Which distro suits better for me?

[kaskuser3d]

Hi all! I'm a newbie about to migrate to Linux.

I need to ask you guys/gals which Linux distro is suitable for me.

My needs:

- I will be using this system for CG apps such as: Maya, Blender, GIMP, Inkscape

- The distro contains built-in multimedia, office and internet apps

- a stable distro; I'll avoid distros that crash often

- a complete, ready-to-use distro that doesn't require me to upgrade every certain month; I really don't have time to upgrade the OS and reinstall all my software.

- a distro that's compatible to all my hardware

Since my system is 64-bit, for performance sake, I'm thinking of using a 64-bit Linux distro as well, but I'm not sure whether this would cause hardware compatibility issues.

Here are my hardware specs:
- AMD Phenom II 955 CPU
- onboard Realtek audio
- 4Gb RAM
- ATI Radeon 5670 video card
- HP Deskjet D1360 printer
- Genius G-Pen 450 tablet
- Haier E630 EVDO modem

I notice there are so many Linux distros, which makes me confused of which one suits better for my purposes.

Any suggestion is very appreciated.

Addition:
I just took the distro test on zegeniestudios.net
Here's the result:
100% Ubuntu
100% Linux Mint
100% OpenSuSE
100% Kubuntu
100% Mandriva
90% Fedora

But I'm still not sure which one to choose. I don't think I have time to try installing all of them.
I'm wondering whether there are some computer graphic artists willing to share their knowledge and experience on some certain distro.

Thanks again.

[lacamoura]

Ubuntu - Debian - LinuxMint - Fedora

[elija]

The Maya site specifically mentions Red Hat and Fedora so

CentOS, Scientific Linux and Fedora would be a starting point. The distros posted by lacamoura are also very good, just not all specifically mentioned by the Maya web site.

Welcome aboard kaskuser3d and lacamoura

[atreyu]

Ubuntu Studio mentions 3 of those apps...may be worth test driving.

[kaskuser3d]

Ubuntu Studio mentions 3 of those apps...may be worth test driving.

Does Ubuntu Studio have major differences from the original Ubuntu, or is it just basically the same Ubuntu + multimedia apps added?

[jayd512]

Does Ubuntu Studio have major differences from the original Ubuntu, or is it just basically the same Ubuntu + multimedia apps added?

It's Ubuntu with a whole lot of extras.
A whole lot of extras!

[kaskuser3d]

The Maya site specifically mentions Red Hat and Fedora so

Yes, the reason I'm still doubting whether Maya works on Ubuntu because some years ago my friend tried to install Maya on Ubuntu with no luck. Another friend of mine told me that he successfully runs Maya on Fedora instead; he's a Blender user too.

But my consideration about Fedora is whether it's more difficult for beginners like me to maintain and administrate the OS itself.
I'm not interested in spending too much time handling OS problems, I just want to be a general home user with 3D and multimedia apps installed.

[jayd512]

But my consideration about Fedora is whether it's more difficult for beginners like me to maintain and administrate the OS itself.

Fedora is quite easy to maintain. I haven't run it in quite a while, but I don't remember having any real issues at all maintaining it.
No crashes... really no problems at all.
This might help you get it up and running: Personal Fedora 16 Installation Guide

[atreyu]

In general, I would say to you that Fedora is not difficult to administer. Sure, you have growing pains when you first start out, learning the ropes, and all, but you'd get that anywhere. Fedora is around and is successful and popular b/c it is based upon a rock solid distro (Red Hat Linuxes) that has been doing it right for years.

Now getting some particular complicated app to work, that is not provided for you as a prebuilt package might be tricky, it just depends. But you'd probably have the same issues trying to get some app to run under Debian or Ubuntu for which no native package exists. The great thing about both the Fedora side and the Debian/Ubuntu side is that they both have huge software repos and great, helpful user communities that will help you out if/when you get stuck.

If Maya is the most difficult app to install, and you know it to work on Fedora, then I'd say go with Fedora. If it were reversed, then I'd say go with Ubuntu. Like I said, neither would be a bad choice for you.

Edit: In case you haven't read it yet, this FAQ talks a little about the installation of Maya on Linux. The software appears to be packaged as an RPM, so that is indeed promising for Fedora.

Also, I confirmed that the other 3 packages (Inkscape, GIMP, and Blender) are all available in the default Fedora 16 repo.

[kaskuser3d]

Another big issue for me is hardware compatibility. Some years ago I tried several Linux distros just to seek which distro supported all my hardware, it's really time-consuming and frustrating.