It Takes Guts(y)

Recently I reloaded (from scratch) my Ubuntu Linux install. My previous install was and Edgy Eft, upgraded to Feisty Fawn, upgraded to Gutsy Gibbon. Since some boo-boos were made along the way (and considering Linux installs are faster than Windows installs), I reloaded.

In the past I used Automatix to get my machine tweaked for multimedia. I had read that in Fiesty, this was not really all the necessary since Ubuntu would try to find the codc you need to play a specific file. With that in mind, I decided to try updating multimedia without Automatix.

First, the basic install went well. I ran into some issues partitioning the HD (I dual boot and did not want to screw up my Windows partition) but I finally figured it out (it seemed harder than the last time I did this, but maybe I am just imagining that).

After the basic install, I ran into the "no link error" that I later found was a problem with the new driver I upgraded on the Windows side. That issue was resolved (this was not any fault of Ubuntu) and I then started trying things out.

While the details are fuzzy, I remember that I had some issues with Totem and some of the file types was trying to play. Ubuntu prompted me to allow it to search for the codecs and after it found and installed them, some played while others would not. I eventually found that for multimedia, I needed to add the Medibuntu repo's to give me full control over DVD's and other media.

For the most part, this was the most frustrating part of the install. All my Windows partitions (two of them fat-32 and one NTFS) were recognized, as was all my hardware. Everything "just worked", although I just realized I have not set up printing yet. My friend Knightmare Duck states this will be no problem at all.

I have not tried wireless with Gutsy yet, but Compiz, the 3D desktop effect package, has worked pretty well...much better than I had expected.

I tested my multimedia upgrades last night by watching a PC DVR recording of Battlestar Galactica - "Razor". Tehre was some flicker but the over impression was pretty good. Audio formats have played well.

If I were to judge this distro to previous Ubuntu releases, I would have mixed reviews. While having the eye candy work nearly flawlessly is nice, I would rather have multimedia work "out of the box". This is what the majority of the end users are going to want. If Linux is to be a serious threat to Mac OSX and Windows Vista, it needs to be more friendly towards multimedia.

JMHO.