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ToadOfSteel
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12 Feb 2009, 2:27 pm

I'm running linux on a media center computer. Currently, I'm using ubuntu, since I'm still a bit of a linux tard learnign the ropes as it were...

What I want to ask is what is a good distro for a media center? I want to be able to run audio and video, as well as running stuff like Gimp, a movie file editor, and Blender...



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12 Feb 2009, 2:41 pm

There's Medibuntu, which is Ubuntu optimized for media-related crap, and Linux Mint, which is Ubuntu with a lot of the proprietary plugins/codecs preinstalled so you don't have to fight to get Flash working. I think Medibuntu sounds like a good first try, but I've never tried it as I have no use for most of the media apps.


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spudnik
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12 Feb 2009, 2:59 pm

Ubuntu Studio, is what I use right now, with MythTv, there is a MythBuntu distro too
http://www.mythbuntu.org/



yesplease
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12 Feb 2009, 3:28 pm

Arch.



Orwell
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12 Feb 2009, 3:35 pm

yesplease wrote:
Arch.

That's not really a media-centric distro. Nor is it suitable for someone new to Linux.


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yesplease
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12 Feb 2009, 4:21 pm

I agree it's not limited to media-centric use, it's a light weight install what ya want approach. Otoh, I disagree about it's suitability for someone new to linux, since the support is great and almost everything is well documented. The greatest difference is having to edit config files a bit more, which could be a problem w/o distro-specific documentation, but since it's present it's just as newbie friendly as other distros. I suppose an exception would be if the newbie can't edit configuration files, but in that case I would say that they are borderline computer illiterate, not just a linux newbie.



ToadOfSteel
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12 Feb 2009, 4:28 pm

RTFM isn't the way to get more people to like your distro...



yesplease
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12 Feb 2009, 4:47 pm

ToadOfSteel wrote:
RTFM isn't the way to get more people to like your distro...
What are you talking about?



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12 Feb 2009, 6:59 pm

yesplease wrote:
ToadOfSteel wrote:
RTFM isn't the way to get more people to like your distro...
What are you talking about?


RTFM is short hand for "read the <farking> manual". Its a less than friendly response at many linux distro support forums. It sets an entry-competence level that excludes newbies.

I dont think every distro should be aimed at newbies. RTFM is as harsh as the distro maintainers feel it should be. But it precludes their whining about their lack of wide spread adoption.


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yesplease
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12 Feb 2009, 7:08 pm

I know what RTFM stands for, but it's the context I don't understand. What I was suggesting had nothing to do w/ R'ing TF'ing M, but basic command line/file editing stuff w/r/t Orwell's response to my post.



Orwell
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12 Feb 2009, 7:11 pm

yesplease wrote:
I agree it's not limited to media-centric use, it's a light weight install what ya want approach. Otoh, I disagree about it's suitability for someone new to linux, since the support is great and almost everything is well documented. The greatest difference is having to edit config files a bit more, which could be a problem w/o distro-specific documentation, but since it's present it's just as newbie friendly as other distros. I suppose an exception would be if the newbie can't edit configuration files, but in that case I would say that they are borderline computer illiterate, not just a linux newbie.

I don't think I've ever manually edited a config file, aside from copy-pasting some stuff from the Ubuntu Macbook wiki for the touchpad setup.


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yesplease
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12 Feb 2009, 7:39 pm

If there's no requirement to then I don't see why you would, but that doesn't mean the newbiest of newbies can't type "nano /my/dir/and/file" and make some changes and/or copy/pastes. It seems to come down to personal preferences, which is why I mentioned arch for the reasons I outlined above. If I were recommending LFS or even Gentoo, then I could see concerns since there's a lot more that can go wrong when compiling stuff, but arch is just like most other distros during install and once that's done, login as root, type "pacman -S I want this package and this package and so on", copy/paste in the config files just like ya would in any other distro, and Bob's your uncle.



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12 Feb 2009, 7:45 pm

yesplease wrote:
If there's no requirement to then I don't see why you would, but that doesn't mean the newbiest of newbies can't type "nano /my/dir/and/file" and make some changes and/or copy/pastes. It seems to come down to personal preferences, which is why I mentioned arch for the reasons I outlined above. If I were recommending LFS or even Gentoo, then I could see concerns since there's a lot more that can go wrong when compiling stuff, but arch is just like most other distros during install and once that's done, login as root, type "pacman -S I want this package and this package and so on", copy/paste in the config files just like ya would in any other distro, and Bob's your uncle.

You know what, I'm going to go right now and put Arch in virtualbox. I've been meaning to get around to looking at it for a while.


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12 Feb 2009, 7:52 pm

yesplease wrote:
I know what RTFM stands for, but it's the context I don't understand. What I was suggesting had nothing to do w/ R'ing TF'ing M, but basic command line/file editing stuff w/r/t Orwell's response to my post.

I don't think you're converting anyone to using arch linux.

Many noobs don't want to have to learn a bunch of commands to do stuff on their computer. Something you fail to see, for some unknown reason.


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12 Feb 2009, 7:53 pm

Orwell wrote:
You know what, I'm going to go right now and put Arch in virtualbox. I've been meaning to get around to looking at it for a while.


you should try out openbsd or freebsd :wink:


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12 Feb 2009, 8:01 pm

Dokken wrote:
Orwell wrote:
You know what, I'm going to go right now and put Arch in virtualbox. I've been meaning to get around to looking at it for a while.


you should try out openbsd or freebsd :wink:

I tried putting FreeBSD on an old iMac once. I didn't even get past the partitioner.


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