[mythtv] System Plans

[Syclone]

I'm planning on taking the plunge soon, installing some distro of Linux and
MythTV.  I'm a Linux newb, and have been following this list for a few weeks
to get an idea of what I'm getting into.  I would appreciate any suggestions
about hardware that I might have missed:

System as it currently stands:

Athlon 1.2 Ghz
Iwill KK266R
Hercules Geforce 1 DDR w/TV Out
256 MB RAM
C-Media CMI-87383D onboard sound
Maxtor 40GB D740X HD
I/O Magic PC PVR (Supposedly a Pinnacle)
Pac Bell remote

I've seen posts here saying the onboard sound may not be full duplex in
Linux.  I do have a couple of old Aureal based cards, but I don't know what
drivers look like under linux since Aureal was assimilated by Creative.  I
would love to not have to buy a Creative based sound card to get this
running, but I will if I have to.  (Had a customer support nightmare with
them during the TNT days, and haven't given them any money since).  Are
there any other good sound cards that will work besides Creative stuff?
What about a Hercules Foritissmo 2 based on the Cirrus CS4624 chip?  I've
got a couple of those in various boxes now that could be moved.

I guess my questions are is there any hope for the sound, and has anybody
used the IOMagic (or Pinnacle PCTV) TV card?  Anything else look suspect in
my hardware?

>From what I've read, there are tools in Linux to handle the overscan on
Nvidia cards, similar to TVTool that I use in Windows.  Is that true?

As for which distro of Linux, I think I'll try Debian, since that seems
popular here.  Any reason a newbie should pic another for a box that will be
running MythTV and little else?

Finally, I just want to thank all working on development of what appears to
be a very nice app that I think will really take off soon as people find it.

Andy