Well, MS is being smarter than we thought they would be, releasing RC2 of Vista to the CPP masses. You can go ahead and use it if you've got a product key from Beta 2 or RC1; I'm downloading now (0.3% done, ~90 hrs remaining).
A little more info and download links here:
http://blogs.technet.com/windowsvista/archive/2006/10/06/Windows-Vista-RC2-is-now-available-to-technical-beta-testers_2100_.aspx
In other news, Firefox 2 RC2 was also released recently, go have a look:
http://developer.mozilla.org/devnews/index.php/2006/10/06/firefox-2-release-candidate-2-is-now-available-for-download/

I'm planning on building a new computer right around when it comes out, so I'll probably put it on. I'm good enough on Linux to use it as a main OS, and I'm not paying for XP right before Vista comes out.

RC1 is now a publicly available to non-CPP masses

I also plan on building a new computer sometimes soon after they are released (and amd quad core processors prices go down a little) So I think it would be nice to have it on there (and I could get upgrade and use it with my xp disk)

I built a system over the summer, but I still need an OS for it, so I'll probably just wait and get Vista for it. (Linux doesn't like the PATA on my board so I'm using Vista betas)

As of right now, I can't use Vista for lack of DVD Drive. Even then, I'd probably want more than 512MB of RAM.
Yeah, I built my system a little weird...

What board? Did you try some of the kernel boot options?

I built my system over the summer aswell, and its a beast! AMD X2 4200+, 7900GT, 2gb DDR2 800 RAM, Asus Deluxe nForce 590 SLI mobo... yummy...

Speaking of comps...I have *FINALLY* figured out was was wrong with my RAM; turns out the 1GB stick that I have is just fine. Long story short, I need a new mobo (And goddammit I JUST bought a new vid card last week )

rofl, TIME TO UPGRADE BABY!!! W000000!!!

Here's a lessen for you, never, ever by crappy or cheap motherboards (as cheap motherboards are more than likely crappy ones)

Well, I can't exactly afford to buy non-cheapo parts...after all, my comp is preety much built out of DonorWareTM

(That and I bought this mobo over 2 years ago...and to upgrade it would mean I'd have to upgrade my proc and my vid card, and I currently have no $$$ to do that Still looking for a job though...)

Yeah, but the price difference between a cheap motherboard and a good one isn't large enough to cover the much more likely chance of failure or problems on the cheapo one (good motherboards can usually be had for $100 to $150 - not all that much more than $50-80 for a cheap one that will likely fail, be very slow, be unstable, or any of the above )

What CPU you got, anyway?

Why would you have to upgrade your proc and video card just to get a new mobo? Can't you find a mobo with the same type of hardware compatibility?

If I'm going to upgrade I'm not going to keep the same proc and vid card That's the point of an upgrade.

Also, I've just received a new BIOS from my motherboard's manufacturer...maybe I'll test that out (oh, and this new BIOS isn't even listed on their site )

Yeah, they do that sometimes. I"m running on a "beta" bios for my mobo that I found on the gentoo forums. The only thing different that I can tell is that it fixes some problems that were occuring in linux (having to run with a noapic option, occasional kernel locks, etc..) - which is probably why it isn't listed on their website

BIOS flash didn't fix it...hmm...it doesn't look too good for my mobo right now

It's a Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3; the problem is that the 965 chipset has no integrated PATA, so it uses a JMicron chip for the PATA controller. There's some evil stuff going on in the kernel which ends up stuffing the controller into AHCI mode, causing me to lose the PATA. There's a page kinda about this on the Ubuntu wiki (the page is titled "Core 2 Duo Support" or something like that.)

MY comp really hates me now; I've been using the same "destroyed/damaged" monitor that I used for my projector (I had the projector up and running at one point, but it looked WAY too ugly and unstable and while trying to improve upon the design I forgot to provide adequate ventilation and I overheating my LCD panel); so I've had to live with a freakish monitor for the past ten months, and today it just went completely blank on me After much surgery I was able to display again, although now it's in really, really bad shape and I can't even make out what's on the left side of the screen anymore Why must everything fail when I have no cash...

Murphy's Law?

Murphy does seem to explain a lot...

Strange thing about that. Too bad; I experimented with a really old passive matrix LCD, but needless to say, the image quality was not up to par for a projector.