OMFG LINUX! (TEH DEVIL)

Again, again and again, Ubuntu. You can not find a better distribution for most users need right now. In fact, I'd use it for anything unless it's for a very performance heavy, mission critical server.

Please note that by default, Ubuntu only has totally free software in the repositories (That means no mp3 codecs and various other stuff). You have to enable access to the non-free packages in the package manager options dialog.

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Original post by jfclavette Again, again and again, Ubuntu. You can not find a better distribution for most users need right now. Please note that by default, Ubuntu only has totally free software in the repositories (That means no mp3 codecs and various other stuff). You have to enable access to the non-free packages in the package manager options dialog.

Does that mean that you need to PAY to play MP3's?
Or you just need to "activate" it?

Isn't there a forums here for unix/linux based questions?

But ubuntu or however they spell it (my aferican langauges are a little rusty,... even english is rusty since I've been up too long) seems nice from playing around with a live CD.

However, it doesn't like you having a Wacom Tablet plugged in :P

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Original post by ktuluorion Quote: Original post by jfclavette Again, again and again, Ubuntu. You can not find a better distribution for most users need right now. Please note that by default, Ubuntu only has totally free software in the repositories (That means no mp3 codecs and various other stuff). You have to enable access to the non-free packages in the package manager options dialog. Does that mean that you need to PAY to play MP3's? Or you just need to "activate" it?

You need to activate it, since MP3 isn't a free format. Theoretically, you aren't legally allowed to make software that uses MP3 without paying royalties. (IANAL, maybe someone can clarify.) Every time you have questions, google for Ubuntu some topic, and you're bound to find an answer.

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Original post by ktuluorion Does that mean that you need to PAY to play MP3's? Or you just need to "activate" it?

Just that you need to activate it. Ubuntu takes the concept of "free speech" free software to the extreme by only defaulting software that is entirely open source and freely redistributable.

Thanks fellas. I guess i'll have to check out ubantu.

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Original post by ktuluorion Thanks fellas. I guess i'll have to check out ubantu.

before deciding to be elite learn to spell ubuntu correctly, oh and btw, from one zealot to another, ubuntu is such a newb distro, which only window wannabe noobs use!!!!!1!

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Original post by ktuluorion Thanks fellas. I guess i'll have to check out ubantu.

Adding the MP3 libraries and the like to Ubuntu is a matter of going into their Aptitude package manager and checking a box to enable the "universe" repositories -- basically you then have to deal with the legality of whatever you download from then on with respect to software patents and the like.

MP3 isn't distributed with most modern Linux distributions due to the Fraunhoefer Group's recent increases in licensing lawsuits. There are also DeCSS packages, XViD codecs, etc that aren't available in the mainstream Ubuntu package pile for the same reason.

Well, if you want a strictly user-friendly distro, then yeah, go with Ubuntu. However, if what you want is to learn a lot then I'd go with Gentoo.

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Original post by eedok Quote: Original post by ktuluorion Thanks fellas. I guess i'll have to check out ubantu. before deciding to be elite learn to spell ubuntu correctly, oh and btw, from one zealot to another, ubuntu is such a newb distro, which only window wannabe noobs use!!!!!1!

the 1337 haxxors use debian!

Real men use Gentoo, Stage 1 Gentoo.

Sadly, I am not a real man, I use Arch.

I would highly recommend SuSE. I didn't like it one bit, but it is hellishly easy to get running.

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Original post by Richy2k Real men use Gentoo, Stage 1 Gentoo. Sadly, I am not a real man, I use Arch. I would highly recommend SuSE. I didn't like it one bit, but it is hellishly easy to get running.

Real men realise it doesn't matter.

I use Archlinux and I'm super happy with it! Because I had to install everything step by step, I have better knowledge of how the system is built up, and all the installation went without problems even though I had never used Linux before (had some help from someone else tho).

If you don't have firefox installed, you just type "pacman -Ss firefox" and firefox is automatically downloaded and installed, and then you just have to type "firefox" to run it, or make a KDE icon to that command :)

I would recommend Suse. The huge advantage of that distribution is that it's basically a commercial Linux. Other than Ubuntu, it comes with a shitload of commercial and closed source software, in addition to the usual open source. Since Suse is now owned by Novell, software patents aren't much of an issue, since Novell paid for them.

And since Suse is the distribution commonly used by large corporations, you'll find a lot of hardware support specifically targeted at Suse. This can help a lot if you're a beginner, and don't want to manually adapt the installation scripts to a different distribution.

If you really want to be elite, I suggest using a BSD variant. I particularly like OpenBSD, but if you're new to the whole scene then PC-BSD is an excellent entry-level FreeBSD distribution. It comes with KDE, I believe, and I find that to be superior to Ubuntu's default GNOME.

If you want a KDE system and like Ubuntu though, there is an Ubuntu variant called Kubuntu that has KDE defaulted.

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Original post by jfclavette You need to activate it, since MP3 isn't a free format. Theoretically, you aren't legally allowed to make software that uses MP3 without paying royalties. (IANAL, maybe someone can clarify.)

The MP3 Licensing FAQ (brought to us by the owners of the MP3 patents) has this to say:

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However, no license is needed for private, non-commercial activities (e.g., home-entertainment, receiving broadcasts and creating a personal music library), not generating revenue or other consideration of any kind or for entities with associated annual gross revenue less than US$ 100 000.00.

However, if you want to use MP3 in a commercial project, i'd highly recommend either:
a) getting a lawyer
b) using Ogg Vorbis instead

I'm also a linux noob, but I want to make a file server that works from windows/linux environments with no extra software on the client side. I've heard samba could meet those needs, but how easy is it to setup Ubuntu with samba?

Are there any linux distros that recognize NTFS partitions?

Open Solaris or Solaris 10. Both are free. Real unix.