64bit os. help pls, newbie

petersonlevi88

I know nothing about Linux. I am running win 7 ultimate, but want a 64bit os to utilize my ram. I mostly do movies and music< but like the ability to do anything should I desire. any reccomendations from exp users on which Linux to download???

petersonlevi88

Also, I need a free bios flash upgrade. Any reccomends???

woboyle

The BIOS upgrade you'll need to get from the system manufacturer. They are always (usually) free to download and install. Most any current Linux system will do your audio/video playback just fine, although BluRay DRM-encumbered playback is still an issue with Linux. There are tools to extract the videos and put them on your system in Mastroika (.mkv) format with full fidelity to the source disc, up to the full 1080p HD format. FWIW, I use a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 clone (Scientific Linux) on my workstation at home for a lot of serious A/V processing tasks, although I have to admit that I don't have a BD drive - I am limited to DVD (720p) discs, although my system happily handles extracted HD videos at 1080p. In any case, your video board will be your most important issue for what you say you want to do. I definitely recommend a decent (but not necessarily high-end) nVidia board for Linux systems.

petersonlevi88

Thanx Rubberman. I have the computer power. I'm running a 3Ghz dual core pentium d, 8 Gb DDR2 4200 ram and a 1080p Radeon graphics card. I'm still having problems with the friggin bios flash update. The manufacter wants me to pay $30 a year to update. I got an HP desktop, I know, crap. It runs good and strong though. My prob with the bios is that it only registers 6Gb ram

woboyle

HP wants $30 per year for BIOS updates? That sucks! Well, another reason NOT to buy HP gear! That's as bad as AT&T throttling their unlimited mobile users after 2-3GB / month of usage! Fark them both! So, either figure out a way for the system to recognize all of your memory (you are running 64-bit OS, right?), or get a new system, or reconcile yourself with 6GB of RAM, or start a lawsuit against the buggers for giving you less than advertised...

petersonlevi88

I am currently running win 7 ultimate 32bit. windows only uses 3.5Gb, but my bios only registers 6Gb. I want 64bit to use the ram and am unwilling to pay several hundred dollars for a new os. I got 4 sticks of 2Gb ram, but my bios reads the 2 secondary slots as 1Gb cause thats all my bios is capable of. there is an update avail to make it see more ram, but hp wants $. I would like to find a free, reliable site to get the bios flash for free. My last computer was a dell and windows update gave me the bios flash twice when it was avail. Not so with this HP. . I cant complain too much abou the HP tower though, I paid $17 for it and it runs fine and came with the win 7 installed. All I had to do was install larger ram and better graphics card.

petersonlevi88

Also, it is a media center pc, so it was fairly loaded already. card reader, lightscribe burner, HDTV tuner and fm tuner card and HDMI output and rca inputs x2 (yellow, red, white) and a 500Gb SATA HDD. My last tower had 2 500Gb sata runnin raid on the xp pro os

Goineasy9

Just an FYI - 32 bit Linux with a PAE kernel will address the extra ram. I still have 32 bit versions of Fedora and siduction running and the Fedora PAE kernel works well. We still don't have a PAE kernel in siduction, but if I wanted, I could always use a vanilla Debian Sid kernel.

petersonlevi88

Thanx GoingEasy9. I have another ? too. I have a wireless video transmitter. it is an "Internet Vue pc 2 tv unit. I am curious as to the exact setup. having trouble finding instructions on web site. I know that I have to have a wireless G router and could prob make a few educated guesses, but I tend to be rather busy and if someone could simplify things for me, it would be great. Also, can Fedora be burnt onto a disc for a later or mobile install?

Goineasy9

You're going to have to do some of the legwork on your own. The Internet Vue is for sending TV signals to your PC. I have no idea if it can be used as a stand alone wireless device. Only experimenting with it on your install and finding out what wireless chip it uses will give you clues on how and what it needs to set it up.

Fedora can be installed for mobile use, see this link for some of the methods used:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FedoraLiveCD/USBHowTo

petersonlevi88

I thought it was reverse on the internet vue?? pc to tv??

Goineasy9

It's your unit, I only googled it.