> The ethernet driver is what "worries" me the most, since if that > doesn't work immediately I wouldn't be able to download anything else. HI, Have you checked the asus forums? I have a p5b-vm (totally different than your board of course) and found out: 1) my realtek ethernet didn't work until 2.6.19 (reportedly) -- not in 2.6.18 for sure (slapped in a cheap card though and am fine) 2) on a x86_64 (or PAE for that matter) only 3gb of memory is recognized by bios #2 is a bios issue and ASUS says this board is for Windows only so we won't do anything about it. I wish I'd read the forums closer before getting the board. I knew xen ran under it but apperantly that was with 3gb memory or less. http://vip.asus.com/forum/default.aspx?SLanguage=en-us Shawn