I have an HP HDX18t running Windows 7 64-bit Pro and am looking for a compatible Linux 64-bit OS to dual boot on this computer.
I'm a bit of a Linux dummy and am trying to pick up as much as I can as quickly as I can.
I need opinions from anyone and everyone willing to contribute to this thread. Should I chose Fedora, Ubuntu, Red Hat, on and on...
Fedora looks promising but I see the word Ubuntu often here on Maemo.org...
Fedora looks to have a bit more in the install package... I've no clue.
Which has the better Virus Protection packages available for it?

Thank you everyone who responds to this thread!

David

www.opensuse.org

will set it all up for you.

rgds

There are plenty of resources on the web which you can refer to. A good one to start with is:

http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=current

They also have plenty of reviews of different distros[?]. Most distros have a livecd[?] so you can try it out without disturbing your existing OS. This allows you to:

• check whether that particular distro and your hardware gets along with each other
• assess whether that particular distro and you get along with each other
• etc

I should have included my hardware specs in the original post:
Quanta 3610 Motherboard
Bios - HP branded
8GB DDR2 dual channel @ 800MHz (6/6/6/18) 1.8V
Intel Penryn Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz
PCI-Express graphics interface
NVidia Geforce 9600M GT
Synaptics PS/2 Port Touchpad
Generic Plug and Play monitor (1920x1080p)
Realtek RTL8168C(P) NIC (PCI-E)
Intel WIFI Link 5100 AGN
Other assorted basics (if it makes a difference feel free to ask me, I'm happy to provide the info).

Perhaps, you could offer the following?

why you want a 64 bit OS (as opposed to 32 bit)

what you propose to do with it that requires 64 bit over 32?

You can invite more trouble than it's worth with some distros on 64-bit.
If you're just starting out with linux, installing a 32 bit Os may end up being the safest and easist way to get started.

I've found that ubuntu 64-bit runs no better than the 32 bit version on my 64-bit hardware but certainly provided some headaches wrt drivers.

Regards

onethreealpha - I assumed there are some programs in the repos which are 64-bit which I could not run if I only had the 32-bit OS. WRT drivers my first experience with Linux (Red Hat provided by my school) agreed heavily with you that there were many drivers I could not find for the hardware I had (so I had to give up and changed over to Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit).
This is precisely the type of info I was looking for WRT the various Linux versions so feel free to keep it coming!
Looking things over I'm leaning toward Fedora (KDE Plasma), although I'm hearing negatives about the desktop interface of Fedora (those negative reports are 1/2 a year old though).

with nothing better to do (with my time or bandwidth) I have, in the last 2-3 weeks, downloaded the following for personal testing.....
(all versions being 32 bit, reasons as per my previous post)

Ubuntu 11.10 (am already running this wanted a fresh install on my new HD)

Fedora 15

Opensuse 11.4

LinuxMint 11

Linux Mint is a Deb based Ubuntu derivative and offers a nice clean interface. installed with Gnome (2 not 3) and found it to be not that different to Ubuntu, in real terms.

Opensuse is a stable (dare I say commercial level) desktop OS and works well with KDE or Gnome, despite having it's roots in KDE as the preferred UI.

Fedora 15 is "bleeding edge" and offers istself as one of the first to come with the Gnome 3 desktop.

Ubuntu - well, it's by most references, the No 1 Desktop Linux OS. Is easy to set up and install, provides an abundance of software (and additional repos everywhere) allowing for a huge selection of applications and customisation, be it media-centric or other.

I started on my journey with Red Hat, moving to Mandrake (Mandriva) and then on to Ubuntu, via a whole host of others on my "doesn't matter if I break it" machine, before finally settling on Ubuntu with Gnome.

I can say I'm not particularly overwhelmed with the Unity Desktop that ships by default and for some reason have always had niggly issues with knetwork manager in KDE with my wireless lan at home, thus have resorted to the "Old" Gnome version of 11.04.

LinuxMint seems to be a good, stable Ubuntu variant and I guess the similarities to Ubuntu are what left me a little underwhelmed.... (I confess I like new shiny stuff)

Fedora 15's default Gnome Desktop (3) is nice and clean and offers a different take on Most Linux flavours. It still markets itself as "cutting edge" and remembering the label form my Mandrake/Mandriva days, I'm sure may present some interesting idiosynchratic behaviour, though I didn't find it myself over the week or two I trialled it.

All flavours are developed to a level where their respective package managers will take care of dependencies and pretty much offer up a fully automated install of software. Most offer an easy way to set up repos for non-free/nono-gpl software ala flash, adobe, propriatory hardware drivers (ATI/Nvidia) etc,
Fedora and Opensuse allow for an automated SELinux install right from the installation GUI, which offers all the benifits of security enhanced Linux.

I'd say give any of the above a shot (simply for ease of intall) in their 32 bit live cd variants, and when you find the one you're happy with, give it a shot with 64, if you feel the need or have specific applications that will only run under a 64 bit native environment..

Good Luck

You dont need antivirus on Linux bro as for the which distro to choose I'd go with Ubuntu simply because it has the largest community and best support

who mentioned antivirus?
if you're referring to SE Linux, it goes a whole lot further than just providing a firewall or anti virus.....

Mandriva / Mageia

have been using mandriva for a couple of years - great community. Lots of hardware support and good application of the kde desktop. Things are where I expect them to be having come over from windows. Making for an easy transition.
have had driver issues with ubuntu on a couple of laptops. and found life easier using 32 bit.
Mageia is a community fork of mandriva

http://www.mageia.org/en/

http://www.mandriva.com/en/

an downloading mandriva 2011 64bit has there looks to be some improvements .

as for antivirus - I use clam on Linux machines . in this world your mad not to have something, as even if it doesn't effect your Linux box a usb stick/email may transfer it to a windows device....