[ardour-users] Newbie sick of windows!

[lewis.jon at att.net]

Greetings,
I  just bought a new system for my DAW. I am currently windows based (excuse my profanity), and am VERY interested in going Linux. I have to confess that I am new to Linux, and I do not know where to start. Reading the documentation at Planet CCRMA only made me more confused. The questions that I know of at this point are: Which distribution of Linux? Should I go 64 bit? What file system should I use? And, how necessary is the Planet CCRMA RPM? This is my system configuration:

AMD Athlon 64 3200 939 pin (single)
Gigabyte K8NS mobo (nForce3)
1 gb DDR 400 (2-matched Kingston 512 mb)
2-80 gb Segate 7200 rpm sata drives (1-os, 1-audio)
Matrox G550 32 mb dual head video card
M-Audio Delta 1010 audio card

I had originally thought to go with the 64 bit version of Fedora 3 to maximize my processor's capabilities, but reading some of the threads here makes me think that it may not be up to par. Also, I do not have a way to access the Internet from my new machine (short of taking it to work) and CCRMA does not offer an ISO for Fedora 3. I intend it to do NOTHING BUT audio so it does not have a modem and I only have dial-up.  Even if I could take it to work, I would have to transport it every time I needed to make an upgrade. 

Concerning the file system, my consideration is mostly that I need to (at least until I get Linux working) have a dual boot system with windows. This is due to the fact that I need to keep my studio running, and realize that it will probably take quite a while to get Linux up, especially with my limited time and knowledge. I have read a few threads about Linux file systems and realize that the best option will not be compatible with windows. Should I also partition my audio drive to accommodate both platforms until I am ready to completely scrap windows (just the thought assures me that there is a God)?

Thanks in advance,
Jon