hmm, i was kinda hoping to duel boot with linux to see if it is as good as you guys say.

But i have a creative x-fi xtreme music and i was wondering if there were any good 3rd party drivers out for linux?

Creative has a 64bit Linux beta driver on their site, if that helps you any.

Also check this link out. http://opensource.creative.com/soundcard.html#X-FI

well then, i guess that answered my question, but now i have a new one.

i have never used linux before except for a suse live cd i have, and im not really sure about it.

so which version of linux would be good for a newbie like me?

Ubuntu is a decent starter version that does pretty much everything for you and tries to make it as easy of a transition from Windows as possible. It also allows you to do all the power user stuff if you want to down the road as well. Being based on Debian, you have a lot of programs that will be easy to install, and it's also one of the most secure distros that can be easily installed. If you want to learn all the nitty gritty of linux, then go with Gentoo. It will take you a few hours just to get a base system, but worth it in the end with the stability and speed.

imnuts wrote:

Ubuntu is a decent starter version that does pretty much everything for you and tries to make it as easy of a transition from Windows as possible. It also allows you to do all the power user stuff if you want to down the road as well. Being based on Debian, you have a lot of programs that will be easy to install, and it's also one of the most secure distros that can be easily installed. If you want to learn all the nitty gritty of linux, then go with Gentoo. It will take you a few hours just to get a base system, but worth it in the end with the stability and speed.

Starting right off with Gentoo is a bit like learning how to swim by jumping in the deep end. I would suggest Ubuntu.

In fact, I'm posting from Ubuntu right now.

gries818 wrote:

Starting right off with Gentoo is a bit like learning how to swim by jumping in the deep end. I would suggest Ubuntu. In fact, I'm posting from Ubuntu right now.

It is a lot all at once, but they have excellent documentation that guides you every step of the way through setup I'm currently installing Ubuntu Hardy Heron Beta on my girlfriend's old laptop to test it out, but will put something else on later when I have more time to set things up as I'm going away this weekend and want the laptop and I couldn't think of anything else that was as quick and easy.

thanks its downloading atm, i'll tell you when its done because the chances are i'll need help. I also need to wait for my new hard drive to be sent as i only have about 50 gigs of space left (which tbh is enough for a new partition but not enough if i want to do anything with it afterwards) But that should be here on monday

gries818 wrote:

imnuts wrote: Ubuntu is a decent starter version that does pretty much everything for you and tries to make it as easy of a transition from Windows as possible. It also allows you to do all the power user stuff if you want to down the road as well. Being based on Debian, you have a lot of programs that will be easy to install, and it's also one of the most secure distros that can be easily installed. If you want to learn all the nitty gritty of linux, then go with Gentoo. It will take you a few hours just to get a base system, but worth it in the end with the stability and speed. Starting right off with Gentoo is a bit like learning how to swim by jumping in the deep end. I would suggest Ubuntu. In fact, I'm posting from Ubuntu right now.

That's a bit generous, you imply it's still starting in a controlled environment (a pool) ... I'd have likened it to learning how to swim by escaping from the Chateau d'If (Count of Monte Cristo reference). Of course, I'm a lunatic, and therefore have found I love Gentoo, it's a good blend of ease of use and LFS-esque control.

I have to give Ubuntu its credit, it is a very good operating system.

I've been a Windows junkie ever since I got my first computer about 10 years ago, had my fair share of problems and damaged file systems, but I hope Ubuntu will give me a nicer life.

However, using something like Ubuntu has been a good learning curve to me. In my case, there were loads of problems caused by installing it on a RAID array and there are a couple of drivers I need to set up for it.

So yeah.. Ubuntu if you want to get hooked up with Linux, just get ready to do a bit of research to get a few teething problems sorted.