First thing about Linux:

Get the distro called AVLinux 6.0.4 while you can...

I downloaded and tested lots of Linux distros pointed by http://www.distrowatch.com and I found AVLinux to be the best one for audio/video/graphics work because it is solid, robust, stable, full of softwares already installed in the live DVD, easy to install, no need updates to work properly, can be installed without internet connection, and has the best kdenlive video editor version, the 0.9.10, the most stable and bug free, and also other useful softwares, handbrake for pulldown removal, blender for video stabilization, can configure keyboard for different languages, has gparted for disk partition, can use ext4 format for better system performance and fast boot, the desktop is lightweight and colors can be configured. It is the most perfect free software bundle for audio/video I could find. And an extra gift: kdenlive can do separate audio sync in timeline, yadif deinterlace, lanczos upscale and firewire capture for old dv/d8/hdv cameras. I am learning how to use these linux softwares and I am amazed by them. I also like gimp, libre office, inkscape and lots of audio softwares which comes in AVLinux... Jack audio and low latency kernel are included for better audio performance with audio interfaces. Synaptic Package Manager can install more software from debian repositories, mypaint, krita, and extcalc are good ones. Not sure but it seems to have drivers for Wacom devices. It can use onboard gpu or nvidia with custom drivers or nvidia drivers. This distro is 32bit, but has pae to use more memory. In terms of free software, I perceived that a stable and well configured 32bit system is better than an unstable and incomplete 64bit system.

If you want free software for audio/video AVLinux 6.0.4 is the way to go:

http://bandshed.net/AVLinux.html