Newer Hardware, can I run Linux and which if any distro will work? please me newb

[keefer4240]

Yo,

So I have the following setup...

64bit system

ASUS Crosshair II Formula mobo
AMD Phenom II Quad Core
8gig 1066 DDR2 Corsair Dominator
Areca Raid Card model 1210

Video

2 EVGA Nvidia 9800GX2 in quad SLI

Other perifs include a samsung DVD burner, a multi-card media reader, logitech keyboard and mouse...

I'm not sure if any distro will work with my system.. I've tried installing ubuntu and it did not work... I get an error...

Ultimately i'd like to have linux as my primary os and have it run windows on the side for windows specific programs... I've seen some really cool 3D desktops that show windows running on one of the panels... That's what I'd like to setup... The 3D desktop...

But ya, if there is a distro that would work with this that would make life a lot easier I'm sure... I'm a big newb what can i say...

[TrashOverride]

Cool config
As a slackware user i will recomend Slackware + Compiz (for 3d desktop and other cool stuff ), but as a starter maybe you should try Ubuntu and Compiz, since ubuntu (kubuntu) is more user friendly

[reed9]

Most distros allow you to run off a CD, so the best thing is to download a few different distros and see what you like, then install. Then, if you want to learn more about what goes on under the hood with linux, look into something like Slackware, or even better , Arch Linux.

[keefer4240]

Cool config
As a slackware user i will recomend Slackware + Compiz (for 3d desktop and other cool stuff ), but as a starter maybe you should try Ubuntu and Compiz, since ubuntu (kubuntu) is more user friendly

By user friendly do you mean, it installs what's needed automatically? I mean I'm not retarded by any means, but when I left the DOS world a long long time ago and got pulled into the windows world, going back to that format seems daunting to me right now... I did try Ubuntu, like I said had an error... Thanks for the recommendations...

Most distros allow you to run off a CD, so the best thing is to download a few different distros and see what you like, then install. Then, if you want to learn more about what goes on under the hood with linux, look into something like Slackware, or even better , Arch Linux.

Cool, I'll try a few distro's on CD see if they can load... If they can't what would you say could be the most likely problem? I do use an internal RAID card and know I have to load the drivers for it to install windows... I've also noticed it has linux drivers on there as well, but have no clue how to get them going from linux... I mean is Linux similar to DOS or totally different... I'm still a bit confused and trying to put 2 and 2 together... Anyway, meantime i'll try a few on CD and see what's happening... I'll post back here if there are issues... Thanks guys, off to get me some distros now! yaya!

[reed9]

I mean is Linux similar to DOS or totally different..

Totally different. Unless by similar you mean you can do a lot of stuff via the command line. With linux, you generally don't have to use the command line, but after they get comfortable with it, a lot of people find using it to actually be the simpler and quicker method for many tasks.

I would guess the most likely culprit if a distro isn't booting properly would be your nvidia card. The nvidia drivers are proprietary and don't ship with any distro I know of - you have to install them separately. There is an open source driver that is included, but I think a lot of people have issues with it, especially with newer cards. Fedora 11 is shipping with the open source nouveau driver, instead of the nv driver most distros use. [Phoronix] Enriching The Linux Hardware Experience