Best distro for multimedia?

[CoriolisSTORM]

Hi guys, haven't been here in a while, and just had a few questions. One, what's the best Linux distro for multimedia apps and such? I'd like to do some video and audio editting and creation, and also kind of have a Media Center type PC as well. I also am active in the Windows skinning community over at Aqua Soft, so that of course mans I love the OS X look. So, is it possible to get KDE or Gnome to have the Aqua-ish feel as well? This is not really important as much as the first question though, so don't let it get in the way if you don't know.

[GNOME_n00b]

One, what's the best Linux distro for multimedia apps and such?

out of the box, probably pclinux. however, ubuntu contains the most packages in the repositories, so there will be more multimedia applications available on ubuntu, assuming that you don't want to compile from source.

So, is it possible to get KDE or Gnome to have the Aqua-ish feel as well?

there are very few kde theming options to make it look like OS X. there are lots of OS X themes for gnome, though. here is a screenshot. the quality isn't very good because there is a 39kb file limit for this forum.

[techieMoe]

Hi guys, haven't been here in a while, and just had a few questions. One, what's the best Linux distro for multimedia apps and such? I'd like to do some video and audio editting and creation, and also kind of have a Media Center type PC as well.

No distro is "better" at any one thing than the next. All distributions of Linux use the same kernel (the only difference being what version, newer or older) and a "distribution" is really just another way of saying "collection of applications". If what you mean is "Which distribution has the most multimedia applications installed by default?" then that's a different story. "Better" is a very relative term.

I also am active in the Windows skinning community over at Aqua Soft, so that of course mans I love the OS X look. So, is it possible to get KDE or Gnome to have the Aqua-ish feel as well? This is not really important as much as the first question though, so don't let it get in the way if you don't know.

It is possible. Take a look at http://www.gnome-look.org or http://www.kde-look.org to see some examples.

[fingal]

Hello

While it's true that 'a distro is a distro is a ...' there are a couple which have been optimised for multimedia. I don't have time to link to these (Google is your friend as they say) but the ones I've heard good things about are:

* Dynebolic
* Debian Agnula

All that's happened is, the developers have taken existing distros and tweaked them for multi-media.

Just a quick idea for you.

[netstrider]

I agree that PCLinuxOS and Ubuntu are some good choices. I use both at home. On PCLinux I managed to make everything work fine, even DVD's. However since I don't have an internet connection at home YET I would like to know what should I download for Ubuntu to play MP3's. Most file formats work except my MP3's though. I really like the look and feel of Ubuntu and am a fan of it especially because I'm a South African and the fact that it's a South African distro.

But all in all, yes out of the box I believe PCLinuxOS...maybe even SUSE...Good luck

[gtmtnbiker98]

PCLinux has an advantage over many of the distros since they paid the proprietary licensing fees for built-in support for MP3 and various other DRM applications.

[onlinebacon]

PCLinux has an advantage over many of the distros since they paid the proprietary licensing fees for built-in support for MP3 and various other DRM applications.

An Advantage for you isn't always one for me, I don't want proprietry stuff on my computer, like mp3, ati drivers, nvidia drivers, flash and so on. As for best for media and music, I would say 64 Studio is pretty good. Apart from it's application set, it is just plain Debian, so you have apt, and all the apps that you need for music on your distro already. Also if the distro dies you can treat it jus as a normal debian installation

[Kojak]

Every distro is capable of decent multimedia playback (I can run practically everything on my Mandriva box and was able to do the same on Fedora or Debian or <enter distro of choice>. Simply download the required packages and off you go.

Out of the box: PCLinuxOS has perhaps the best multimedia support.

I really like the look and feel of Ubuntu and am a fan of it especially because I'm a South African and the fact that it's a South African distro.

Ubuntu is actually located in the Isle of Man in Europe, not in South Africa.

[netstrider]

Most probably true, but is it not a South African who started the Ubuntu project? Called Mark Shuttleworth....if I'm not mistaken, the same guy who went to space lol.

[fingal]

Most probably true, but is it not a South African who started the Ubuntu project? Called Mark Shuttleworth....if I'm not mistaken, the same guy who went to space lol.

Indeed. Here are some details.