[PlanetCCRMA] Gentoo vs. Fedora 1/2, plus Q's about my hardware

[Patrick - DJUnderground.com]

Wow, so much information is available for the topic of linux audio
most people don't know where to start.  I chose to start here, which
hopefully was a good decision.  I'll try to make this short and sweet
as possible, without boring everyone to death...

What I do/want to do:
Beginner/Intermediate Producer who uses Reason
Planning on expanding and learning VST's
Wants to "be different" from the masses, and is convinced Linux is
more stable for audio than windows is.  Would love to use Macs, but
has to work with what he has.

My Setup:
(System 1)
Dell Inspiron 8200 1.70ghz Pentium 4-Mobile
512mb RAM
40gb hard drive
M-Audio Quattro USB
Evolution MK-225C Keyboard

(System 2)
HP Pavilion 7865
AMD Athlon 1.2ghz
512mb RAM
80gb hard drive
M-Audio Quattro USB
Evolution MK-225C Keyboard

Now, the questions...

Which Kernel to use?
It looks as if 2.4.x is the way to go.  Is there any specific 2.4.x
kernel to use?  Why not use 2.6.x?  Is there any downfall whatsoever
to using 2.6, and is it not recommended?  I'm not looking to spend a
million hours trying to figure out what's wrong - instead I'd rather
use something that will work.

Gentoo vs Fedora 1/2
I've grown quite fond of Gentoo over the past few months, mainly
because of its ability to fine tune and tweak the kernel to the exact
specs you want it to.  On the other hand, I use Fedora Core 2 on my
VPS for all my web hosting clients.  I actually installed FC2 on the
Pavilion and was quite impressed at how quick and painless it was to
install.  FC2 compared to Gentoo is simple, so simple I thought I
missed a step with the automatic install :)

After reading up on http://www.gentoo-wiki.com, I noticed that the
CCRMA has a couple ebuilds for Gentoo, which are based on the Redhat
install.  Do these ebuilds work as effectively as the Redhat/Fedora
kernels, and if not, what's wrong with them?  Basically, I'm trying to
get the lowdown as to why Fedora Core 1/2 is still being used over
Gentoo, aside from personal preference.

Q's about my hardware
With my M-Audio Quattro and Evolution MK-225C keyboard, will I run
into any problems trying to get these items to work under FC1/2 or
Gentoo?

Any users who have similar experience, or knowledge to share, I'd love
for you to respond.  Please, enlighten me, as porting over to linux is
something I would love to do.


-- 
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Patrick