Linux Ubuntu 5,10 Breezy Badger - not so breezy....

[Leslie]

Well I have managed to download Ubuntu 5,10 Breezy Badger - the latest edition BTW; just to try the "power" and "security" of LINUX....
What the MAJOR disappointment that was!!! To begin with It couldn't even play Video DVD's -"missing codecs" and also after installation of "Rosegarden" - the only "Music Sequencing" app for Linux, I have discovered that I can't even launch the bloody thing... But wait... here comes the best bit..- After "surfing" the net with the default Ubuntu browser - "Firefox 1.06" - which You CAN'T replace with the latest (1.5) version BTW; The only app that worked was “Audacity” and even that was very”flaky'... In fact I had to use my Mac to post this unfortunate message, as my "secure" Linux computer didn't stand the ground..! Format C: was the only solution...
It is nice to see that most of the the hardware (during installation) is recognized, but it would be even better for that hardware to be utilized by the OS after installation.... - which it isn't
BTW: Who on earth is using this OS for music anyway..!?
As for me, I'm happy to be back on my Mac...

[BONES]

Really, I found UBUNTU to be very slick. I ran it from a live CD and it found all my laptoop hardware, installed all the drivers and worked a treat. I could surf the 'net without restrictions and set my monitor to 1920x1200. I couldn't install any app's but I'll get around to a ful install soon and I'm confident it will all work OK. Mind you, I would never expect it to do stuff like play DVD's without a bit of effort, its not really quite that far along still.

[Chris Hawkins]

I use Ubuntu to code PHP and such - its great! But the thing with Linux is that you cant jsut download a program from a web site install it and go... you need to find packages for your distro type. For Ubuntu that is Debian. Ubuntu does have ways to access some good software repositories where there are loads of goodies.

I think the hard part with things like DVDs is that MPEG (for example) codecs require licensing and such - while Linux (and most of the apps) are open source. It takes some time to learn the Linux way - but it can be a good thing.

But for music - yeah at the moment Mac or Windows is still the prime choice (IMHO)

Chris

[Crossinger]

To begin with It couldn't even play Video DVD's -"missing codecs"

That's not the fault of Linux! In fact, most of the Linux distributions have stopped DVD support "out of the box" for legal reasons. That infamous "DeCSS" DVD copy protection decoder is illegal. Generally speaking: ATM there's no legal way to watch DVDs with Linux.

*J*

P.S.: But of course it's possible to set up a proper system yourself.

[eidenk]

Windows XP neither does feature DVD playback natively or am I wrong ?

If windows PC have DVD playback it's because hardware manufacturers who are assembling PCs are installing a DVD playback software to enable DVD playback.

Installing Xine on Linux (if there is a precompiled package for the distro) is not much more difficult than installing WinDVD or PowerDVD on Windows.

I cannot understand why it is not legal to play DVDs on a Linux box. Where is the difference with Windows ?

One OS, one DVD drive and one DVD playback software in both case.

[Crossinger]

Installing Xine on Linux (if there is a precompiled package for the distro) is not much more difficult than installing WinDVD or PowerDVD on Windows.

I cannot understand why it is not legal to play DVDs on a Linux box. Where is the difference with Windows ?

The Manufacturers of Win/MacOS products payed license fees to have access to the DVD-decoding while DeCSS resulted from reverse-engineering.

Even Xine doesn't ship with DeCSS, so you can't watch DVDs which are copy protected/encrypted.

And yes, you are right: Windows doesn't support instant DVD access either. But as I said above: Usually the Player software for Win ships with legal drivers.

EDIT: Full story here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeCSS

*J*