gonX

Regarding the Deathadder question, there's a (supposedly) nice program here:
http://www.bu3sch.de/joomla/index.ph...en-config-tool

Unfortunately it segfaults for me so I haven't tried it. It seems to work perfectly by booting into Windows first, and setting the settings there though - although that only works for the DPI.

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binormalkilla

ok so:
media player: just install vlc for video and amarok for music. Both a great and should be in the repositories of any distro.

wireless drivers:
depending on what card you have and what encryption you use you will need to install the firmware package for your wireless card if you're running a distro like Arch, Gentoo, Slackware, etc.., but Ubuntu and the likes will most likely have it covered from the start.
If you use WPA encryption on you will need an app called wpa_supplicant. This will convert your password into a hex string and put it in a nice little file called wpa_supplicant.conf.
If you run Ubuntu network manager should do that for you, and I would suggest this if it's your first venture into Linux.

You can partition whatever you want. Just run:
sudo fdisk -l
find your hard drive, if you only have one then it's /dev/sda1 and sda2 since it's partitioned twice.
if you want to wipe it then just
sudo parted
to enter the parted command line, then
mkpartfs
select fs, partition beginning and ending point in MB, etc.
Again if you use (as Pink said, an 'auto' distro) you will have a nice GUI that will walk you through your partitions.
Good torrent clients are transmission, ktorrent, whatever TBH.

For IM many use Pidgeon, though I haven't really done the whole IM thing in years....

You might want to try a few different desktop environments. I personally like KDE, but it's a bit more resource intensive than, say, LXDE of XFCE. Many like Gnome, but I prefer KDE over it any day. The Plasma workspace rocks.......I love my plasmoids.

I'm going to test out ext4 on a 750GB drive right now in Arch....I've never tried it. I would go with ext3 for stability's sake. I'm sure ext4 is decently stable if you're not running a mission critical machine, which I take it you're not.

If you have a few rigs on your network then get Samba. It's extremely easy to configure, and can be complicated beyond your wildest dreams (domain controller, etc.).
For a first timer I would go Ubuntu, Fedora with KDE or Gnome, openSUSE with KDE or Gnome, or possibly Knoppix. (though the $PATH needs a little tweaking to run common commands from a terminal, which you probably won't do much at first.)
Really I would just get out a flash drive and this app:
http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
then test as many as possible. It can screw up the image on some distros, so if you encounter errors post them here (if you try SUSE or Arch you will have to modify slightly, but it's really easy)

Well there's my 2 cents, so welcome to the dark side.

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-iceblade^

1. you're right... assuming you're using Ubuntu / Mint / Debian, you'll find the repositories have TONS of apps... for replacing Winamp there is Rhythmbox / Audacity / Exaile and many others... for codecs, just use the Ubuntu Restricted Extras package (or alternatively the Gstreamer / Xine codecs - codecs get installed (in Ubuntu) whenever you add new music to your library for the first time). an alternative for MPC would be VLC (yes, VLC owns) or alternatively Mplayer or Totem. if you use Mint, the codecs will be installed automagically when the distro is installed

2. from what i hear, wireless should work well out of the box... if not, look for the ndiswrapper package... it should work though

3. you'll get an option to enable restricted drivers once the distro has installed, just follow the instructions then... pretty easy... be warned, ATI + Linux does not always play nicely, especially when it comes to gaming. for your soundcard and folding, i do not know.

4. my Krait reports to Ubuntu and Mint that it is a Krait. Phoronix also say they managed to get razer mice working well, but i do not know if you'll be able to get the specific program for adjusting the precise mouse settings to work...

5. in Ubuntu / Mint, the GUI is pretty comprehensive and you don't need to go into the command line unless you want to from my experience... i have to say, for Ease of Use, Mint wins out - Ubuntu tends to need quite a bit of configuration when first installed...

6. i don't know for Trillian, but Pidgin works well and is also on Windows... give it a whirl... You could also try Emesene and there are a few others..

7. i stick with Transmission but others swear by Deluge... i THINK there's an azureus vuse client out for Linux, and if all that fails using WINE you can get utorrent to work

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binormalkilla

You're right, there is a Vuze client for Linux. You still have to install Java though
I would stick with Transmission or ktorrent. I've never tried deluge, but maybe I should.

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