[tlug] Re: Multimedia Distros _out_of_the_box_

[Darren Cook <darren@example.com>]

>> Q3: Which distributions work well for multimedia, out of the box? 

> We're all aware that almost any main-line distro can be added to, 
> (even FC5) but that's often a hassle. With apt-get, does 
> one has to know what to ask for? Figuring out what to ask for 
> can be a hassle. 
> 
> Of course, Mr. Cook could make this moot by saying that he's 
> amenable to doing _some_ work to modify the "out of the box" distro. 

Actually I was being unfair to Josh as the only way I would try Debian
again (*) or Gentoo would be if someone paid me. (Literally, not
rhetorically: if a client was using them, and the project was big
enough, I'd install the same environment on my development machine.)

I don't use linux for the thrill of it, just to get my development work
done (as well as browsing, email, watching videos, etc.). I hate
up-to-speed time on something that isn't part of my main purpose in
life. So I'm unlikely to change distribution, and if I did it would be
for something very close, i.e. RPM-based, and aimed at mid-level users
not unix gurus. (FWIW I'm looking at Centos, and Suse, and may try out
their live DVD versions.)

Incidentally the distrowatch answer to my above question is Mepis:
 http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

"...MEPIS comes with many non-free, but highly useful applications, all
pre-configured and ready to use, out of the box. ..."

Darren

*: Debian stable was the first linux distribution I ever installed to
use for real work. I found it immensely confusing and frustrating, and
was much happier when I switched to RedHat 5. (Yes, this was a long time
ago, I don't mean Fedora Core 5 ;-)