On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 13:42:00 +1200 (NZST) Jamie Dobbs wrote: > Main uses of the PC are: > > Web browsing (Firefox) > Email (Thunderbird) > Office app (OpenOffice or perhaps KOffice) > FTP Client (open to recommendations of a good graphical FTP Client) > MP3 playing (XMMS) > CD ripping to MP3 (Still trying to find a good one here, GRIP is OK) > DIVX Creation from DVD media that I own (DVDrip? Is there anything else) > Media playback of the above & other media such as MPG, WMV etc. (MPlayer + > WinCodecs)
IMHO this is what may keep you with gentoo. Most distros are scared to include mp3 and win32codecs and dvd cracking stuff for legal reasons. They do not want to distribute potentially illegal software, especially as the USA with its DMCA is one of the major markets. Gentoo doesn't "distribute" this stuff either, it merely distributes the instructions for compiling it. Yes there are unofficial repositories for the greyer media stuff in other distros, but its a lot of futzing about and takes you outside their "core" packages, which is a dodgy endeavour. You never know when a third party packager is going to throw in the towel. Look at the discussion yesterday about kde 3.4 on suse 9.1 - the posted suggestions were to go to an external repository, or upgrade to suse 9.3 . I say go for the 9.3, as you never know what incompatibilities the external repository will introduce, either now or down the road somewhat. My multimedia experience skyrocketed as a result of gentoo, and now I have no need to boot windows at home, as it now plays less media files than gentoo, and works with less of my hardware. > A few games (RPG/Rogue style, MAME and puzzle type games) -- Nick Rout <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
