I presently am on a XP Pro box, dual core and 4g memory - XP memory switch is on but..

I use a CAD package (Pro/Engineer)that can use more memory than this. It is available to run on unix, linux and windows. I have considered installing Linux and doing a work comparison and run more memory to help with some model size issues.
Can someone suggest a Distro that is light and fast. The vendor certifies the program on Mandrake I believe but I am pretty sure I have seen it running on a number of different distro's - knowing nothing about Linux I thought I would ask.

TIA

S

Firstly, technically lightweight and heavyweight distros only exist out of the box, they can all be configured for a lighter desktop, less services/modules loaded etc. etc so the distro is one of your smaller concerns. The largest is how it is distributed, If i remember, mandrake uses RPM packages, if it is only available as an RPM you will need a distro capable of handling them (there are apps that can convert to other format's) if it is source ,then in theory it can run on any distro, providing you have the right environment (dependencies etc.).

Next you need to consider the protection it uses, we use solidworks which has USB/parallel dongles, from my experience pro engineer uses a network license? you would need to confirm then invest a little time in setting up the right network environment to be able ot mount a share with the file on. If it uses dongles there may be some fiddling around there. You also need to consider your video card and its Linux support.

Really you are better off dealing with their tech support (providing they cover other OS', alot don't)

Sorry i can't give definitve answers but it is food for thought

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