Help Me: Select a Linux distro for a low power media machine

[Captain Falcon]

I'm building a low spec PC as a mediabox and I'm obviously am not looking to spend 200 fucking dollars on Windows or pirate it because IDGAF. What Linux should I use?

[L33tz]

Foresight linux

[roasted]

I've heard good things about xubuntu, its supposed to be pretty lightweight while retaining a lot of the features that makes ubuntu great

[roasted]

man, I just wish I had more choices of linux distros...

[Captain Falcon]

Here's the build, btw. tell me esomething that uses it's moderate power to the fullest but doesn't overdo it terribly.
http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

[Cunto McFadyen]

Windows 98

[Captain Falcon]

Originally Posted by Cunto McFadyen

Windows 98

I would, but it's too resource hungry for my high speed 12 baud modem.

[roasted]

Originally Posted by Captain Falcon

Here's the build, btw. tell me esomething that uses it's moderate power to the fullest but doesn't overdo it terribly.
http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

the parts list is empty...

If you want a linux thats kinda middle of the road, I start with a bare-bones distro and add what you want...for that, I'd still suggest xubuntu or fedora lxde. Hell, I still get great results with a regular ubuntu distro (compared to win7)....just dont clutter it up with a bunch of bullshit that you dont use

[vovka351]

Sounds like you have no idea what linux is and want it to play media out of the box?

Go with linux mint. http://linuxmint.com/
Because it's got a windows-resembling gui and comes with many packages for various media codecs.

You also failed at posting a link to your machine, but I'm going to assume that it's greater than a single core netbook and thus will be sufficient.

[Rust]

Linux mint.

[roasted]

what are the advantages of mint? CBF to look it up myself...is it just codecs? All the big distros have good GUI's now...

[Captain Falcon]

Originally Posted by roasted

the parts list is empty...

If you want a linux thats kinda middle of the road, I start with a bare-bones distro and add what you want...for that, I'd still suggest xubuntu or fedora lxde. Hell, I still get great results with a regular ubuntu distro (compared to win7)....just dont clutter it up with a bunch of bullshit that you dont use

fuck, copied the wrong link

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/71N6

[roasted]

Originally Posted by Captain Falcon

fuck, copied the wrong link

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/71N6

W/ 4gb ddr3 ram, you'll be ok running any distro you want...every distro I've used has been fine with much less ram (ie 512 or 1gb). Just dont add bullshit, only add-on related software

[Captain Falcon]

Originally Posted by roasted

W/ 4gb ddr3 ram, you'll be ok running any distro you want...every distro I've used has been fine with much less ram (ie 512 or 1gb). Just dont add bullshit, only add-on related software

The reason why I want a specific distro recommended is because I want one where I can set it up as a great media box and I don't want any BS about it. I want to have 4 big icons: Web, Video, Music, Settings and that's it. So I guess I'm actually asking which OS I can get which is most customizable, slick, fast and easy to screw with.

EDIT: Also, it should be easily networkable, I want to be able to just dump shit directly to it's drive.

Further edit, I want to get a dedicated sound card to nail to this so I can support my 8.1 system.

EDIT 3, the motherboard only has D-Sub output changing some shit up now.

[Captain Falcon]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/727K

[roasted]

Originally Posted by Captain Falcon

The reason why I want a specific distro recommended is because I want one where I can set it up as a great media box and I don't want any BS about it. I want to have 4 big icons: Web, Video, Music, Settings and that's it. So I guess I'm actually asking which OS I can get which is most customizable, slick, fast and easy to screw with.

What do you plan on using this for exactly? Playing videos? Pushing media to other devices (other than hardwiring it)? Gaming? Will it be a dedicated sever? Be more specific and we can help you more. A marquee of linux is customization, so any distro will provide that. Pretty much all distros will be fast with your specs, so thats a non issue

EDIT: Also, it should be easily networkable, I want to be able to just dump shit directly to it's drive.

mint, xubuntu, and lxde all have good gui's so they will all network easily...but give us more info on the specific uses

Further edit, I want to get a dedicated sound card to nail to this so I can support my 8.1 system.

EDIT 3, the motherboard only has D-Sub output changing some shit up now.

yeah, change that d-sub, most sound cards will work without too much hankey pankey on linux


EDIT: I like your 3 edit post...lulz

[Captain Falcon]

Gonna be hooking it up to my TV and my surround sound system for music, movies and some general web surfing. I don't think it's competent enough for gaming, though, maybe some lower end shit, but this'll just be for my lounge.

[Captain Falcon]

bumpo marx

[iMagiNation]

damn small linux mebbe?

[Lanny]

Might as well go with Debian. If you're looking to customize, Debian has the best community built up around it IMO. Sure Ubuntu's forums are more active, but I find the Debian crowd more knowledgeable on the whole.

[LSA King]

Why not just use:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBMC_Media_Center


I think it's based off Ubuntu and if you want a OS pretty much designed around Media Center abilities, then that is the de facto standard. It doesn't take as much as you think to run a dedicated media center so long as you know what you plan to do before hand from least to most. You could probably build a cheap Atom based system and have it run smooth as gravy.

[Auschwitz Nazi Disneyland]

Crunchbang, it's like poor/lazy man's debian

[Mutant Funk Drink]

I'd probably go with Linux Mint LXDE Edition. Crunchbang seems good too, but I haven't used it as extensively.

Also, XBMC should work great strictly as a media center, though I have only used the version that works on the original Xbox.

[AngryOnion]

try this and tell us what you think.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...nsumer-preview

[LSA King]

Originally Posted by AngryOnion

try this and tell us what you think.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...nsumer-preview

You sir are a sick and demented individual. How dare you advocate such a thing.