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Old 02-19-2005, 01:18 PM   #1
timswim78
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Registered: Dec 2004
Location: Baltimore, Maryland (USA)
Distribution: Fedora Core 3
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How I made the switch to linux


I originally tried dual booting linux and windows. this really did not work for me because I would often have to reboot my computer and fire up windows if I wanted an answer to a problem. so, I built a second rig with decent spec's (ASUS A7N8X Deluxe, XP 2400+, etc.) and bought a KVM. After that, I could just switch between the two OS's until i got comfortable with linux. Now, I can say that I often prefer to use linux to my Windows box for most stuff.

in my opinion, the only thing that my Windows machine excels at is multimedia stuff. (TV and Radio Tuner, PVR stuff, ripping and burning DVD's, etc.)
 
Old 02-19-2005, 01:26 PM   #2
SciYro
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Registered: Oct 2003
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and who dared to say OSS programs cant do it!

get mplayer (at its full, it can play almost any video codec, and format (in windows you needed the windows media player, real player, and quicktime to play what mplayer can (tho, it lacks full support for some things ... such as it cant play "scrambled" (drm i think?) WMV files) .... it also comes with "mencoder" to encode anything mplayer can play (say a dvd rip?)

also sometimes "cp /dev/dvd /home/dvd.img" will do a bit by bit copy of a dvd (usually it will error out tho)

mplayer also handles video4linux (some tv tuners .... not a lot supported tho)

PVR?
 
Old 02-19-2005, 02:08 PM   #3
timswim78
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Original Poster
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Quote:
Originally posted by SciYro
and who dared to say OSS programs cant do it!

get mplayer (at its full, it can play almost any video codec, and format (in windows you needed the windows media player, real player, and quicktime to play what mplayer can (tho, it lacks full support for some things ... such as it cant play "scrambled" (drm i think?) WMV files) .... it also comes with "mencoder" to encode anything mplayer can play (say a dvd rip?)

also sometimes "cp /dev/dvd /home/dvd.img" will do a bit by bit copy of a dvd (usually it will error out tho)

mplayer also handles video4linux (some tv tuners .... not a lot supported tho)

PVR?
Thanks for the tips, especially the one about doing a bit by bit DVD copy. PVR = Personal Video Recorder or something like that. I have a LeadTek TV/FM Tuner. The Windows drivers and software give me a much clearer picture and sound. However, i plan to get a Hauppauge tuner soon and put that in my linux machine. I plan on running FreeVo or MythTV with it.

I'll check out mplayer tonight. I was a bit disappointed that MP3 codecs were missing from Fedora, but that was an easy fix.

Also, one other gripe (or question). can I play CD's without an audio cable in Fedora. In XP, the music can be sent digitally, so you do not need an audio cable running from the CD drive to the sound card. Can this be done in linux?
 
Old 02-19-2005, 06:47 PM   #4
cs-cam
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Registered: May 2004
Location: Australia
Distribution: Gentoo
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It can be done in linux, xmms has a plugin, KsCD has an option in the config somewhere. I can't be much help because I've never run into that issue, obviously my computer has the cable I'm guessing.

And
Code:
cat /dev/dvd > /home/user/dvd.iso
is a better way of ripping DVDs
 
Old 02-19-2005, 07:07 PM   #5
timswim78
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Registered: Dec 2004
Location: Baltimore, Maryland (USA)
Distribution: Fedora Core 3
Posts: 70

Original Poster
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Quote:
Originally posted by DJ P@CkMaN
It can be done in linux, xmms has a plugin, KsCD has an option in the config somewhere. I can't be much help because I've never run into that issue, obviously my computer has the cable I'm guessing.

And
Code:
cat /dev/dvd > /home/user/dvd.iso
is a better way of ripping DVDs
Cool! Thanks for the DVD ripping command. Is there a way to compress DVD ISO's? Something like DVDShrink.
 
Old 02-20-2005, 09:53 PM   #6
BajaNick
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Registered: Jul 2003
Location: So. Cal.
Distribution: Slack 11
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Thats just what I did when i started on Linux and I still have the same kvm switch, using it right now.
 
Old 02-21-2005, 01:16 AM   #7
XavierP
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Moved: This thread is more suitable in Success Stories and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.
 
Old 02-21-2005, 05:42 PM   #8
SciYro
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no way to compress them that i know of, but i don't need to, i rip them (if it don't error out ..) then do a LONG encoding (i can make 90 minutes go nicely on a 700MB CD ... but it losses some stuff ...... anyways, if size matters, encode what you want right off the DVD .... if time and size matters, pick a near real time encoding method, then reencode latter (so you can compress it better)
 
  


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