First off let me say I have had some experience with linux before. I have used mandrake (back when thats what it was called).

There is a problem I need to know about. I only have an SATA optical drive, and last time I tried to install linux on it (fedora), it said it couldn't find the right drivers for the drive. It is a Plextor PX-716SA. I don't know if this has since been resolved, but it needs to be addresed.

Ok, now that the basics are out of the way I have some questions. I would like kubuntu to take advantage of my dual core CPU. I will be playing some games, including Quake 3 and UT2004. How would I set up printer sharing with linux? The printer is hooked up to the PC I would be putting linux on, and the computer I would need to share with has Windows XP pro. They are both on the same LAN. Oh, and a big question. Should I download the i386 version or the AMD64 version? It would be cool if I could have the 64-bit version, and I don't care if other programs would still only be 32-bit, as long as everything would work the way it should and there would be no compatibility problems I would be happy. If there would be issues, should I just use i386?

Also, are there any music players for linux that support ASIO output?

And would there be any way to change the USB polling rate?

BTW, I totally forgot to list my specs, they are:

DFI LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D
Opteron 165 @ 2.8GHz (air cooling)
2x1GB G.Skill HX DDR400 RAM @ 234MHz
eVGA 7800GT CO @ 470/1100
ESI Juli@
PCP&C Turbo-Cool 510 Express/SLI PSU

The optical drive ? Dunno, not used one.

The games ? Presume that they are available for use under linux ? Otherwise don't know - unless you either dual boot or install wine or crossover office/plugin (codeweavers - and yes it's a paid for facility).

The printer sharing? that'd be samba I think. Last time I had it set up, the windows machine (Win 98SE) could print to both the inkjet printer connected to the linux box and to the networked laser printer - not always as straight forward as you might like too set up though.

I386 or 64 bit version? Well if the target system has an AMD 64 bit chip, why not go for that. I'm guessing but i386 would be a compromise.

Music players with ASIO support ? Dunno, never heard of it, but maybe you should check out XMMS as that supports most formats/outputs etc etc.

USB polling rate? Haven't the faintest. Never had to look into that.

Sorry thats a bit vague - I can only answer the bits that I have any knowledge about. Others might be able to offer more precise direction.

regards

John

Yes the games both have native linux versions. Printer sharing I think I will need a little more help on. The reason I ask about 64-bit is because I was told that if you get the 64-bit version a lot of 32-bit programs won't work on it and there will be compatibility problems.

Haven't heard that!

Though I did read somewhere that if a 64 bit version of whatever isn't available, then "it" should run the 32bit version - Not sure how correct that is though.

As for printer/file sharing, yes samba is very good - it's one clever bit of software - unfortunately the "main" controlling config file aka. smb.conf can be both very simple or very complicated. It depends on what your needs are exactly.

I'm not the one to ask though, it used to really p**s me off trying to get it working. I'm guessing that if it's only printer sharing that you need, then I seem to recall that your smb.conf would be reasonably straight forward.

Best I can suggest is to check out the various forums and read up on some of the hassles that others have had - It might not give you the answer you're looking for but should give you an idea of the potential problems.

regards

John

The main limitations when using the 64-bit version is the browser and openoffice. It isn't a show-stopper really, but you need to set up a 32-bit chroot (see ubuntuguide.org) to run the 32-bit Firefox (so flash will work). Other than that it is amazing the difference in encoding and compiling time on a 64-bit OS/System. The dual core thing can be taken care of by installing the kernel you want that has -SMP at the end of its name (symetric multi-processing if I remember correctly). It also makes a HUGE difference in performance when running tovid or grip or any other processor-heavy smp-aware app.

In short, it is worth trying out (64-bit) but it takes a bit more configuring to get it all set up. Hope that helps a bit.