I've created a version of Linux called Mediapup. It's designed specifically for people wanting to edit and create media (video, audio, photo, and DVD authoring). It contains many editing, conversion and authoring programs, all free. It also has WINE for running some Windows programs.
It's described here:
http://www.puppylinux.org/?q=downloads/puplets/mediapup
It's based on a recent version of Puppy Linux, and is designed to run on older hardware. Some of the latest hardware won't run it, but just about anything with a Pent 2 through 4 and parallel drives will. And a lot of more modern stuff will. too.
It's completely self-contained and can be run directly off of the CD without installing it in any way.
Or you can create a "personal savefile" for all your settings and any additional linux programs. (This just looks like a file in your normal HD filesystem.)
Or with a little more work you can do a dual boot system with what is called a "frugal install". You need to know a little more about Puppy Linux to do this -- but there's a very good forum for that
However, it is easiest to check out by running direct from the CD, and for occasional video editing, this is all that's needed.
If you get a message saying "kernel panic", don't panic, just remove the CD and reboot -- it just means it won't run on your hardware.
Finally, yes it can be slow to download this package, because I don't have a good host to sponsor it, I've been hoping it would end up on the bittorrents, or someone else would host it.
Maybe I'll post some how-tos later here for how I use it with pulsejet videos
Free Tools for Editing Pulsejet Videos
Moderator: Mike Everman
Free Tools for Editing Pulsejet Videos
No problem is too small or trivial if we can really do something about it.
Richard Feynman
Richard Feynman