Moving from XP to Linux

squiffy

squiffy

squiffy

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I'm considering changing from Windows XP to a Linux OS on my HTPC / music server system.

System is

Asus CSM onboard Nvidia 6150 GFX (disabled) and 430 chipset
ATI X300 PCI-E
M-Audio Revolution 5.1
Microsoft remote/IR receiver
Squeeze box 3 server software
Media Portal HTPC front end
Bittorrent
Email (Outlook Express) and Opera browser
Music collection is MP3, OGG, MPC and FLAC
Video collection AVI, Xvid and Divx codecs, Realtime.
DVD-Video playback required

What Linux build ISO should I download? I have Red Hat Linux 8 or 9 here. Should I use that or use another? Regarding "updates" I've read something about re-compling the kernal, this sounds complicated. Is there a simple OS update utility? Will all the hardware above be supported? All the hard drives are partitioned as NTFS (with data on them) Does Linux read NTFS partitions, or would I have to move the data onto another drive with a partition that Linux reads prior to the Linux install? Is FAT32 supported in Linux?
 
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Most people will recommend Ubuntu. Ubuntu does have an update utility built into it. Linux can read NTFS, but it isn't brilliant at it from what I have heard, there is some package out there which is supposed to be great and have full read/write support but I cannot remember the name of it. FAT32 is fully supported.

The new version of Ubuntu is out in 2 weeks time, I am waiting for that to be released before reinstalling it.
 
Yeah you can read/write fat32 but you can't install to it as far as I know. I don't see why you would want to since ext3 is far better anyway.

I also would recommend Ubuntu, but im biast since I hate rpm package management compared to debs.
 
Linux can read NTFS partitions without a problem so if you have all of your MP3s on a NTFS drive then Windows and Linux can share it. Linux cannot write to an NTFS partition reliably though so I have copied all of my video/mp3/photos etc onto a separate FAT32 drive that they can both read and write to if necessary.

If you are worriwed about hardware not being supported, try downloading a "live" disc which will just run from CD so that you can check how much of your hardware is detected. If you want to try Ubuntu then just download one of the 6.06 (Dapper Drake) discs or one of the 6.10 beta (Edgy Eft, who comes up with these names??) as it can be installed to the hard drive as well as run "live" from the same disc. I have the beta of 6.10 installed and it's rock solid in my experience plus it will update itself to the final release version through Synaptic package manager when the final build is released.

If you want to get all of your MP3 and DVD playback up and running quickly, try looking for Automatix or EasyUbuntu. They will download all of the codecs you need and install them for you making it very easy for a new user.

As far as HTPC software is concerned there are a few available. I'm told that MythTV is the best of the bunch but quite tricky to set up. I've not tried it myself though so I can't really comment from personal experience.
 
Ok had a quick search, downloading

ubuntu-6.06.1-desktop-i386.iso
mythplugins-0.20a.tar.bz2
mythtv-0.20.tar.bz2
SlimServer_v6.5.0.noarch.rpm

Having a problem with ATI X300, Nvidia 430 chipset, and M-Audio Revolution 5.1 Linux drivers (want everything burnt onto a CD-R so ready after a fresh Linux install)

I take it email (http, pop and hotmail support), video/audio playback software is included? Windows Media Player (for movies) Winamp (for music) type applications? Also any recommendations for bittorrent software?
 
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Video/Audio Playerback programs are included yes, but you might want to use automatix to install some of the codecs to make it easier.
Email client software is also included. Anything thats not included is easily installed once you got the system connected to the net anyhow.

For installing the ati drivers:
http://wiki.serios.net/wiki/Ubuntu_ATI_proprietary_display_driver_installation

The nvidia chipset drivers should already be built into the kernel, likewise with the sound.

For bittorrent I use rtorrent (which is text only) but there are ktorrent, bit tornado etc.. plenty to choose from.
 
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M-Audio has not written any Linux drivers for that card so you'll have to use the ALSA drivers that ship with the distro. If those do not work you are SOL with that card.

Write M-Audio and remind them that not everyone uses Windows or OS X. ;)

EDIT: Whoops, forgot about the video drivers. The easiest way to install them is using Automatix. It'll detect what you need and install the correct display driver and configure it for you. All you'll need to do is give it your root password a few times and restart X when it's done.
 
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hmm think I'll stick to Windows then, full support on the soundcard is paramount (use digital out and need DD & DTS SPDIF output) with ASIO support. I need to do a fresh Windows install, I'll try out Linux, if it doesn't work I'll just wipe it and put XP back on. :( Linux seems great, but I had problems installing Red Hat onto a laptop too (unsupported hardware)

Do I need these Linux drivers for the ATI?
https://support.ati.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=1176
 
squiffy said:
Can't find the link to download Automatix :confused:
Click to expand...
You're not going to download it yourself. You're going to let apt take of it for you.
The page I linked said:
Installing on Ubuntu 6.06 i386 (Dapper)

Edit your sources.list:

Code: 
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

from terminal

Add the following to your sources.list:

Code: 
deb http://www.getautomatix.com/apt dapper main

Now save the file and close it.

Next you must get our GPG key in order to authenticate our repository from terminal:

Code: 
wget http://www.getautomatix.com/apt/key.gpg.asc
gpg --import key.gpg.asc
gpg --export --armor 521A9C7C | sudo apt-key add -

To finish off:

Code: 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install automatix2
Click to expand...
All of that is just setting it up so apt knows where to look when it comes time. It really only takes the 1 command, sudo apt-get install automatix2, once it's ready to go.
 
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