I'm distro hopping mad!

[The Doctor]

Here's my story, it's sad but true.
'Bout a computer all shiny and new.
Turned it on to bring up Root...
But the friggin' thing would not boot!
I'm surfin' the Web as I go shoppin',
Looks like I'll be distro hoppin'!  

We got the new computers (two of them) in last Wednesday.  I swapped the hard drives out from my old computer to the new computer.  Plugged everything in correctly.  I got the grub splash screen, but on the boot up screen the system hung.

Why?  Because PCLinuxOS is not compatible with 64 Bit systems!  

Send the computers back?  Not a chance.  Like I've said before, I am not a single distro fanboy.

What I'm looking at right now is Ultimate Edition 2.5 64 Bit.  It's based on the current version of Ubuntu, which, thanks to everyone's help here, I am comfortable using.

But I am open to suggestions.  If anyone knows of something better, please let me know.  

[likemindead]

Linux Mint is always nice.

I often distro-hop not just because I'm curious and enjoy it, but also because it stretches me makes me learn new things.

^__^

[mccracken]

[The Doctor]

Very true!  I forgot that Linux Mint does have a 64 Bit version.

But that wouldn't be much different from UE 2.5.  But I'll download Mint 64 and test it.

Good suggestion!

[The Doctor]

It also looks like Fedora has a 64 Bit version as well.

PCLinuxOS is indirectly based on the same distro as Fedora, so it wouldn't be that big of a leap.

I might give that a try as well.

No big rush -- I can work off my laptop in the meantime.

[The Doctor]

I do have one other option that I'm open minded enough to entertain...

I currently run Linux with Windows in VirtualBox.  I could run Windows 7 with Linux in Virtualbox.

I would rather not, but like I say, it's an option.

[The Doctor]

I have finished testing several distros.  I have to veto Fedora.  Mint looks real good and UE 2.5 looks even better.  I'll give it about a week and see what else I can find before I make up my mind.

[Marty]

Fwiw, I've recently switched from ubuntu to mint. I like it!

[The Doctor]

Mint looks good, but UE 2.5 is fully loaded and looks cool.

Right now I'm testing Mandriva 2010 Free edition in VirtualBox.  PCLinuxOS is based on it.

These new computers are fast.  I'm impressed.  Now I just need to decide on a distro.

Thanks for the advice.  I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions when I finally pick one.

[The Doctor]

And here's question # 1:

It doesn't bother me, but my wife would like to know how to switch the top and bottom bars in a default Gnome environment.  So that the menus pop up from the bottom rather than popping down from the top.

Mandriva looks fine.  It's quite a bit different.  It installed nearly 600 updated files this morning.  I'll keep working with it, but it doesn't look promising.

[Marty]

Right click on the panel, hit properties.
Change its orientation from Top to Bottom, or vise versa.

[likemindead]

Yep. You can completely customize the panels however you'd like 'em. Xfce is very similar in that regard.

[mccracken]

[The Doctor]

Excellent!  I should have just thought to do that myself.

Anyway, UE 2.5 is still my top contender.

I looked at the Win 7 restore disk that came with the new systems and it looks like a full install disk.  They sent that disk, the motherboard drivers disk and the graphics card drivers disk.

So I'm guessing I can load the Win 7 disk into VirtualBox.  At least I can give it a try.  I have a legitimate license to use it, but they never said how I could use it. 
 

[Marty]

Be sure to try the "XP Compatibility Mode" virtual machine inside of your Windows 7 virtual machine that is running virtually in linux... this is getting confusing. lol

[750mhz.slinky]

It is just an extension of the infinite virtual machine loop that we all occupy....

[The Doctor]

Well, I don't  know about that...

But thumbs down on Mandriva.

Still hunting.  Next up on the test list is openSUSE x64.

I found a good Web site with all things 64 bit, including Linux.