Linux - Best distro for a relative noob?

[LosOjos]

Hmm strange, I've had no issues with dual 24" monitors but never tried on a TV.. what have you added to xorg.conf?

 

My TV should just act as a second monitor, it's connected via DVI on my dual head radeon card. I can get full screen working if I have two separate desktops, but if I try to use one large desktop then programs like XBMC decide to sit smack in the middle of the two monitors with half the picture on each screen (an interesting but unpleasant way to watch a movie!). If it comes down to it I can live with having two separate desktops, but I'd rather have one large one.

 

With Ubuntu, I couldn't find an xorg.conf file anywhere (using 10.10/maverick) so was relying on Catalyst to set up my desktop when using proprietary drivers or monitor preferences when using the open source drivers (proprietary are a must though, playback of HD movies is too choppy with open source drivers).

 

I also had the infuriating problem of Ubuntu randomly deciding which my main monitor was: I managed to get it set up properly a couple of times, then it would randomly change, even after I physically swapped the DVI cables on the card! I remedied that in Mint though by editing xorg.conf (Option "Primary" "true"/"false" for each monitor respectively)

 

I downloaded openSUSE last night so I'll give that a go over the weekend, and also try out Debian and Mint Debian

[powdarrmonkey]

and also try out Debian and Mint Debian

 

We plan to release Debian 6.0 "Squeeze" before the year is out, if it's ready, so you'll find Lenny is looking outdated already... if you want to try effectively an RC version, use the testing suite, which is frozen and being manually assembled right now. (How Debian suites work.)

[LosOjos]

Handy to know, thanks I'll give it a go. I don't mid trying out the testing suite. One thing I love about Linux distro's is how quick it is to replace them: I was quite reluctant to try Windows 7 RC because I knew I'd have a b*ll ache re-installing and configuring XP if it all went wrong, but you can swap a Linux distro in 15 minutes with ease.

 

So are you on the development team for Debian then? Is it entirely a community participation thing or are people actually 'elected' to develop it with input from the community (as per Mint)?

[powdarrmonkey]

So are you on the development team for Debian then? Is it entirely a community participation thing or are people actually 'elected' to develop it with input from the community (as per Mint)?

 

Yes, though there are about 1000 of us, so I don't really stand out (plus a further uncountable number of contributors, translators, documentation writers, DSA, etc).

 

Debian is a do-ocracy: if you think it ought to happen, you get on with it. There is a process for becoming a developer, but newbies can work through a sponsor until they decide if they want to commit.

[AyatollahPies]

I avoided weighing into this discussion earlier, but hey ho...

 

ATI has historically been a Really Big Problem™ because they don't release open drivers, they insist on dumping binary blobs - or, recently, making you build a kernel module yourself, to which the unprepared user just goes 'huh?'.

 

Nvidia have a mixed history, but in their favour they are considerably more open about how their stuff actually works, so the reverse-engineering effort has been much more successful. New cards always take a while to gain support though, so if you really want compatibility check it before buying - IIRC, the Xorg folk have a list of good chipsets.

 

I wonder if there is any chance of this policy changing now they are owned by AMD. Though they have been for a while now haven't they? I know they are dropping the brand ATI soon, so maybe they are having a bigger shift of policy too.

[powdarrmonkey]

Possibly, though it's yet to happen.

[Arthur]

Wait until Monday as Ubuntu 10.10 is out on Sunday.

Ubuntu 10.10 has now been released, although I think waiting for Linux Mint would be better.

 

Desktop (32-bit): ftp://mirrors.melbourne.co.uk/sites/releases.ubuntu.com/releases/maverick/ubuntu-10.10-desktop-i386.iso.torrent

Desktop (64-bit): ftp://mirrors.melbourne.co.uk/sites/releases.ubuntu.com/releases/maverick/ubuntu-10.10-desktop-amd64.iso.torrent

 

Server (32-bit): ftp://mirrors.melbourne.co.uk/sites/releases.ubuntu.com/releases/maverick/ubuntu-10.10-server-i386.iso.torrent

Server (64-bit): ftp://mirrors.melbourne.co.uk/sites/releases.ubuntu.com/releases/maverick/ubuntu-10.10-server-amd64.iso.torrent

 

Netbook (32-bit): ftp://mirrors.melbourne.co.uk/sites/releases.ubuntu.com/releases/maverick/ubuntu-10.10-netbook-i386.iso.torrent

[LosOjos]

I ended up wussing out and sticking with Ubuntu (already had 10.10 RC installed), just because I've used it quite a lot in the past and understand it. When I'm a bit more confident with bash and scripts, I'll try something a bit less shiny, for now though I just want my machine to work!

 

As for the XBMC problem, I think I'm just going to use cloned monitor for now until I can figure something better out, which is a shame because that limits my 1080p TV to 720p (maximum resolution of my monitor).

 

I tried using Compiz to automatically move and size the XBMC window, but I can't find a way of undecorating the window in Compiz. Might be the first functional script I have a crack at!

[LosOjos]

I know this is probably of no interest to anybody, but thought I'd share anyway.

 

I've finally decided after days of playing that it's too much of a cop out to use Ubuntu. I do like how simple it is to set up and use, but it's not very stable at all, I feel like I'm constantly patching things to get them to work. I've found some good Linux tutorials I'm going to work through, and I'm going to install the latest stable release of Debian to work through them with (which I believe is Lenny?).

 

I do still have a Ubuntu box running, but that's just because I've been tinkering with setting up a dedicated boxee machine. Although now that I think about it, boxee comes as Debian packages, so although it's advertised as for Ubuntu, I guess it'd work on a Debian box if you sorted out the dependencies... am I right?