Fedora not working for me, what about Linspire?

[Gatwick]

I recently took the plunge into Linux with Fedora core 6, which was installed by a family member for me. While I'm not a computer tech, I can work with one fairly well and consider myself bright enough to fix most reasonable problems. However I've had it for 4-5 months now and I still can't get parts of it to function. Specifically I can't get it to play dvd's or rip cd's into MP3 format.

I have googled, read FAQ's and followed all the written advice I can find, but to no avail. I am frustrated at every turn by my lack of understanding of the underpinnings of the system. Nor do I wish to spend all my available time mastering such. I should not have to enter line commands into a terminal to provide basic level functionality. I need something that works, works well, and with a minimum of coercion from me.

Is Linspire capable of doing that, or will I have the same problems with a different flavor? If not Linspire, then what?

The system needs to handle my wife's Zen vision, Mp3's CD's and light e-mail / surfing. Games would be nice, but I can live without if wine won't provide.

[oz]

Welcome to the forums, Gatwick!

You might also want to look at Linux Mint because I think it might be like what you are looking for.

Let us know how it goes.

[Hoth]

Linspire will play DVDs and MP3 out of the box. The free version, Freespire, will play MP3 but I believe it requires a package installation to do DVD. Numerous distros do MP3 playback out of the box, Mepis comes to mind as another. DVD playing you'll only find on paid distros or ones in countries where they don't care about U.S. law.

Ubuntu has a codec manager which should painlessly prompt you to download the packages to play MP3 and DVD, I believe, which makes for a compromise between pre-installed and Fedora's more rigid anti-proprietary stance.

Linux Mint does do DVD, MP3, WMV and all the other common codecs. It's a derviative of Ubuntu which so far as I can tell just ignores the law and gets away with it by virtue of being low profile... anyone know about its legal status?

I've no idea about Zen.

or rip cd's into MP3 format.

KDE's file manager Konqueror does CD ripping automatically as long as you have the codec installed. Just pop the CD in the drive, click on the icon, go to the MP3 folder. If you use Gnome you may need a distinct program... google suggests 'grip'.

[Gatwick]

Rythmbox works for the Zen, but without MP3 compatibility, it's kinda pointless.
I've been using soundjuicer as well, but once again, I can't do anything with the default format.

Out of the box DVD and MP3 would be perfect. Machine was built, and intended for, usage as a movie library / living room computer.

Downloading the codecs post-installation is something I'd like to avoid as it hasn't worked at all with Fedora. In fact right now I'm looking at a stand alone DVD player sitting on top of my computer, so we can watch movies.

Thanks for the welcome! Newbs like me appreciate it

[googled first]

... anyone know about its legal status?

From a quick scan of the mint forums;
a) Their attitude is "we're doing nothing illegal"
b) They will review that attitude if and when a formal complaint is lodged.
c) The server appears to be in Germany.

Maybe if Mint gets pressured someone will distribute a similar distro from Sweden?

[oz]

Linux Mint does do DVD, MP3, WMV and all the other common codecs. It's a derviative of Ubuntu which so far as I can tell just ignores the law and gets away with it by virtue of being low profile... anyone know about its legal status?

They offer a light version for users that want Linux Mint, but don't want all the potentially illegal stuff in it:

Linux Mint