which distro?

[Jgrasshopper]

I am getting a new AMD based computer and what i was thinking of doing is running a duel boot one windows for gaming and one linux for everything else. Any advice would be great.

[reed9]

My advice is to try 10 different distros and pick your favorite.

But otherwise Main Page - Linux Mint

[L4Linux]

I always suggest Ubuntu to new users. The new version 9.10 will be released in 29th of October.

[oz]

Welcome to the forums!

Running a dual boot box is a good idea for newcomers to Linux, in my opinion.

Any of the top 5 distros at DistroWatch.com should be a good place to start. If you don't like any of them, I'd suggest trying the next 5. You can check the link in my signature for lots of good information on getting started with Linux.

Hope you will have fun with it!

[Jgrasshopper]

Thanks very much all of you for your help. It's really great too have such a nice welcome.
I forgot too mention two other things. Firstly I'm not going to be using the Internet on this new computer and secondly that the computer I'm using now is a duel boot and runs Xubuntu and windows XP. I've also used Ubuntu a small amount in the past . The other thing is will Linux be able to run these programs. Sibelius, Reason, Photoshop and Cubase.

[oz]

The other thing is will Linux be able to run these programs. Sibelius, Reason, Photoshop and Cubase.

You might be able to run them under WINE:

WineHQ - Run Windows applications on Linux, BSD, Solaris and Mac OS X

You can check the WINE Apps Database to see what luck others have had running Windows applications.

Of course, if you dual-boot as you suggested above, you shouldn't have any issues running Windows apps.