Light fastest linux request!

1, The fastest distributions would be ones that you have to build basically from scratch like Linux From Scratch or Gentoo, but to get the best optimization you need to know exactly what you are doing.

2. Yes, Adobe provides Linux packages, however the version may not always be the same version that has been released to window users.

3. No, DirectX is a proprietary microsoft technology that cannot be ported to other operating systems. The latest update on DirectX compatibility can be found at http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/directx-11-coming-to-linux-games-to-follow-whoa-slow-down-there/9776

1. The PPC system will be an issue, all windows application emulators run only on 32-bit x86 systems, so there is no potential of emulating windows based applications on that system.

2. The current version available for Linux based systems is 10.1.102.65, based upon your chosen distribution the installation methods vary. But flash may be another case were it was only built to run on x86 systems.

3. The windows emulators I know of are wine, cedega, crossover office and crossover games.

The big thing about your request is that the windows based programs are based upon the windows proprietary libraries and technologies, to get those program to work on other systems requires software engineering and reverse engineering which is a slow and painful process. If you really want to start working on a Linux based system you should first look for a good PPC based distro at www.distrowatch.com, then look for native applications with functionality similar to your windows apps.

For a new user I generally would recommend ubuntu or fedora, but they are not quite what you would consider light. In your case I recommend looking into Debian.