different distros. It was slightly harder to get going but in the end works great also.

I got frustrated installing Gentoo (but I am impatient) - I will try again another day.

I did boot up the live Ubuntu for 64bit cpu's - and it was fine for those few minutes.

The live Kororaa-xgl-demo was very eye opening - it is my next trial of Gentoo that I will install (Kororaa without the xgl as the live cd has no installer).

Everything depends on your preferences, I feel that for overall ease of use Suse or Ubuntu will be satisfactory, but more "hands on" installation distros can be very fulfilling.

Other distros with 64bit ports are Fedora and Debian. I am sure there are others - if you can, download a couple and try them - or just order an Ubuntu cd for free

Hope this helps,
Matt

I have somewhat same hardware as you,

and I must warn you about the Asus' A8N-VM: it is really a mischief with Linux, but if you're patient, you'll get it to work.

For instance, Suse 10.0 and Gentoo 2006.0 recognizes well all the onboard devices, including the forcedeth ethernet driver, but e.g. ACPI does not work out of the box due to a broken DSDT table provided by the BIOS. You may also have some hard time, if you're going to use the onboard sound system. And some other issues as well.

And though the hd is small, it won't be a problem in a basic installation with a stripped set of packages. Just installed Gentoo on a AMD k6-2 with a 15gb hd - even kde etc. fitted well.

IMHO there are only two distros you should even consider; SUSE 10.0 and Ubuntu.

My first choice would be SUSE 10.0, very nice installer and very user friendly. All the benefits of Linux but not too different from Windows (on the surface), if you chose KDE as your desktop. But remember it is NOT Windows.

Second choice, but well behind SUSE, would be Ubuntu (NOT Kubuntu, KDE and Ubuntu just don't work)if you want to move further away from windows and try something slightly more challenging.

One last piece of advice! Go for the 32bit versions NOT the 64 bit, even though you have an Athlon 64. I also have an Athlon 64 based system and every 64 bit version of a distro i have tried (Mandriva, Ubuntu & SUSE) had problems and the benefits were simply not worth the bother.

I think adding multimedia support is more than enough "hands on" for most newbies.

http://www.thejemreport.com/mambo/content/view/178/42/

It is a bit of a surprise to the average Windows user that free Linux distros cannot play MP3s 'out of the box'. Unless of course you buy SUSE 10 rather than download openSUSE 10.0.