talkmagic.co.uk

Sorry, another pc debate re os's and "stuff"

Not sure why...but all of a sudden I have this overbearing urge to move away from MS Windows as much as possible (don't get me wrong I work day in day out with Windows (I'm a window cleaner, in IT that's a never ending thankless task!) and have not got any issues with it per se (other than the crashes and the need to reinstall to tidy up but these have all been covered before).

I'm looking for some advice on which distribution, it's really a home pc this'll be used for, most likely in a dual boot setup there's some things (because of work) that I need windows for, and don't really want to go down the emulation route, and hard drive space isn't a problem so...db it is!

I'd need home apps, like photo management, linking with digital camera, music, dvd, internet etc. you get the idea. Which I know all exist for linux, but I know which distribution depends on the use it's being put to...to some extent!

if you're using a linux distribution, which one? and why? anything you consider to be an annoyance about it?

I've looked at Ubuntu, and if anyone has any advice on this distribution then great, but I'm after info. on any distribution really.

Thanks in advance.

lmw

EDIT: Removed unnecessary extra N from distributions name!!!

Ubuntu's a lovely little domestic distro. Very stable, too. It will see your Windows shares without a problem, it updates itself online, carries a full Office-compatible suite, tons of games and other software, etc. It'll dual boot with Windows by installing its own boot loader and giving you the option to boot windows form there.

As someone who works with linux every day, I'd recommend Ubuntu, without a shadow of a doubt.

I use Debian, but that's because most of my work is server based.

Thanks...to you both that's exactly what I was after...some people who have a working knowledge!

So, I've managed to repartition my HD, and get it installed in a dual boot environment, well I say I, as you'll know Ubuntu has done most of the work for me!!!!

Off to tidy up the install, the latest challenge is getting video working through firefox, I've got mplayer installed...I've read there's a plugin required from somewhere!

From what I've seen, I'm impressed, I'm struggling getting used to some of the terminal stuff, but that's to be expected, after all it's like starting out again for me, although there are some parallels and there is a basic knowledge transferable from Windows which is speeding up the process!

Thanks again.

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/fix-for-mplayer-in-firefox-under-ubuntu-is-not-working.html

That should sort the firefox plugin thing out. You may need some codecs sometimes.

You'll also need to install flash by hand, probably.

The first terminal command to learn is "man" which lets you read the manual for a command. So the first command you'll type is "man man" which lets you read the manual for the "man" command.

Email me with any questions regarding linux.

Marvell wrote:http://www.ubuntugeek.com/fix-for-mplayer-in-firefox-under-ubuntu-is-not-working.html

That should sort the firefox plugin thing out. You may need some codecs sometimes.

You'll also need to install flash by hand, probably.

The first terminal command to learn is "man" which lets you read the manual for a command. So the first command you'll type is "man man" which lets you read the manual for the "man" command.

I'll check all of that out when I get back from work!

I've managed to get flash working, as far as I can tell, I believe YouTube uses flash and that seems ok.

Marvell wrote:Email me with any questions regarding linux.

Again, thanks, I'll take you up on this at some point in the future I'm sure!

lmw.