I am fairly new to linux, I dual boot with XP Pro and mess around with it a bit but don't really understand everything. I am trying to figure out a distrobution that I want and compile the 2.6.0 kernel. I'm going for that kernel for the NTFS and AFS support. I just compiled the kernel with RedHat 9.0 but ran into some problems after make_install where it said something like unknown symbols in module. I continued anyway and got an error saying that the computer couldn't find the initrd, so I am guessing from posts that ext3 may not have been installed.
Anyway, I want to figure out what the best distro for me is. I like redhat because of the redhat network and updates, but it doesnt support ntfs or mp3s(both important because my music is on an ntfs drive). I also have used Mandrake 9.1 but it seems to crash quite a bit, espically with superkaramba. I was looking at debian but it is 7 cd's and suse says I can't make ISO's. Any ideas on a good distro where it is very easy to compile the new kernel? Thanks.

as you see from my user info, i use debian. and you can install debian from a floppy disk, if you want. using those 7cd's is like burning all 3 cd's for redhat. you dont need all. you only need the first one.
so, for debian, only get the first cd. it will take you very little time to install it if you know how to. there are some steps which you SHOULD follow while installing debian (for me, installing the base system on a 2.4 kernel without making any selections from the dselect options, followed by an immediate upgrade to unstable was key.)
heres a link which you might like to read before you try installing debian for the first time - its kinda detailed well: http://osnews.com/story.php?news_id=2016

i also wouldnt advice running kde/gnome on ur machine since you say it crashes by running karamba. run a less resource-hungry desktop environment.

regarding ntfs and mp3: you can do both in redhat too. you dont need 2.6 for THAT! there are rpm's for the ntfs module and if you're using xmms, theres a mp3 plugin for that too - just look them both up either on this site/some rpm site/google.

Thanks for the quick reply.
I know there are rpm's for ntfs and mp3's but can you still write to ntfs with the rpm's. I also tried installing the mp3 rpm with no luck, probably because I don't really know what I am doing. Right now Debian and Slackware both look good. Are they easy to use and does anyone have comments on slackware?

ntfs write support is an option in the 2.6 kernel (as it was in 2.4 - the module is called ntfs). but its not encouraged to write onto ntfs from linux, so it's better you dont do it.

i would suggest getting things sorted out on your redhat system before moving to debian/slack. its just that redhat is excellent to learn things from without losing a lot of time by working at a more user-friendly level (there are redhat-config-xxx scripts for virtually all you might need). once you've got things running fine on redhat, and you've picked up some basic things bout the system, then consider moving (if you want).

you dont necessarily need to get the latest version of everything (kernel 2.6, rh9, slack9,mdk9...). i would suggest you get the latest stable 2.4 (because doing the config is not gonna be easy firs time round)kernel source tarball from kernel.org, use the config file that was made when you installed your system first time, enable ntfs "read" support only, and then carry on to 2.6 or some other distro. once you get the hang of it, then do whatever.

of course, its all moot if you have a lot of spare time to play with the system.