Best Linux Distro For A Media PC

[Computernaut]

What is the Best Linux distribution to use for a computer intended to store and play movies and music? Would Ubuntu be good for this due to its (comparatively) wide support, or are there better options?

[Slottr]

Ubuntu is usually just what I've ever used. I keep hearing OMV thrown around but haven't checked it out

 

If it doesn't HAVE to be linux FreeNAS is awesome.

[SupaKomputa]

https://openelec.tv/documentation/installing-openelec

[Senzelian]

I recently heard about OpenELEC the first time by browsing through the different VM options in unraid.
I haven't tried it yet, but an alternative to it seems to be LibreELEC.
Might be worth checking out:
https://libreelec.tv/

[Sauron]

It doesn't matter, pretty much any major distribution will do. OpenELEC contains just the bare minimum to run Kodi, making your computer essentially a pure TV box - that may or may not be what you're looking for. Any distribution can be made to run Kodi so you're not losing anything by going for something else.

[Computernaut]

35 minutes ago, Sauron said:

It doesn't matter, pretty much any major distribution will do. OpenELEC contains just the bare minimum to run Kodi, making your computer essentially a pure TV box - that may or may not be what you're looking for. Any distribution can be made to run Kodi so you're not losing anything by going for something else.

Given that I'm planning on running it on a dual-core system with 4 GB of RAM, it might be good to go for a bare-minimum OS. That said, it really just has to play videos, so not too difficult of a task.

[Sauron]

1 hour ago, Computernaut said:

Given that I'm planning on running it on a dual-core system with 4 GB of RAM, it might be good to go for a bare-minimum OS. That said, it really just has to play videos, so not too difficult of a task.

Meh, it works just fine on a 1GB raspberry pi with or without the extra system. Don't worry about it.

[Sandro Linux]

 You could try KDE Plasma Bigscreen.

[Chief56]

I strongly recommend that you go to Distrowatch.com and read up on what you need. There are a lot of distributions of Linux out there and you're going to have to try a few to see what works for you. Most start off with Ubuntu, I like the look and feel of Mint, others will have their favorites.  Good Luck

[Ralphred]

On 3/23/2020 at 6:14 PM, Computernaut said:

intended to store and play movies and music

Linux does what you tell it, nothing more and nothing less.

If you need the 'storage' part of it to be accessible at times you are not using the 'play' part then something without systemd will be much easier to customise and effectively isolate the the two functions.

Read and understand how pattitioning schemes work before you install anything, so if you don't like what you've chosen you can change it without nuking your storage.

Store stuff in an ext3 partition, then if push comes to shove and you find a windows based solution you want to use down the line, you know you can have read write support to your storage partitions again without nuking anything.

If you are choosing a non-meta distro, pick one with LTS, this isn't a machine you want to play with, it's one you want to leave alone to do it's job, not rebuild every 18 months 'cus glibc got a major version bump and the newest Kodi wants a certain ffmpeg version etc etc etc.

Unless some 'pre-designed' niche distro meets your EXACT requirements, dismiss it instantly, maintaining these things when you go outside of the creators paradigm is more time consuming than running LFS

 

Start small and build on it, TBQH I'd start with a centos or debian server based lts distro for a low profile initial install, if I'd little to know expertise under the hood of linux.

It's easier to build on something than gimp something that does too much. Also look in to LIRC, no one wants to start juggling RF mice and keyboards when all you really want to do is sit down with a beer and popcorn to binge some series or watch a movie, you can make universal receiver for less than a cup of coffee.

 

[TheCoverUp]

I would use ubuntu studio.