Distro for media server

[patnshan]

Hello,

I have never used linux before but am intrigued. I am about to build an HTPC box with an AMD Sempron 64 processor. I want to use it as an HTPC connected to my HD projector. I may be interested in using it for DVR capabilities down the line but not immediately. I am comfortable with PC hardware and working with software, but have never done "programming" persay. I am looking for a distribution to use for audio server, surfing the net, photo viewing, home video viewing, etc. on the projector.

I am not sure which distribution I should get. I have read all about each and still don't know. I plan to install only linux on the box and do everything from that OS. I am very familiar with windows. Basically I want to easily surf the net on the projector and play music on my stereo. I'd like it to look like something that resembles windows so I can be a little familiar. Is the GUI built in or do I need to install that separately? Which one looks and acts like windows?

If it matters, the MB is a Gigabyte GA-M61P-S3. I will use onboard video and audio. The chip is a Sempron 64 3000+ Manila. It will have 1GB of RAM.

Please give me some ideas of which one's you'd recommend trying and why. I am also interested in hearing what pitfalls you anticipate with my project.

Thanks much,

Pat

[firepong]

Well, you could use Ubuntu or Fedora. Reason im saying that is because they are the only 2 that I have really used since I started using Linux about a week ago.

And as for the DVR capabilities, unless your card/usb box maker of the DVB system has drivers for Linux, im sorry to say that you might not be able to use it, as I have found out from personal experience. So, you might want to leave windows one your HDD, just give it like 8gb of space for when you want to dual boot and leave it alone.

And as for the look of the system, almost every disto that is out has a good user-friendly interface. And also, most of them look almost like Windows, except the fodlers are real hard to find out.

So, as for the rest of the distros, some more of the members here might be able to give you some info on them as I have not used them all.

[patnshan]

Thanks for the reply. I am thinking about the dual boot idea as well. I do have Windows XP pro I can use as well. I have a couple dumb questions about that.

1. What software should I use to double boot?

2. How would you guys recommend I partition a 250GB HD in order to have two OS's as well as media files. I want the media files to be accessible to either OS.

3. Should I use NTFS, FAT32, or something else?

Thanks again for the help!

Pat

[SuSEholic]

1. What software should I use to double boot?

You can install grub (it will installed automatically when you install
linux, at least in SuSE).
In grub, you can add or remove which operating system you can
boot.

2. How would you guys recommend I partition a 250GB HD in order to have two OS's as well as media files. I want the media files to be accessible to either OS.

Well, based on your requirements, I would recommend this.

1. 8GB -> NTFS For Windows.
2. 8GB -> Ext2/Ext3 for Linux.
3. The Rest -> FAT32 For your multimedia files.

3. Should I use NTFS, FAT32, or something else?

You can use any of them, but if you want to WRITE from linux, you
should use FAT32, since - AFAIK - linux capabilities to write to NTFS,
isn't good as write to FAT32.


Hope this can help you, any other suggestion from expert to fix my
suggestion are welcome.

[tvilkov]

you could also use NTFS if you want, it's up to you. ntfs-3g supports writing to windows NFTS partitions, and I use it with Fedora. I suggest you keep your multimedia files on windows, because windows can't directly read ext3 etc linux partitions. With linux you will be able to access them fine.

[bryansmith]

I suggest you keep your multimedia files on windows, because windows can't directly read ext3 etc linux partitions.

You can in fact read ext3 from windows after installing an ext3 driver. I have it installed and my root directory is mapped to L:

Aside from that, it would be easier to use FAT for files you want to share. It is much faster (reading from ext3 from windows can be a tad slow).

[patnshan]

You can in fact read ext3 from windows after installing an ext3 driver. I have it installed and my root directory is mapped to L:

Aside from that, it would be easier to use FAT for files you want to share. It is much faster (reading from ext3 from windows can be a tad slow).

Great. I think I will try Ubuntu on about 10GB, Windows XP on 10GB, then the around 230GB left as a FAT32 place to store media files. Can I also run programs from the FAT32 section on either OS? If not, Imay need to make those OS partitions a little larger.

Thanks so much for the help.

Also, what book do you recommend for dummies like me to read who want to learn to figure this linux stuff out themselves. As I said before, my knowledge level with hardware is moderate to high, with the inner workings of software, it is low. I'd like to become more knowledgable.

Pat

[bryansmith]

Programs for Linux, whether from source or through a package manager, will have the various files automatically dispersed through the root filesystem. 10 GB's is a lot of space though so you should be more than fine.

[patnshan]

So I downloaded feisty fawn (new ubuntu), the 32 bit version as it's said to be more stable. I have Windows XP disc SP1 which I plan to slipstream with SP2 prior to install. Below are my plans.

1. Install XP SP2 on 10 GB NTFS partition
2. Install Ubuntu 7.04 on 10GB ext3 partition
3. Make rest FAT32 partition for media files, etc.

Questions:
1. Should I let XP setup the partitions on install (will it do that??)
or
2. Should I just install XP and then use partition magic to resize and remake partitions under XP prior to installing linux?

This is the one part I am confused about, when to setup the partitions. I want to do it right the first time

Thanks so much for the help. My Ubuntu book hasn't arrived from Amazon yet. That's what I get for choosing free shipping

Pat

[bryansmith]

Install Ubuntu after Windows. During the Ubuntu install, you can use the built-in partitioner in the installer to partition your drive to your liking.