What distro to choose?

[PavalloKazzo]

I know that it is a question done one billion times but was the best distro to choose for you if have to do hard video encoding and manipulating.
Especially regarding this arguments:
- SPEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD (I have tons of file to convert)
- Easy to install (as I am "a little" newbi), like nvidia video card support, audio support, etc
- Easy to install software: I need just mplayer (and mencoder) WITH FAAD SUPPORT, ffmpeg, avidemux2, dvdauthor

I've tried Debian and it seems fast but I couldn't get mplayer working with external faad support...

Tried Fedora (Core 4) but it's slooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww:
encoding with mencoder on Debian: 120 fps
on fedora 70 fps!!!!
Near the half...

I have looked some threads in this forums and I'm gonna try this:
- Slackware
- Mandrake
- Suse
- Gentoo
(common distro...)
- Dynedistro
- Garbure pho
- Mediain Linux
- VideoLinux

I need a stable and fast one to leave my box 24/7 converting like 324 GB of data in dvd!!!

HHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPP MMMMMEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Hellworm]

For the easy to install i'd go for kanotix. It has a very good hardware detection and many comfortable scripts, for example to install video drivers. Also it's based on debian.
However if you want speed you should compile the programs you need yourself. That sould give you the max speed.

[rushin_911]

perhaps ubuntu since it's quite easy and based on debian (although you won't necessarily have 100% compatibility with regular debian repositories)

[Teegedeck]

Ahhh, the question of questions... :)

If ease of use is very important, the most userfriendly Distros are perhaps:


Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntulinux.org)
SUSE (http://www.opensuse.org)
Mandriva (http://wwwnew.mandriva.com/community/)


All stand apart from other distros as having extensive user-support with dedicated hardware-compatibility-databases and forums.

Ubuntu has a super-simple interface which you might see as a pro or a con. If you don't like GNOME, get the version called Kubuntu with KDE. It's hugely popular and though I don't know market-shares for distros it could well be the most-often installed distro these days.

SUSE (OpenSUSE) is highly polished, too, and possibly support most hardware. I'd wait for OpenSUSE version 10.1 which is due in April and shares some of the cool features of the SUSE Enterprise Desktop (http://www.novell.com/products/desktop/preview.html) that Novell demonstrated at Brainshare 2006. Comes with KDE and GNOME

Mandrake is a KDE-based distribution that rivals SUSE in user-friendliness though it seems to fall back somewhat as of late. It also is not free.

Turn to www.distrowatch.com for reviews.

Edit: BTW, the speed of mencoder should depend on your build of mencoder, not on your distro. Build it yourself if you can. If not get at least an i686-build.

[PavalloKazzo]

Ok thanks.
I read many review on distrowatch.com but didn't get what I was searching...
Talking with a friend he said that Gentoo it's based on source and as a good "packet-manager" for compiling...
Don't know if it's too much for me...
I'll try that, if not I'm gonna switch to Mandrake or SUSE, even if I would like to get back to Debian...
Somebody here has succeded compiling mplayer on Debian with the support for NSV formats (the one from nullsoft - winamp) especially for the AAC and AAC+ codec?

I've tried Ubuntu for a week and is a very good distro (I was switching from win to linux and it help me much understanding the penguin, thanks to the good wiki founded on official website)

Anyway thanks alot.

[Teegedeck]

Gentoo is not exactly reknown for being an 'easy to handle' distribution for someone new to Linux. I include myself in this category.

[PavalloKazzo]

From the installer FAQ:

Gentoo is too hard to install and I feel like whining.

Please see /dev/null.

LOL :p :p

[Teegedeck]

As you're at it anyway, why not give VideoLinux (http://videolinux.net/news.php?item.7.1) a chance? :)

[Hellworm]

To have mplayer with nsv-support you need to install the codecs before compilation.
i was able to look a nsv-stream containing aac and avc.

[shevegen]

Use Kanotix or SLAX (Tomas says not to install on HD, but it works nicely on HD).

Or, use any distro that works for you.
You can install stuff from source easily too (I use scripts to do this automated), then you have checked this.

If you want to have as many applications as possible, use SuSE DVD and
RPM install what you are still lacking.

[ak]

Aah, stereotypes... :)

I, for one, find Gentoo easier to maintain, than say Susie. Harder to get into business, sure, but easier in the long run.

Real-life story, a friend of mine asked me once to see what's up with his fresh Suse install: X starts but instantly gets all garbled. Well, that was easy part. Then it appeared, you can't actually see the cursor; you see mouse movement, but no cursor.
What they expect of windows convert to do in such cases? Reboot/reinstall, become console junkie? User-friendliness comes in price, eh?

That's Willie way, IMO, to ship preconfigured system with the defaults they find sane and very-well-hidden tricks if you ever feel like customizing it, which in fact put their well-built system under real risk of falling apart. So something broke, you have no clue what's the cause, format yer hdd and start over...

...or you can invest some time reading docs, asking questions on forums, yada-yada and live happily everafter (keeping in mind to stay clear of Reiser4 for the time being, not to mess with toolchain and other usual precautions)

[Doobie]

As you're at it anyway, why not give VideoLinux (http://videolinux.net/news.php?item.7.1) a chance? :)

Why is it with Linux, someone has to start a new distro to provide a package of programs?

[Teegedeck]

I, for one, find Gentoo easier to maintain, than say Susie. Harder to get into business, sure, but easier in the long run.Of course you won't have grave problems once you got past the initial hurdles of Gentoo installation. Because once you've read enough to manage that, you have probably acquired enough expertise to cope with most problems of Gentoo easily. ;) (Some revievs: 1 (http://techgage.com/review.php?id=4334&page=3), 2 (http://www.softwareinreview.com/cms/content/view/31/1/), 3 (http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2006/01/my-dalliance-with-gentoo-linux.html), 4 (http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/2945), 5 (http://madpenguin.org/cms/?m=show&id=5382&page=3))

Seriously, the only way I see to mess-up a SUSE system is by upgrading your installation from non-stable repositories (when you don't really know what you're doing). A newbie should just update what the SUSE updater recommends and should live fine by that.
Real-life story, a friend of mine asked me once to see what's up with his fresh Suse install: X starts but instantly gets all garbled. Well, that was easy part. Then it appeared, you can't actually see the cursor; you see mouse movement, but no cursor.Not exactly a typical case...

That reminds me of a friend of mine who installed a new version of ffdshow and his windows-explorer has been crashing frequently ever since. Devilish software, this ffdshow-thing. :devil:

Why is it with Linux, someone has to start a new distro to provide a package of programs?
Because it is much, much easier to use a pre-configured WINE with Windows software than to try and figure it out for yourself. As you might have noticed one could say that distro has its origins right here... Also, why not? If there had been a Windows-distribution with pre-configured encoding software I'd have probably installed that one instead of standard Windows at the time.

[ak]

Seriously, the only way I see to mess-up a SUSE system is by upgrading your installation from non-stable repositories (when you don't really know what you're doing). A newbie should just update what the SUSE updater recommends and should live fine by that.
Not exactly a typical case...
For the record that was a fresh install off of Suse DVD.
You know that was second time I encounter Suse. Back in the days I was giving up Windows, I tried Suse and also had some _really_ silly problems.
Maybe bad luck, but I have some doubts in their reputation.

[Teegedeck]

Oh boy, that must have been fun! ;) Which version was it?

[Oline 61]

Most user friendly OS is Ubuntu. Fastest is Gentoo. Gentoo is easy to install, it just takes a long time and a lot of work. I run Ubuntu, but this summer once I have some free time I will be switching to Gentoo.

[oldcpu]

Seriously, the only way I see to mess-up a SUSE system is by upgrading your installation from non-stable repositories (when you don't really know what you're doing). A newbie should just update what the SUSE updater recommends and should live fine by that.
Not exactly a typical case...I agree with Teegedeck. I'm running SuSE-9.3 and SuSE-10.0 pcs in parallel, using a KVM switch to go back and forth. Both versions work fine.

For application package management, one of the best ways to avoid frustrations (with dependencies) and potential instability is to install 3rd party package management. Many SuSE users now immediately install the apt4rm/synaptic combination, or install Smart package manager. Both of these software management packages are very good at installing (or in the case of Smart also very good at installing and removing) packaged applications (in rpms), while preserving dependencies.

Given that Novell/SuSE is delivered with multimedia in a partially crippled state, upgrading SuSE's multimedia (with such a software package manager) is essential after a fresh install, especially if one wishes to do a fast update of the multimedia from readily available 3rd party sources.

I believe SuSEs previous package management "relative weakness" is now recognized in Novell/SuSE circles itself, as apt4rpm comes with SuSE-10.0, and SuSE-10.1 will portedly also come with Smart. (SuSE-10.1 will also purportedly include YaST software package management enhancements based on red carpet technology).

[Doobie]

Because it is much, much easier to use a pre-configured WINE with Windows software than to try and figure it out for yourself.

OK. But, what is it about Linux and WINE that leads people to start a new distro rather than just a download package of a pre-configured WINE along with the free Windows apps?

And, why are there people here saying Ubuntu or Mandriva are the easist distros. Why not MEPIS and Xandros which come pre-configured with a lot of the software that new Linux users are going to want, for the sake of ease, but which Ubuntu and Mandriva leave out?

[oldcpu]

And, why are there people here saying Ubuntu or Mandriva are the easist distros.Everyone has their own opinion as to what distribution they like the best. While some may think Ubuntu or Madriva are the easiest, you can be assured there are others who do NOT think that way.

[cdfs]

Well, I managed to get MPlayer installed with all I needed in Debian using this (http://www.princessleia.com/MPlayer.php) step-by-step tutorial. I'dont know if there is realy faad-support compiled then in, but I think so as I could listen AC3-Streams without a problem.

CDFS

P.S.: If you want a speedy distribution, look for a suitable kernel. If you have an emt64-enabled cpu, get a 64bit-version of the distribution as debian-AMD64 and compile mplayer there. Try to compile your kernel with only the modules realy needed by your system. It doesn't matter if it is debian, suse or some other distribution, speed comes from the kernel used.

[Teegedeck]

Before I stumbled on this I hadn't even known that the US government had its own online computer news magazine.

So, just for a funny note; here is what they think about the different flavours of Linux desktops:
http://www.gcn.com/print/25_7/40263-1.html

Note: the revies are quite a good read, really. Just not very multimedia-centred...

[virus]

As you're at it anyway, why not give VideoLinux (http://videolinux.net/news.php?item.7.1) a chance? :)
I'm kinda late on this but... I've just stumbled into VideoLinux and noticed it is based on my beloved PCLOS (www.pclinuxos.com).
So I'd warmly recommend to users not so familiar with Linux to give it a try. PCLOS proved to be a winner in attracting Windows switchers, due to the amount of preinstalled/preconfigured stuff that "makes you productive from day one".
And the LiveCD that you can run and evaluate before installing anything, as well as tweak and remaster for you needs (VideoLinux belongs to this category) is a very effective way to introduce Linux to the masses :)

[frodoontop]

Only Gentoo could please me, though Arch Linux had a good chance too. People whining about how difficult Gentoo is to install, haven't done it lately I guess. With latest installer, things became quite easy. Ofcourse one should read the excellent manual before starting.

For reasons of speed, Gentoo would be definately your choice. Also a lot of multimedia packages are supported. Only drawback would be the compiling process. Although with modern processors (> sempron 2000) this isn't as important as it once was.

[greensh]

I've used all versions of Yoper at www.yoper.com since 2002 and find it compiles and installs mplayer, transcode, avidemux2, wine and all the many dependencies for these packages. It would probably be more challenging to configure though than a distro like Kubuntu, but from what I've read and seen so far, Yoper and Gentoo are the only ones that contain full, non-crippled installs of gcc, and other packages necessary for development, and hence compiling most packages. Maybe the newer Kubuntu 6.06 will contain a full gcc/g++ install.

[Teegedeck]

Yoper and Gentoo are the only ones that contain full, non-crippled installs of gcc, and other packages necessary for development, and hence compiling most packages. Really?? I can't believe that.

P.S. I feel awkward about offering a link to such a biased opinion but it's one of those other experiences with Gentoo that would stop me from recommending it to anyone as a 'first-time' Linux. : http://www.suseblog.com/?p=79

[PavalloKazzo]

After a pair months taked away by work and etc... I finally succeded installing Gentoo (pretty simple with the latest installer, as said).
So I boot it and immediately tried mencoder with an h264 > mpeg2 and the result is: 5-10 fps more than debian... :scared: :scared:
So I waited months for starting producting, waiting days for gentoo to compile and the result is a couple of fps???
At least everything work great, nsv files can be read and encoded, so I'm quite happy.

Gentoo is a great distro for who know Linux, I'm two months on *nix and I was able to do something (at least installing!!!) thanks to the complete reference too.
Sure who is at his first times can avoid this if he don't need to use it, but the idea is cool. Wish all distros starts looking to this way of thinking linux (talking about packet management) like a big source package management and you just run emerge program and it will install on every distro (sorry for english!)...
If anyone has some idea on how to tweak the basic installation (apart from hdpam) to gain speed on video converting (forgot, my sistem is a p4 2.6 256 mb ram geforce don'rememberwhat 128 mb vram) is welcome, cause I disperatly need that...
Anyway thanks for the help...

[Teegedeck]

5-10 frames isn't as bad as all that.
Wish all distros starts looking to this way of thinking linux (talking about packet management) like a big source package management and you just run emerge program and it will install on every distro (sorry for english!)...Well, in terms of comparable ease of use, that's what the Smart Package Manager (http://labix.org/smart) strives to do. Works with any package management (Debian, Red Hat...). The SUSE beta testers use it to permanently keep their SUSE installation in sync with SUSE's development branch, for example. ... Having distribution-independent packages though isn't possible unless you use the KLIK (http://klik.atekon.de/)approach.

I guess waiting for everything to get compiled just isn't everyone's cup of tea.

[Oline 61]

The way you should approach a from-source distro like Gentoo is that it takes more time and effort to install and upgrade, but can also offer more speed, more up to date software, and a better end user experience.

It is a tradeoff, and if you have the time and experience it can pay off, whereas if you do not, then you should stick to a binary distro like FC, SuSE, Ubuntu, etc.