I had a Win98/knoppix p2 machine that was flooded by katrina. I have a new system:
cpu AMD Athlon 64 3200+
mb evga 133-k8-nf41-xx uses the nForce4 chipset
pcie video card nVidia GeForce 6600LE (do not intend to use SLI functionality)
OS WinXP Home + SP2 preinstalled on a 160GB SATA HD
Use dual (VGA) monitors under win
Finished my break-in period with XP, and I'd like to establish a dual boot system with linux. I think I can hack resizing the ntfs volume, repartition the disk, install linux and manage the boot loader. My initial questions concern which linux version should I install?
Constraints/desires:
1. I have a dialup connection, therefore I need to install from cd/dvd.
2. I'd like to use the dual vga monitors off the nVidia card using xinerama (not nVidia's TwinView)
3. Other hardware: Agere Systems PCI Soft Modem using SV92PL-T00 chipset, (can hook up a serial Creative Modem Blaster if the soft modem can't function under linux), an external usb hd, and a Samsung scx-4216f printer/fax/copy/scanner using either usb/parallel.
Options considered:
1. Live CD Knoppix v4.0.2 provides a hd-installer, but some Knoppers say if you are going to install Debian anyway, you are better off doing a straight Debian install. Moreover Live Knoppix detects neither the soft modem nor the printer. Haven't made the effort with the xf86conf file to see if I can get dual monitors driven by the one card before deciding between these options.
2. Install official stable (sarge) Debian v3.1r1 i386. DVDs easy to purchase.
3. Install unofficial (sarge) Debian v3.1r01 amd64. CDs (or DVDs?) can be purchased.
4. Install testing (etch) Debian which supposedly has internal amd64 support. Can DVDs/CDs be found?
Additonal notes that may/may not be applicable to the above options:
a) Samsung has a linux driver for their printer which may give functionality under any of the above options.
b) nVidia has a NFORCE-Linux-x86_64-1.0-0319-pkg1.run which adds support for (nVidia)AMD64 nForce 430/410 mbs. I suppose this might add support for my mb too?
c) nVidia has a NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178-pkg1.run which adds i386 and/or amd64/em64t support for their GeForce 6xxx video cards.