> Also beware of Ubuntu as it requires external repositories to be added > to install XMMS/listen to MP3's and watch DVD's. well, not exactly. Just uncomment the universe line in your sources.list and you can install xmms. You would need to upgrade totem-xine or install ogle (my personal choice) if you want to watch DVD movies. Region free DVDs work fine for me and I bet if you install DeCSS you would be able to watch all dvds. I don't know of any linux distro which comes with a decent dvd player that works after out of the box. I would recommend Ubuntu.
-- Karthik Poobalasubramanian [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 16:24:30 -0600, Adam Melancon > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Ubuntu or Xandros > > My 84 year old grandma uses ubuntu and loves it. She uses Firefox, > > Evolution for email and gaim for IM. > > > > Of course she has never used windows before so to her, this is exactly > > how a computer should work. There is no complaining about a "start" > > button or anything like that. > > > > > > On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 16:12:16 -0600 (CST), -ray <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > i know this thread comes up once a month...but anyway. I picked up a PC > > > at CACRC for my mom, as she 'wants the internet at home' (yes, the whole > > > internet). It's a P3 500, 128m, 13g drive. I'll probably up the memory > > > to 256m or 512m. Rather than me cleaning up ratware on a windows box once > > > a week, i want to set her up with linux and (mostly) forget it. She knows > > > how to operate a web browser and a mouse and that's all she needs to email > > > Oprah. Might use open office occasionally, and some of the simpler games. > > > > > > Any distro suggestions? It's an old PC, so nothing too demanding. One > > > thing i'd like is for all the common firefox plugins to work out of the > > > box, so i don't spend a lot of time getting it going. is there a decent > > > mplayer plugin that works out of the box? will it come with shockware, > > > realplayer, and all that stuff? > > > > > > ray > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > General mailing list > > > [email protected] > > > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net > > > > > > > -- > > Adam Melancon > > Work: http://www.vermilion.lib.la.us > > Personal: http://www.melancon.org > > > > _______________________________________________ > > General mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net > > > > _______________________________________________ > General mailing list > [email protected] > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net > > -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 189 bytes Desc: This is a digitally signed message part Url : /pipermail/general_brlug.net/attachments/20050222/1da02315/attachment.bin From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tue Feb 22 20:16:12 2005 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ed) Date: Tue Feb 22 20:16:13 2005 Subject: [brlug-general] newbie distro In-Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> References: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> On Tue, 2005-02-22 at 12:18, Will Hill wrote: > > I have less experience with Xandors, but it looks slick and installs just as > easily as Mepis does. One of it's great strengths is the ability to run > Microsoft stuff. The Open Circulation edition comes with Cross Over Office, > from which you can run IE and other horrors. When your IE gets craped out, > you can simply re-image it. The pay version, I think, comes with Win4Lin > which runs the whole stinking M$ OS in an X window. Because it's really > Debian, you have everything Mepis does. Ed can tell you more about Xandros. > Will was close. The Open Circulation Edition comes with a DEMO version of Crossover Office, which is a commecial version of Wine. The Deluxe Edition, which members of the LUG get a 45% discount on, comes with the full blown version of COO. Win4Lin can be added to any of the version as the kernel is already enabled for it. > The low effort and cost solution is Mepis and you might want to try it first. > > You can run it off the CD to make sure it will work before you bother with an > install. It works just fine on 400 MHz K6/2. If all your mother wants to do is to is surf the web, do some email and maybe keep up with her checkbook, then I too recommend Mepis. Also, if she is NOT a current Window$ user, then I recommend Mepis even further. The strengths of Xandros are its Window$ like interface, its file manager, its easy of networking with a Window$ network, extremely easy package management and its ability to run, in the Deluxe Edition, many Window$ programs that newbies are accustomed to using. With regard to playing DVD's out the box, as I understand it, that is an IP issue and the only commercial distro, that I am aware of, that has paid the licensing fee to distribute the software to decode encripted DVD's is Linspire, formerly known as Lindows. Having said that, at least with Xandros, it is a simple matter of running a shell script as root to install the software and away you go. There are a number of users on the Xandros forums, me included, that have packaged a number of applications for installation on Xandros including mplayer, kmplayer, kaffeine, amarok, k3b, mozplugger, Real Player 10 Gold, Lphoto, Inkscape and many others that are available for installation by any Xandros user through Xandros Networks. Kaffeine is a really slick multi-media application with a Mozilla/Firefox plugin that allows the browser to play pretty much any multi-media stream that you one can imagine with the right codecs installed in /bin/lib/win32. If you wish to try the Open Circulation Editon of Xandros, I have it or it can be downloaded via bittorrent for free. I hope this helps, Ed Richards
