You're confusing CPU type (x86) and chipsets (i440BX). x86 typically means the software was complied for 386's or better, while x64 means it was complied for AMD64 , Pentium D, Pentium Extreme Edition CPUs etc. Your distro doesn't care what chipset you use - its just a group of chips that are designed to work together, and are usually marketed as a single product.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_440BX

Slackware doesn't have a livecd that I know of

Ok cool I also have a creative sound blaster card so it should work then.

Um which one of the peer to peer trading (downloading) programs have the fastest download speed (Ive heard from my brother that Linux downloads alot faster than Windows) and also have the largest user base lol.

As for the partion question, that sounds all good, I was just wondering if I had to make two sets of my Mp3s for windows and linux.

I think I might start with Mandriva as I wont have to set anything up to use 32 and 64bits. I will probably move onto others once Im familar with the basics. I can get any distro I want for 24 NZ dollars which is fine by me.

aMule is good, it connects to the eDonkey network. The OS has nothing to do with the download speed.

No, you can access windows filesystems from linux.

have fun.

While Slackware doesn't have a live-CD, slax is a slackware-based distro many people seem to like. I have not tried either it or Slackware.

I just reread the OP, you said you want something similar to Adobe-Audition. If you want to record/sample/write music Mandriva is not the best choice. IMHO Ubuntu(Studio) is the best choice because it has a fully supported realtime-kernel in the repositories (which you need). A close second is Suse (JAD), and a close third is Fedora with CCRMA.
But all those projects DO NOT maintain 64 bit packages, because it would simply require too much manpower...
I still don't think a 64 bit distro is a good choice for a novice user... or most users really.

Opensuse 10.3 is really nice. It has alot of options. Its easy to use. It also has 1 click install of programs. I listen to MP3s, VPN to work, watch movies, all from my opensuse box. I do dual boot. I have win xp on 40gigs so I can game. The new opensuse is really nice. It has alot to offer

The organization of the system the package updater etc..

Oskar, I'm not a specialist when it comes to such thing but I seem to remember that all Linux kernels starting with 2.6.18 are real-time by default while previous ones had explicitly to be patched with real-time support. But as I said, I've never needed any real-time kernel so that could well be a half-truth.

As for 32 versus 64 bit, that doesn't make any difference to me. I just think it's a pity to waste at least a gigabyte of RAM, especially since the applications in Ubuntu studio can be installed on Ubuntu 64 bit too - there's an "Ubuntu multimedia" item that includes all of them - and that there is (or was ?) a low-latency kernel for 64 bit too. Even Mandriva can install Rosegarden, Ardour, Hydrogen, etc.

No, I think they were real-time for some time during 2.4.
2.6 does have realtime or at least low latency processing, but only for root.

... Wow I read that ram comment, and checked the OP... you have 4 gig?! Alright, then you'd be wasting a gig of ram.

Wow, I am astonished to hear that. I was always under the notion that ram problems would manifest in windows. So what your saying is linux is more intolerant of any blemishes of this kind and therefore wont install?

Or some OS are more tolerant than others. LinuxPC and Puppy did manage install the GUI/I think KDE, albeit little else. I.e. just the desktop but it did't connect to the net. Mouse would't work, etc..

My hardware is dell latitude P3 650 Mhz, upgraded ram 512mb.

XBUNTU has a memory test on the boot menu. I aborted the test after finding the first fault as I did't have time. But will do the full test soon and let you know.

The nice thing about Distros is that most come in Live CDs.
I suggest you download and burn several, many good ones have been posted here. You can run them from CD and test them out on your hardware. I'm sure you will find at least one that you will like.

Lol cheers guys, Ive ordered Mandriva 2008, Ill try that for a wee while and see.. That multimedia ubruntu sounds good though I might try that when Ive taught myself more about linux.

I recently switched to a dual boot linux system. As a newbie myself I found that PCLinuxOS (PCLOS) was close enough to being 'windows-like' for my tastes. The boot sequence is even sorta classy and not the typical endless scrolling of events for most linux boot up sequences.

Can't answer the really technical stuff but PCLOS can download and install Wine without any problems via the built in "application getter" (a true newbie - I don't know what it's called). Accessing the windows partitions is no problem.

You'll need to have at least 5Gb of unused space on your hard drive for the install. More is better.

Download the bootable CD version of the PCLOS code and burn it to disk. Then you can boot your machine from the CD into PCLOS and see what it looks like before deciding whether to install or not.

Other distros probably have bootable CD versions as well. It's a pretty handy way to see what the distro is like before going through all the headache of installing and resolving the snags that result.

Good Luck.

Get Linspire the most user friendly linux distro ever.However you will have to pay $50 for it . Peanuts to what you will pay Mr. Gates.