Seeking a concise Linux installation checklist

[joe at actionline.com]

== Eric last wrote:
> You certainly do want your base OS which runs on the HW to be as
> reliable as possible. Any reason why you can't put your "old reliable"
> distro on the bare iron, then run VB on that with everything else as
> VMs? That's what I would shoot for.

It is my understanding that my "old reliable" system is too old to get
VB/VM working on it.  I can do everything else on "old reliable" and it
works incredibly much faster, more efficiently, and absolutely without
problems ... whereas every newer distro I have tried has given me fits.  I
detest KDE4 and I detest "updates" that inevitably break something.  I
just did an "update" on one of my newer boxes and, sure enough after the
"update" the system locked up, the keyboard lights started blinking, and I
had a dickens of a time getting it to boot up.  I have tried more than a
dozen different "newer" distros and every time ... EVERY time, that has
brought annoying problems.

Whereas "old reliable" (which I have on three other boxes) NEVER breaks,
NEVER fails me, NEVER causes me any frustrations.