Hello. I would like to find a Linux program (Something with Windows X) to load onto my computer to determine if my software or hardware is faulty in my computer. (It was crashing whenever it felt like it and when any USB would be attached would cause a crash) I have read and heard many positive statements about Linux and UNIX being secure and having a system free of bugs- unlike Windows. Though I am a first time user with Linux/Unix and I would still like the feel of Windows- hence Windows X. My problem is that I have no idea which Linux or UNIX program to use that will fit my needs- there are many out there. So any help in finding a program would be greatly appreciated. I would like an OS that is very stable and bug free. I would also like a Linux or UNIX program that can connect to the internet. I would also like one that is free because this is just a test. I don’t really care about anything else- just an OS that works. Assuming that there is such a Linux or UNIX program out there that fits my needs, how would you install it? Do you burn the ISO on a boot disc and then go into BIOS and tell the machine to boot from the CD rather than HDD? This makes sense to me, but I really have no idea? Any help here would also be great. Thanks. ASUS K8V-X 1 gig RAM, Redaon 9250 AMD 64 3400 Athlon Thermaltak SVKing Case Zalman CNP Heatsink

Okay so I answered some of my above questions. I have downloaded a version of Linux shrike-i386. I put it on a bootable CD and it worked fine until this screen came up. EMM386.EVXE fault in one of the device drivers loaded in your system. Exception 6 (Invalid OScode) DS= 0070 FS=273b GS=F000 ES=89C1 SS=0100 EAX=0000015D5 ESP=00000892 EIP=000002PD EBX=00000100 EBP=0000003006 EFLAGS=0023883 ECX=0000008B3 ESI=0000F000 TR=0018 EDX=000f08B8 EDI=00129A82 LDTR=0000 CRO=8000011 CR2-0000000 CR3=00121000 CR4=00000201 It pumped out a lot of data most of which I have no idea what they are talking about. I had Windows preinstalled on the machine. It was freezing and crashing so I decided to reinstall Windows. By miskat I used my E-Machine dics- (only useable with E-machines not custom machines). And now whenever I setup Windows it freezes. So perhaps this is the issue. If this is how to you remove Windows all together from the hard drive? I have read stuff about EMM386.exe and have come up with having to change some lines of code in the command prompt. I dont know how to do this. Any help would be great because I dont know what I am doing even more so now. Thanks. ASUS K8V-X 1 gig RAM, Redaon 9250 AMD 64 3400 Athlon Thermaltak SVKing Case Zalman CNP Heatsink

Try Ubuntu Linux. Has excellent support and as far as I know, no issues with hardware (unlike Redhat)

I second that! I've been a Linux user for about 5 years now and I've tried various flavors over the years. I had settled on Mandrake about 4 years ago... that is until about a month or so ago when I tried Ubuntu! I haven't looked back yet! It's a very impressive and user-friendly distribution and best of all, it's based on a well established distribution (Debian) which has "solid" roots established in the developement community. That bundled with better support and more predictable releases make for a super Linux distro! From what I've seen, Linux doesn't get too much easier than Ubuntu... except for maybe the text-based install instead of a point and click, graphical one. Either way, it's still a peice of cake to install and even easier to use! Give it a go and I think you'll be impressed with it. I sure am! k_Rob - kk7av

Thank you both of you. I have already downloaded it but need to buy more RW-CD so I can auctally load it on to my other computer. Thanks ASUS K8V-X 1 gig RAM, Redaon 9250 AMD 64 3400 Athlon Thermaltak SVKing Case Zalman CNP Heatsink

Whoa! Stop! You have an AMD 64. You cannot use a Pentium x86 kernel. Look for something that says "ia64" instead of "i386" or "i686".

Wow thanks. Maybe that is why it was not working. I just thought it was computer. I will do so. Thanks alot. ASUS K8V-X 1 gig RAM, Redaon 9250 AMD 64 3400 Athlon Thermaltak SVKing Case Zalman CNP Heatsink