[jaybirdy2k]

I did a search but it seams like there are so many Linux OS. This will be my first HTPC build and my first time using Linux. I will be mainly watching and backing up my BluRay movies.


Which Linux OS are you using?


What add-ons are you using? XBMC MythTv Boxee??

 

[quantumstate]

I've used Debian for 12 years.


But Kubuntu, which is built on Debian, seems to be popular.

 

[newlinux]

I use ubuntu, but i use the long term releases (8.04 currently, will upgrade to 10.04 in a couple of months).


I use mythtv and xbmc

 

[wnewell]

It doesn't much matter. About the only difference is how they are packaged and the tools they use to interface with settings. I use Mandriva (RH spinoff) and Mythbuntu (Debian based) at present. I've also used Mythdora (Fedora based) and Knoppmyth (Debian based). One may setup your hardware better by default than the other. I run MythTV networked on all of them. The Mandriva one is my main server/desktop machine. All the others are just used as MythTV frontends for the most part.

 

[mythmaster]

If you'll just be watching BluRays, etc. and not live tv, then you could use XBMC Live which runs on Ubuntu Mobile. It can be installed to HD or SSD or flash drive or memory card (if the storage device is bootable by the BIOS). You can then install Wine and dvdfab to backup your BluRays.


For desktop apps, I prefer kubuntu because (a) I love KDE and (b) since ubuntu is the most popular distro, third-party apps always have packages for it.

 

[tux99]

Mandriva here, since it's IMHO the most polished distro. Relatively easy for beginners (due to the very comprehensive and easy to use Mandriva Control Center application and the fact that you get the proprietary Ati or Nvidia drivers and the Flash plugin all installed by default) while flexible enough to be equally useful for Linux experts.


The choice of packages is wast, very few packages aren't available in the official repos, but those few are then usually available from third party repos.


Also since for work I deal with Redhat Enterprise Linux based systems, I like the fact that Mandriva is similar to Redhat (same RPM package system and other similarities).

 

[Mac The Knife]



Quote:
Originally Posted by wnewell /forum/post/18172368


It doesn't much matter. About the only difference is how they are packaged and the tools they use to interface with settings. ...

Yeah that's the conclusion that I'm reaching too.


You're almost better off picking a distro based on whichever package management tools you like best, YUM vs. YAST vs. Synaptic vs. [whatever RHEL is using these days]


All the distros seem to be converging on using the same kernel version and having all the same packages available. It's usually just a matter of a few months as to which distro has which package first. And it doesn't seem as though anyone is consistently "first to market".

 

[mythmaster]

I've always hated the RPM system. I prefer Debian's (and by extension, Ubuntu's) package system, but I'd still rather build everything from scratch with Portage in Gentoo.


Unfortunately, if you go professional and have to buy commercial software for Linux, then your only two choices are Red Hat and SUSE. So, you might as well get used to RPM's.

 

[Mac The Knife]

^^^ That's been the case the for many years. But I think we are just barely starting to see a microscopic crack in that case since IBM is now teaming with Canonical to provide desktop solutions for their enterprise customers.


But, for the foreseeable future, RHEL and SUSE are still the 'go to' providers for professional use.

 

[mythmaster]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac The Knife /forum/post/18173517


...IBM is now teaming with Canonical to provide desktop solutions for their enterprise customers.

That's good news. I love how IBM has always embraced open source (to an extent) while other companies such as Oracle have not. Oracle will have to deal with it now, though, since they've acquired Sun.


IBM still knows where the money is, though. How much does their clustered filesystem cost????? Wow. They took a page from Microsoft licensing on that one.

 

[Phantom Gremlin]

Following is a joke. I'm not trying to troll, since I don't really have enough experience with various Linux versions to have any strong feelings on which version is best.


I recently saw someone's sig, maybe on slashdot: Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'

 

[mythmaster]

lol

 

[Lost Dog]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Phantom Gremlin /forum/post/18175127


Following is a joke. I'm not trying to troll, since I don't really have enough experience with various Linux versions to have any strong feelings on which version is best.


I recently saw someone's sig, maybe on slashdot: Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'

That made me giggle like a little girl...


As for my systems...


Two desktops running Debian Testing (Squeeze), one server running Debian Old Stable and my Mythtv HTPC running Debian Stable (Lenny).

 

[blackoper]

I kind of cheat and just run mythbuntu (ubuntu based distro with lightweight windowing system of XFCE). I like the preconfigured time saving it provides. I've used Fedora-core, Fedora, Kubuntu, Ubuntu, CentOS and freebsd (backend only) and just prefer mythbuntu.

 

[mythmaster]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Phantom Gremlin /forum/post/18175127

Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'

I'm still laughing about this, but then again I'm pretty drunk.

 

[colonpowell]

I use Ubuntu -- seems like there's a lot of easy to find help online for it.