How compatible is promepis 2005.b04 on an amd64 laptop? If it's not too compatible, can someone recomend a nice, relatively user-friendly distro of linux or unix type operating system that will work?

honestly, i think you should give mepis a shot and see how it goes... then maybe you could post here to share your experience or ask more specific questions... i mean, even if someone has installed it without trouble on their laptop chances are their laptop will be quite different than yours... however, if you really want to consider another distro think about mandriva... here's some links to the x86-64 ISOs for LE2005:

a mirror in canada:

# http://gulus.usherbrooke.ca/pub/dist...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Sherbrooke)

some mirrors in the states:

# ftp://carroll.cac.psu.edu/pub/linux/...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Pennsylvania)
# ftp://ftp.ale.org/pub/mirrors/mandra...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Georgia)
# ftp://ftp.cse.buffalo.edu/pub/Mandra...o/10.2/x86_64/
# ftp://ftp.gtlib.cc.gatech.edu/pub/ma...o/10.2/x86_64/
# ftp://ftp.ndlug.nd.edu/pub/Mandrakel...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Indiana)
# ftp://ftp.phys.ttu.edu/pub/mandrakel...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Texas)
# ftp://ftp.rutgers.edu/pub/Mandrakeli...o/10.2/x86_64/ (New Jersey)
# ftp://ftp.uwsg.indiana.edu/linux/man...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Indiana)
# ftp://helios.dii.utk.edu/pub/linux/M...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Tennessee)
# ftp://hosef.ics.hawaii.edu//Mandrake...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Hawaii)
# ftp://mandrake.mirrors.pair.com/Mand...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Pennsylvania)
# ftp://mirror.cs.wisc.edu/pub/mirrors...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Wisconsin)
# ftp://mirror.mcs.anl.gov/pub/mandrak...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Illinois)
# ftp://mirror.umr.edu/pub/linux/mandr...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Missouri)
# ftp://mirror.usu.edu/mirrors/Mandrak...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Utah)
# ftp://mirrors.secsup.org/pub/linux/m...o/10.2/x86_64/
# ftp://mirrors.usc.edu/pub/linux/dist...o/10.2/x86_64/
# ftp://mirrors.xmission.com/mandrake/...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Utah)
# http://ftp.ale.org/pub/mirrors/mandr...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Georgia)
# http://mandrake.mirrors.pair.com/Man...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Pennsylvania)
# http://mirror.mcs.anl.gov/pub/mandra...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Illinois)
# http://mirror.umr.edu/pub/linux/mand...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Missouri)
# http://mirror.usu.edu/mirrors/Mandra...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Utah)
# http://www.gtlib.cc.gatech.edu/pub/m...o/10.2/x86_64/ (Georgia)