check out http:// www.edmunds-enterprises .com for 99 cent
linux cd's a lot of varieties. Open a terminal window in ubuntu and type
in apt-get update and after the update is done open the Snynaptic
package manager's list of several thousand programs that you can get and
install automatically, I am sure you will find stuff to take care of
your needs there..

Recently there have been some releases of several Kubuntu/Ubuntu competing
distributions. Yesterday I installed OpenSuSE 11.2 and Mandriva 2010, KDE
versions of each. I do this to keep up with what others are doing as neither
is as flexible or complete as Canonical's offerings. What this did was drive
me back to Kubuntu quickly and be thankful for my choice.

Neither distribution has deep repositories. There are several applications
that I use that I could not install at all. However a couple of applications
ran better in Mandriva and OpenSuSE than in Kubuntu. Inkscape on my computer
does not run well from the Canonical repositories. It is extremely slow to
load (several minutes). It loads in both Mandriva and OpenSuSE quickly.
Which got me to wondering if there is something wrong with Canonical's
version. I get the same results in Ubuntu as Kubuntu so the desktop isn't at
fault. The other applications that do not work for me in 9.10 are Choqok and
Gwibber. Gwibber won't load in KDE, but it loads in GNOME and Choqok crashes
my computer in both. Initially on the fresh installation both worked, but
after updates they stopped working properly.

I use Inkscape for vector graphics and Choqok and Gwibber are microblogging
applications that support both Identi.ca and Twitter and multiple accounts.

If you use Inkscape, does it load quickly in (K)Ubuntu?
If you use Choqok does it work at all in Karmic?
If you use Gwibber does it work in Kubuntu 9.10?

Yes, indeed, in the case of Opensuse installing to the hard disk is slow but
OK. Then, configuring the damned ADSL PPPoE via Yast is slower and a little
troublesome. Then, there is the surprise with the repositories, which are rather
poor. for example, vlc cannot be installed. When installing alternative desktop
environments (Gnome or XFCE) via Yast one has to insert the install DVD and they
are installed from there. But OpenSUSE's XFCE is wonderful. I will also test
OpenSUSE's KDE3.5. the other one is a monster.
I gave up Mandriva last year.
I also gave up KDE and Gnome in favour of XFCE, but right now I am using
FVWM-Crystal. I gave up LXDE for good and gave up Enlightenment for good.
Sometimes I will use Openbox.
I will never give up XFCE for good !

Tried OpenSuse 11, it was good. I didn't keep it long. Same for Fedora 11. I
have not used Mandriva (Tried Mandrake nearly 7 years ago and didn't care for
it).

I used Xubuntu for a time but then discovered Linux Mint, then went back to
Xubuntu but found the non-inclusion of sound/video software to be tiresome. I
know that there are ways to enable repositories and download appropriate sound
libraries for mp3 encoding and what-not, but it's not something I wish to do
with every fresh install. For my purposes, (and hey, Linux IS all about choice,
right) I prefer to have certain things work out of the box.

These days I run Mint on the Desktop PC and Cruchbang Linux on the laptop.Â
Even thought the KDE environment offers lots in the way of configuration, I like
the Openbox environment best these days. It does what it needs to and stays out
of my way. I've also switched away from default file manager PCMAN (in Crunch)
in favor of Thunar. I also like GNOME but only on my Desktop as it's more
powerful and has adequate RAM (2gig). LXDE did not do it for me, but I do like
the XFCE panel using ORAGE as my clock/calendar.

I assume you're just referring to playing audio/video and not editing.
Right?

On the subject of editing, I've tinkered with Ubuntu Studio but whenever
I've posted a request for any type of support (here and the forums) it's
fallen on deaf ears. Over the weekend I did a fresh Windows XP Pro install
on half of a 40GB hard drive and a fresh 64 Studio install on the other
half. What I really liked about the install (after I got past a date issue)
was that it let me do a custom partition so I could separate /home from /usr
from /tmp & all that fun jazz. If anyone wants to check it ut go to
http://www.64studio.com/ and poke around. The stable version is 2.1 and
there's a 3.0 Alpha or Beta but I'm not one that likes to mess with Beta.

I assume you're just referring to playing audio/video and not editing.

Right?

Yes, you are correct. I haven't done much in the way of video editing.

I am hooked on KDE 4 and the plasmas. KDE has its own compositor so there is
no need for Compiz. It has a Fancy panel that can replace Avant Window
Navigator. It has replacements for just about everything Google Gadgets,
Screenlets, Superkaramba and gDesklets combined have. It all works together
in perfect harmony.

GNOME is contaminated with Mono and isn't going anywhere. It is a piecemeal
desktop environment, IMO. XFCE is better right now. GNOME 3 has been delayed
and it isn't likely to give Mono the boot. I still keep it around and use it
from time to time just because I want to be able to help users on GNOME.

Trying other distros is good if only to convince you that you are in the
right place. I will give Fedora 12 a spin when it comes out today or
tomorrow. I actually am looking forward to it.

OpenSuSE's installer gave me a bit of scare. It wanted to format my Windows
partition and I could not seem to undo that despite trying a custom
installation which I am very familiar with. I took a chance and it installed
without difficulty. However, it did not install grub where I wanted and it
left out Ubuntu 9.10 from the list. I had to boot into another drive and use
the grub there to get back to Ubuntu. Not a good distribution, IMO. Like
Alexandru said you can't install VLC and lots else. I could not access all
of my drives. My Ubuntu partition did not even show. I could not open a jpg
because of permissions problems. Not fun!

I like Mandriva better. It came with VLC installed. However, it did not have
all of my programmes. I could not get Inkscape at all so had to settle for
something less. I thought that I was in KDE 3.5 instead of KDE 4 because it
was dumbed down and everything was locked. The KDE4 desktop folder plasma
was the full screen which allows you to copy files to the desktop like KDE3,
but you could not add plasmas. I finally clued in and unlocked and made it
to my own liking. However when I tried to do this it messed up my desktop so
that all of the icons were on top of one another and the panel was about an
inch high. The only way out of that one was to delete the .kde folder and
start over. Mandriva's installer does not have a back button. I got my email
address wrong, but could not go back to fix it.

Needless to say, I appreciate Kubuntu all the more. It is not perfect, but
it is much better than the alternatives. However, if you can help me
troubleshoot any of my current problems I would appreciate it.

I've been playing around with Cinelerra recently, and it seems to be excellent.
There's a bit of learning curve, but that didn't surprise me.

I built a new computer in the summer, and that might explain part of my
satisfaction. My older computer wasn't powerful enough for video editing.

What are the specs on your new computer, if you don't mind sharing.

It's a Phenom II X2 at 3.1 GHz, with 4 GB of 1333 MHz memory, 640 GB Western
Digital "black" hard drive and nVidia 9400GT video card.

I'm running 64-bit Linux Mint Gloria, and also have the Windows 7 release
candidate installed.

I have a cheapie Moviepix video camera I picked up on eBay. I use Video
Converter to convert the (720P) video so Cinelerra can handle it. When
Cinelerra outputs the final product it's very slow, but I can still use the
computer for checking email, etc.

I envy you with that computer, and ask why a video card - what does it
do that is worthwhile - I am not asking why that particular video card -
I have never had a card and can't say I have ever used a computer with
one, yet I do know that you don't pay for something without it being
worth it. Should I think of getting one.

For what it's worth, I recently got a discrete graphics card. It
wasn't a necessity, but I'm happy with it, as I can scroll and pan
graphics much more smoothly. Compiz is also stable with it, unlike the
onboard video, where compiz was so unstable that I wouldn't use it.

I got a PNY/Nvidia GT9600 with 1G of RAM at Fry's for I think $49, it
was the last they had at the store, I suppose they were popular.

Actually people overpay for video cards all the time. The latest and
greatest will drastically come down in price pretty quickly. You don't
even need a video card if you aren't doing high end gaming or video
rendering. Most of my computers use onboard video and I am perfectly
happy with them. I have a couple I use for older games like Rise of
Nations or Age of Empires, and use a $50 card. They work fine.

Thanks for the comments, I find that lately I am using youtube, skype
and google earth, and I think that I will see an improvement (excuse the
pun) if I get one. I should also see a difference with the display of
other programs which will also help. If one was to go to a place with
google earth would that be clearer on the screen and a better picture
when saved.

I tried Mepis Antix twice, the second time there was no sound. I also tried
Linux Mint XFCE Community Edition and there was no sound. Bad luck. I tried
Mepis and crashed twice, the last line at bootup was rp-pppoe.so loaded. But it
makes two separate partitions on the hard disk automatically and I repaired the
broken system with the install CD (reinstalled in fact, because it deletes the
old system) but that can be done quite fast.
I used FreeDOS dual booted with OpenSUSE (OpenSUSE recognizes it as
"Windows"). For installation it gave the option to "Shrink the Windows partition
to 45 GB" or something like this. It is OK.
After installing and configuring it I used it maybe 3-4 times, then it broke.
Black screen with a prompter in the upper left part and nothing could be booted.
I installed Windows 7 so as to test some software on it and left some 6 GB
empty space for Ubuntu. Windows 7 was unable to boot FreeDOS also, but I could
access the FreeDOS partition. Then I installed Ubuntu and it recognized FreeDOS
and the "Windows Vista (Loader)" used by Windows 7 right from the start. Now I
can triple boot FreeDOS, Windows 7 and Ubuntu.
I will also try a triple boot scheme with Windows XP, 2000 and 7 either with
or without deleting the "Windows Vista (Loader)" and a quadruple boot with
these and Ubuntu for experimental reasons. This "Windows Vista (Loader)" is
something strange, it is seen as a green partition on the hard disk and it
really occupies some space.
Now some surprises with Windows 7 were that it eats 33 % of my 1.5 GB RAM
when not doing anything, some programs can be installed and used with no problem
(Skype, Messenger, Pidgin, Office 2000, Open Office), others cannot (Toshiba
Disc Creator, VB6.0), it seems to have a nice firewall. Some DOS programs can be
run; when I tried to exit Acidwarp it crashed my PC.
Now I am writing under Windows 7.

The simplest reason, "why a video card," is that my Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P
motherboard has no on-board graphics. I prefer nVidia graphics, and going for
on-board nVidia graphics would have limited my choice of motherboard.

I selected the motherboard by going to the Newegg site, and picking the
motherboard which could host that CPU, with the highest user satisfaction rating
at a reasonable price. I wound up buying the motherboard locally, but I bought
the graphics card from Newegg. It was not at all expensive, $51 Canadian
including taxes and shipping.

Another advantage of a video card is dedicated memory instead of sharing main
memory. That's more relevant if you have less main memory, such as 512 MB.
Plus the flexibility of buying as much performance as you want.

Windows 7 includes a program which rates various system components in order to
predict whether the performance of different games will be satisfactory. That
program gives my video card a lower rating than the other components, and gives
the RAM the highest rating.

To be completely honest, video conversion and editing is my only application
which demands this kind of system performance. However, a couple of other apps
use a surprising amount of CPU, based on watching System Monitor. One is Skype,
when used for videoconferencing, and the other is Miro, when you are watching
video at the same time as downloading.

My wife is currently on an extended trip to China, so videoconferencing is my
top "must-have" application.