10ft experience for Web Browsing : Distro suggestions
 

Hi,

I've got a tiny fanless PC with a HDMI out that I would like to configure as a media PC and I'm looking for suggestions on the best lightweight distro to support web browsing for the 10ft experience (i.e. watching on my flat screen in the lounge). Being in the UK the BBC iPlayer and 4OnDemand (through Youtube) are great free services, likewise the online LoveFilm service (kinda like Netflix) is something else I would like to tap into. Media playback I'm not overly concerned with, but this would be a nice extra.

I have come across 'Element' that seemed to be perfect but that Distro is no longer available.

I'm not looking to create a media center as such, i.e. with a capture card and MythTV; just for web browsing (primarily) and maybe playing some games (thinking of the Humble Bundle stuff) but that isn't imperative.

Is there a distro knocking around that can do this or am I best starting from scratch (in which case what is the best starting place)?

Thanks in advance.

D

I don't think what you are really looking for is a particular distro, but rather media collection management software. I think one good option is XBMC:

http://xbmc.org/skins/

However, if you are also into high-end gaming, I'd recommend a distro that tends toward bleeding edge software packages. It depends on your skill level, but Ubuntu would probably do, or Gentoo (my favorite).

IIRC there was a frok of element.

I'd agree with tinyTuxthat you arent really looking for a particular distro. You can use pretty much any distro you want, install the media player of your choice, maybe do some resizing and layout changes (easy to do).

I wouldnt call the humble bundle 'high end gaming' at all. Most fanless setups coudlnt deal with the parts you need for high end gaming anyway, there is just to much heat output.

Thank guys! I've been looking at the Unity interface for Ubuntu and I think with some tweaking I can get something running...

Unity is very locked as far as GUI modification goes. There are lots of things you cant do by desgin (unity is taking a 'we know better than you, shut up and use it' approach to the GUI).