Brand new linux virgin

[leecou]

Hi linux forum members.

I'm completely new to the world of linux and am looking for some help and advice. I've used Miscrosoft since forever (don't throw stuff at me!!) but think I might need to make a change. I've browsed the boards but me problem is a bit specific.

I've been gifted an old Compaq P4 which is running Windows XP (SP1) from about 4 years ago.

I've don't want to use it for my everyday machine, but I'd like to plug it into the TV and watch downloaded TV shows. I have the graphics card with the right conectors so hopefully I should be ok.

I don't want to use MS as I don't want the machine to go onto the internet at all. I don't want to spend forever installing AV software, downloading windows updates, media player updates and the other associted rubbish.

I only want the very tiniest of OS's, a video player and the correct Divx and Xvid codecs. And thats it. I'll use a USB drive and a mouse to upload files and operate them so ideally I have no need for a keyboard (I'm also very tight and don't want to but a wireless keyboard).

The machine has a CD/DVD drive for loading the distro, playing DVD's etc.

So then:

Which distro? - again please don't shout at me asking
Media player (same again)?
If I load the latest versions of the distro and media player will I need to load updates (remember only ever used windows)?
Can I run the whole thing without a keyboard?
Finally, what problems will I come up against?

Thanks for any and all inputs.

L

[glennzo]

Look at www.distrowatch.com . There's a few distros available there that are multimedia specific and may be just what you are looking for.

[prejudged_fire]

I've been gifted an old Compaq P4 which is running Windows XP (SP1) from about 4 years ago.

Linux can run on even the oldest of machines, so no need to worry about that.

I only want the very tiniest of OS's

Damn Small Linux (DSL) is about the smallest full working distro that I've seen. You can install it with as little as 50 MB of disk space (You can even install it on you're pendrive, but whether or not you can boot from a USB device depends on your motherboard's BIOS).

a video player

I use Xine for watching DVD's and such. I dont know if it can be configured for watching TV with a tuner but it shouldn't be too hard to find one that does.

Which distro?

DSL. It comes with only a few programs so you'll probably need to customize it a bit by downloading and installing some programs to watch TV (which you would probably have to do anyway).

Media player (same again)?

I dont know. Does anyone know if Xine can be configured for what he wants to do?

If I load the latest versions of the distro and media player will I need to load updates (remember only ever used windows)?

No, you don't NEED to. But it is advised (updates provide security bug fixes and such). However, if you find one version that works, theres no need to update it every time if you dont have any problems with it.

Can I run the whole thing without a keyboard?

]
Yes. Click here to find out about onscreen keyboards. You might need one when installing linux initially though.

Finally, what problems will I come up against?

Once you learn your way around the Linux environments, you should be ok for the most part. You might have trouble configuring your TV tuner and loading the right drivers, along with finding the right media player.

again please don't shout at me asking

NO ONE WILL SHOUT AT YOU FOR WANTING TO LEARN!!!! .......... Ok I was shouting.. but you get my point. We (the linux community) always welcome newcomers with open arms and will do everything we can to help them along the way.

[leecou]

Thanks for your advice. I did have a look at distrowatch but the media section seemed out of date.

It's good to know that I can do the whole "set up and leave" idea - managing updates for an unconnected machine would be a pain (or so windows tells me). Great to know I can have an onscreen keyboard - just what I need.

I'll have a look at all of your advice and will post again later with an update or questions.

L

[leecou]

Just a quick update.

I've had a nightmare trying to download and create live CD's for DSL and Foresight. At this point I still haven't been able to get my main computer to boot from CD so I can look at and play with the distro's.

I'm having a go with downloading and burning another DSL iso.

Anyone have any advice (or nice things to say!!!!)?

L

[tech_man]

^^ Make sure you burn the CD as an image and not a data CD. And make sure your computer's BIOS is set to boot from CD-ROM drive first.

[leecou]

Finally got the boot cd working for DSL and booted from it. Can't begin to explain how big the smile was.

Had a very quick play on the DSL desktop and will give it some more time tomorrow but got a bit scared and had to stop what I was doing.

DID YOU KNOW THERE IS NO START BUTTON???

Joking aside, I'm now ready for stage 2. I want to install a media player and Divx and Xvid codecs and Prejudged_fire recommended Xine. My question is how do you install stuff in Linux? Do I need to download Xine to CD/USB and then install and if so where is the install option?

Now I'm a seasoned expert I'm also going to download a Foresight live CD and see the differences. Will DSL and Foresight have the same feel or will it be as different as Windows and DSL is?

Thanks for your help guys. After a very frustrating day I'm starting to enjoy this.

L

[Oxygen]

You have to do it with the command line, don't panic though.

http://xinehq.de/index.php/releases

Just run the commands listed here:

http://xinehq.de/index.php/faq#BUILDING

[Thrillhouse]

My question is how do you install stuff in Linux?

Take a look at this thread. Also as a new Linux user and a new member to this forum you should look through the topics discussed here.

[prejudged_fire]

did you actually install DSL to your Hard drive or are you only using the live CD? You can't make any permanent changes with a live CD (not easily anyway) because everything is stored in RAM. Whenever you shut down the computer, all your changes are lost.

To answer your question on how to install programs on linux, there are different methods. Some distros like Fedora Core use RPMs which you just run from the command line and if all goes well, it will install the program for you. Sometimes you have to compile the program from source code. This is a bit more complicated and can take quite a while depending on the size of the program and the speed of your comp.