Using Linux as a media center/migrating to Linux as main OS

[MidnightDistort]

I'm leaving this open to discuss, for those who are not wanting to stick with Windows i plan on switching my W7 media desktop to a Linux media desktop. I was happy with W8 and while i agree, W8 is not bad once you customize it, but i want to learn and do all i can with Linux, i'm pretty tech savvy as well so there should be no problem there though i don't know much about coding.

Anyway, the only reason i haven't switched over to Linux primarily due to aesthetics reasons. So before W7 gets the boot, i want to make Linux as much as a good experience i can (and have it near to W7 experience as i get). I have no idea whether these things are currently capable or they are still in the Linux dream world.

1. Windows Media Player - It is bad and takes up too much resources, the only reason i still use it is because it automatically tracks your folders/files so anything you put in your music folder, WMP automatically detects it & adds to your playlist. The other thing i particularly enjoy is the ability to add album art along with your music data (without it actually making the file size larger). You can also view the album art on each track in Windows Explorer. The other thing i like about WMP is the amount of options you get with it. For one i like the format (for the most part anyway) of the album/artist representations and is similar to iTunes, though there's some things i didn't like about iTunes (that i don't quite remember).

So basically what i am asking here is, is there any programs like VLC or even VLC that has customizable template skins and options to sort music by it's genre, year, ect? Also i will add that i remember VLC not working with the last.fm scrobbler app and that was one of the reasons i have not exclusively used Linux yet.

2. Last.fm - This kind of goes hand in hand with WMP and i think Last.fm supports Linux already so there shouldn't be any trouble there, however since i use WMP, the only other available option i know of is VLC (see WMP).

3. Good weather app similar to The Weather Channel (or if it's possible TWC is workable).

4. Customize desktop. Don't know much about Linux desktops yet and i'm more into customizing stuff that isn't offered by the Linux distro.

I might be missing a lot more here but i don't plan on sticking with MS forever so any help with Linux would be grateful Anyone else have anything they don't quite know much about Linux but want to get off Windows can post here if they want (since i left this open for discussion, though i am not sure if this is a proper place to just discuss about Linux in general)

3.7.14 Update: Instead of trying to move files over to Linux, i have decided that i wanted to set up some kind of server or storage device where i can access from any PC running Linux or Windows. If i do a server it most likely will be a LInux type, but i am hoping i could access that server using either Linux or Windows. *See below in the discussion more about what stuff i already have to work with.*

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Have you given Amarok a look? ( http://amarok.kde.org/ )

 

[MidnightDistort]

Thanks, it's a good player and has some last.fm integration. The only thing though is i prefer it using the last.fm app or at least show the stats, similar artists, link to the last.fm page.. (there might be a plugin or something for that) but it's a pretty good start at least.

 

[Aristotelian]

For customizing the desktop, Linux is your OS! Way more customizable than Windows or Mac. You have a range of styles that are very different. MATE, Cinnamon, and XFCE are more Windows-like, KDE has all kinds of special effects and eye candy, and Unity (which comes with the mainstream Ubuntu distribution) is similar to Mac. They all have launchers, task bar applets, and desklets that you can add and customize. The best thing to do is try a few out while booting from a USB stick before choosing which to install.

For music player, Banshee is very good and I believe comes with Last.fm integration and automatically downloads and displays album art. Clementine is good but I have found it is heavy on CPU resources. Amarok and Rhythmbox are also similar in functionality to Banshee.

Aesthetics is a really poor reason to stay away from Linux. While the defaults can be boring you can customize everything to your taste with as much or as little eye candy as you want. If you want something flashy, you should probably check out KDE and go from there. The two biggest distributions that use KDE are KUbuntu and Linux Mint-KDE.

 

[MidnightDistort]

Well i didn't say that Linux was bad aesthetically, considering that i have Windows 7 & it's still supported i figured i could get whatever use i can out of it until i can fully move to Linux. Linux Mint looks great and i do want to be able to customize the desktop. The same with the media player along with last.fm.

The largest USB stick i have is about 1GB, should that be enough for all the distros or should i get a larger one? It'll definitely be better and faster than burning it to an RW. I will have to check out some of those other music players as well. Thanks!

 

[mc962]

I'd get a bigger one, Mint alone is over 1 GB. You can get 8 GB for fairly cheap I believe.

Personally I've found booting off a disc worked a little better than USB even though it took a little longer to make, although that might just be an issue with the USB I was using

 

[chamaecyparis]

Check out alternatives to that other OS software, like VLC, at
http://www.linuxalt.com/

 

[MidnightDistort]

Thanks, well i noticed that burning it to a cd or dvd might cause slowness as you have to wait for certain things to load.. at least with my experience, unless it's the hardware.

Ok, so i'm updating my original topic here, but instead of just moving files over to another OS or having one or 2 external drives i got a bunch of hard drives that i could use in a server or something (i won't raid all of them since some of them are old) but i have ran extensive tests and ran them 24/7 and they all seem like in workable conditions. Won't use certain ones for main data ect.. but just general use and replace them as needed. Please note that i do back up all my data on either cds/dvds and on 2 newer TB hdds.

Anyway so i have several desktops that are not being used, i have an old Packard Bell system (running W95, which is probably useless) and i do have a couple of dell and a compaq system (which i have run into some bios problems) i got an HP with a 533mhz processor (will most likely put in a higher wattage PSU) and another older compaq system. I read a bit on how to create a server and it seems fairly simple at least for the hardware part. The only question i have is whether i could use the Packard Bell PC or the 533mhz HP desktop? The HP desktop has an ideal case for the hard drives.

So if i decide to make a Linux server, would i be able to access it through Windows 7? Is this server going to take up bandwidth on my internet service? (or will i need internet service?) And will the files be accessed as if you were getting it from your hard drive?

 

[Aristotelian]

So if i decide to make a Linux server, would i be able to access it through Windows 7? Is this server going to take up bandwidth on my internet service? (or will i need internet service?) And will the files be accessed as if you were getting it from your hard drive?

No idea which machine would be better. Yes, Linux server should be accessible through Windows 7. No it will not take up bandwidth of your internet connection (although it may take up your router's wifi bandwidth if you are using wifi). Yes, files on the server will be visible in Windows Explorer (or the Linux equivalent).

 

[MidnightDistort]

Well since the HP one has the best storage capacity i might try that one out, considering i was going to dismantle it for parts. Thanks .