Debian Questions

Oct 25, 2006
11,036
11
91
After being an avid windows user, I've decided to try out Debian Linux on my laptop. After reading some documentation, I got the basic stuff set up. However, I have several questions.

1. Is there ANY gif support in Linux?
2. Is there any good GUI based music programs?
3. How do I install sound drivers? The OS recognizes the card, but I have no diea how to get sound to work
 

xSauronx

Lifer
Jul 14, 2000
19,582
4
81
Originally posted by: tenshodo13
After being an avid windows user, I've decided to try out Debian Linux on my laptop. After reading some documentation, I got the basic stuff set up. However, I have several questions.

1. Is there ANY gif support in Linux?
2. Is there any good GUI based music programs?
3. How do I install sound drivers? The OS recognizes the card, but I have no diea how to get sound to work

Since you're new to linux, start with this. You'll find that a lot of routine questions, problems and solutions in mainstream distros have been answered already. Instead of waiting on us, 5 minutes with google can answer what youve asked in many cases.

Also, be clear with your questions, they're all pretty vague. Do you want viewers? Editors? creators? players? Whats your sound card?

with routine questions, google is your friend. "linux audio players", "linux audio editors" "linux image viewers" or "linux $laptop_model sound support" will probably find what you want.

Also, for software, synaptic in Debian can let you search available packages. Open it, search for audio, or GIF, or whatever and see what comes up :)

 

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
30,672
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1. Is there ANY gif support in Linux?

Sure. FireFox displays them fine, I think GIMP can even create animated ones. It depends on what app you're talking about.

2. Is there any good GUI based music programs?

It depends on what you're looking for, audacity is a good basic audio editor.

3. How do I install sound drivers? The OS recognizes the card, but I have no diea how to get sound to work

If the kernel said it sees it then the drivers are there, you might just have to unmute it or switch outputs.
 
Oct 25, 2006
11,036
11
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1. When I say Gif support, I mean like Windows Picture Viewer. I'm using Comix to go through my pictures and Gif's wont play their animation. Firefox is too unwieldy to use unlike the Windows built in viewer. Is there anything that allows for easy viewing of all picture file types?

2. For this, I mean something like Foobar. I'm in love with that program, but I can't use it in Linux it seems without Wine. Is there anything as simple and fast as Foobar?



 

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
30,672
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2. For this, I mean something like Foobar. I'm in love with that program, but I can't use it in Linux it seems without Wine. Is there anything as simple and fast as Foobar?

I've never used Foobar, I don't even listen to music much but in the past I've used bmp (beep media player) which worked like WinAMP.
 

Brazen

Diamond Member
Jul 14, 2000
4,259
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0
Originally posted by: tenshodo13
1. When I say Gif support, I mean like Windows Picture Viewer. I'm using Comix to go through my pictures and Gif's wont play their animation. Firefox is too unwieldy to use unlike the Windows built in viewer. Is there anything that allows for easy viewing of all picture file types?

Yes, just double click the file like you would in Windows

2. For this, I mean something like Foobar. I'm in love with that program, but I can't use it in Linux it seems without Wine. Is there anything as simple and fast as Foobar?

I like Rhythmbox, which is the default in Ubuntu. I think Rhythmbox or Audacity would be similar to Foobar, but it's been a long time since I've used Foobar.

Also, I would strongly suggest starting with Ubuntu. Ubuntu is very similar to Debian but it asks fewer questions and sets up things by default how 99.999% of newbies are going to want them on Debian anyway. Get comfortable with Ubuntu and that will give you a great start if you would ever decide you want to switch to Debian.

You might also read this.
 

Crusty

Lifer
Sep 30, 2001
12,684
2
81
Originally posted by: Brazen
Originally posted by: tenshodo13
1. When I say Gif support, I mean like Windows Picture Viewer. I'm using Comix to go through my pictures and Gif's wont play their animation. Firefox is too unwieldy to use unlike the Windows built in viewer. Is there anything that allows for easy viewing of all picture file types?

Yes, just double click the file like you would in Windows

2. For this, I mean something like Foobar. I'm in love with that program, but I can't use it in Linux it seems without Wine. Is there anything as simple and fast as Foobar?

I like Rhythmbox, which is the default in Ubuntu. I think Rhythmbox or Audacity would be similar to Foobar, but it's been a long time since I've used Foobar.

Also, I would strongly suggest starting with Ubuntu. Ubuntu is very similar to Debian but it asks fewer questions and sets up things by default how 99.999% of newbies are going to want them on Debian anyway. Get comfortable with Ubuntu and that will give you a great start if you would ever decide you want to switch to Debian.

You might also read this.

Not sure about Foobar, it's fairly unique in terms of UI. The base UI is completely barren but functional. It includes a scripting API to change the UI though, which is why I like it so much. It's kind of like building your own media player with a decent set of pre constructed UI elements and plugins to provide more functionality.

 

Gooberlx2

Lifer
May 4, 2001
15,381
6
91
1) I think any of the usual image viewers in Gnome (eye-of-gnome, gThumb, F-spot Photo Viewer) should work with gif just fine. I'm not positive about animations though, as I haven't played around with animated gifs in a looong time.
2) Rythmbox, Banshee and Amarok are all popular music players
3) This is trickier depending on the sound card. Your usual options are Pulse and Alsa audio in Linux. I'd do google searches for "ubuntu+sound+<your_sound_card_or_laptop_model>"