64-bit LINUX advice

[[AK]Abaddon]

Anyone have advice on a good 64-bit LINUX version?

I'm a bit hacked off that VISTA 32-bit cannot recognize up to 4 GB of memory (which it needs to run well IMO), and I'm not inclined to shell out the wads of cash that MS wants for Vista 64-bit. It's been a few weeks since I played a computer game, and I am in the mood to experiment with my computer.

So, any of you geeks running LINUX boxes have a good suggestion or two? :-)

[[AK]Palooka]

http://www.ubuntu.com/

[[AK]Squidly]

That's a solid choice.

[[AK]Abaddon]

In preparation, I downloaded and made install DVDs for MEPIS, Ubuntu, and Fedora versions of LINUX. What the heck makes Fedora a 3.4 GB install DVD versus 800-900 MB like the others?

[[AK]Hylander]

I have an Ubuntu box myself - although I use to be a huge SuSE fan, I really like this Ubuntu install to 'play around with'. I don't use it that often - but it's there.

Also.. you DO NOT want the 64-bit version of VISTA. If you read MaximumPC at all... it's a disaster and horror story waiting to happen with all the problem, incompatibilities, etc. Worse than the 32-bit version by far.

[[AK]Squidly]

Also.. you DO NOT want the 64-bit version of VISTA. If you read MaximumPC at all... it's a disaster and horror story waiting to happen with all the problem, incompatibilities, etc. Worse than the 32-bit version by far.

And that's saying something.

Buy a Mac and throw XP on a second partition.

[[AK]Bribo]

I've installed and played around with Ubuntu on a spare laptop at work. Very cool distro. Very easy as well.

[[AK]Abaddon]

Well ... I tried the install of Ubuntu, MEPIS and Fedora. Of the three, Fedora was the only one that would install smoothly and still allow me the use of my USB keyboard through the install process. Ubuntu crashed to a black screen as soon as the install started.

I have Fedora up and running, and it looks nice. I am still downloading all of the updates now.

[[AK]Hylander]

Wow... I thought that me getting Ubuntu to work on an old Gateway E series PC would allow it to load on just about anything. These old Gateway PCs are a pain in the @ss. Every time I reboot I get a 'disk error', I just hit enter and it reboots. I think it has to do with the custom boot configurations Gateway puts in the BIOS or something. I'd check... but I've never been able to get into the bios on the thing! I've tried every key combination I could find on the net to no avail....

[[AK]Abaddon]

Heh, these old Unix command line interfaces are a hoot. I haven't seen this stuff since college. Wonder if the Commodore Amiga MOD file FTP sites are still up in Helsinki ... lol

[[AK]Abaddon]

New favorite:

http://www.sabayonlinux.org/

This distro is based on Gentoo, and has a beautiful look to it. It detected all of my hardware, unlike Ubuntu, which chokes hard on my Nvidia 8800. Sayabon is great so far.

[[AK]StitchJones]

I do like how Ubuntu runs however I've been a long time KDE+ fan. So I have used Kubuntu more often with Ubuntu with the same level of sucess. On my MacBook Pro I currently have a fully configured Kubuntu VM Appliance that I built using the VMWare Fusion program.
I used to be a long time SuSE supporter, but over time that distro has become plagued with bloatware to the point where you need a Terabyte of storage to install the darn thing.

[[AK]Abaddon]

Sayabon uses a really nice KDE adaptation -- Version 3.5 also integrates the same menu system as SuSE. It the nicest-looking, smoothest installing LINUX I have found -- and I tried all the majors in the last week - Fedora, SuSe, MEPIS, Kubuntu (same 8800 prob as Ubuntu), Ubuntu. I did not try Slax or Gentoo (although Sayabon is based on the Gentoo distro).

[[AK]StitchJones]

where do you score a copy of Sayabon? I did a little bit of looking and I only found forum topics that talk about it.
Thanks

[[AK]Hylander]

where do you score a copy of Sayabon? I did a little bit of looking and I only found forum topics that talk about it.
Thanks

I don't think it's available on X-Box Live... you'll have to get on a PC and try looking at someplace like Distrowatch.