So your chosen Linux-based Distro isn't easy to install and user-friendly?
What chosen Linux-based Distro [sic]?
To be honest, I'm just looking for a good Linux OS to try out, whether it be Ubuntu, Debian, or whatever. I'm open to suggestions.
You're probably best off trying a few and using whichever you like best. As I am most familiar with Debian, however, if you start with that I will be best able to provide support.
Compatibility with my Xonar DS and GTX460 would be a great start, though.
A Google search for "xonar ds linux" brings up
this thread on the first page, which tells us that the Xonar DS is supported as of Linux 2.6.34. This means that the latest Debian GNU/Linux stable release won't be compatible with it, if you use the default 2.6.32 kernel. However, you can install
Linux 2.6.38 from backports to gain support for it.
Visiting the
nouveau wiki, we see that the GTX 460 is a member of the
NVC0 family, which is
mostly supported. Unfortunately, nVidia has decided to make these cards require non-free firmware, and so using
the proprietary driver from nVidia is probably the only way for a non-technical user to gain support for them at this time.