Kubuntu Question

I know this is not an exclusive Linux forum, but I know a fellow Geek will help me and point me in the right direction. This is my first official stop for help, even though I have done some very light investigative searching . . .

I have an old laptop. For the past 20 years I have been a Geek, I have never done Linux. I figured I would install some form of Linux just for the experience. So, I installed Kubuntu. I thought I might use the laptop as an mini entertainment center in my art studio, so I went about investigating how to install all the sundry media players that play all the shiny, new and current formats. And of course, that is where things get complicated. . . .

My compulsory research indicated that I have to download and install some software that will play all the standard files. I can't get it to work. Offhand, I cannot remember the name of some of the stuff of I tried, but my slightly above average computer literate self was at a loss. . .

So here are my questions:

Is Kubuntu the best Linux for playing audio/video formats? If not, what is?
What is the easiest way to enable such playback ?

I know there are many resources around, which I will investigate as well. But you Geeks are my first order of Battle!

Thanks for any help!

 

True, but Major Geeks does have such a forum. It can be found by simply clicking this link. Hopefully a forum moderator will move this thread, but if not, just reference this thread in your first post over in the Linux forum by providing a link.
:-D

 

Thank you sir for setting me straight!

 

I would also suggest that you look at Puppy Linux. Over the years I have tried several versions of Linux but could never get the feel of any of them Ubuntu, Knoppix, DSL...

I recently tried Puppy and was pleasantly surprised. In addition my wireless card also works [could not get it to work with other Linux distros]. Try the live cd and see. There are many different flavours of Puppy eg 4.2.1, BoxPup, Muppy.

In respect of player, well for Puppy, VLC will handle all and is available as a pet file.

Good Luck

 

It would be helpful to know the tech specs of the laptop in question.
XMPC is a great alternative to Windows Media Edition but if he has 256 MB RAM and merely wants to play mp3 or Streaming Radio, Exaile or VLC may be better choice.

 

Amarok for your mp3 files and Xine for video files - or even Totem,

can't go wrong with them,

don't know much about the codecs in kubuntu, but in the distro i use i had to add the win32 codecs and liba52dec0 (AC-3 decoder (dolby)) - so i could have sound on commercial dvd's,

in my distro i had to add vlc-plugin-a52 (vlc's AC-3 plugin) if i wanted to watch commercial dvd's through vlc - to much bother for me to keep adding various plugins, so i removed vlc and made Xine as default for vids,

you could try XMMS - its the linux version of winamp - for audio

just a thought but you may need ffmpeg and mpeg4ip for watching vids as well

 

Straight Ubuntu with the Gnome desktop will likely be a better fit, but as mentioned below, a Live CD will let you test everything first.

Ubuntu is pretty good straight away and whilst I have not installed it yet I believe there is a new feature in Jaunty that automates grabbing software that is needed so if you try to play a file and it is not supported, it prompts you to get it.

Failing that, you can get all you need with the synaptic package manager that you can find in the: System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager
menu

Hope it helps
Mac