Originally posted by: TechBoyJK
A friend of mine, who is relatively computer ignorant, just got a 50" flat screen with a vga hookup. I have several P4 machines, and he asked if he could buy one to hook up to his tv.
He wants:
To be able to play dvd's
play music (something like winamp, with visualizations)
Have games (simple stuff like solitaire)
Surf the Web
Watch DiVX movies
connect to his workstation (windows xp) so he can stream music or at least share.
I'm pretty sure a default Ubuntu installation will provide all of this. Any recommendations?
Well if he is doing that, it wouldn't be a bad idea to look into a cheap TV Card and run MythBuntu or a Windows based MCE.
At any rate, a
default Ubuntu install wont do all of that, but it will be close. After installing Ubuntu, he will need to:
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras
This gets the files that are not covered by the GNU public license and, as such, Canonical will not release with the OS. So mp3, Flash Plugins, and DVD playback are in there.
Additionally, for Encrypted DVD playback (Most are) he will need to install the libdvdcss libraries. I can't remember the entire procedure off the top of my head but the little help button in Ubuntu is actually useful and can guide him through that.
Rhythmbox or Amarok are both excellent (The former being a very lite player, the latter having everything but the kitchen sink) for playing music.
There are games in the repositories and Ubuntu has some goofy little games. I'm sure he can find that.
Connecting the work station can be a little aggravating. He will need to install "samba" packages and configure Network File and Folder sharing.
I will also say that, while a P4 is no slouch, he may want to look at Xubuntu for a little bit of a lighter OS. He should avoid enabling compiz as well.
-Kevin
Edit: I haven't used it myself; however, I have heard that Linux Mint should provide 99% of that functionality out of box. It is a distro that is basically a fully configured Ubuntu. He may want to give that a look at it - everyone I have heard from says it is a great OS.
