[Tfug] Audio/Video woes

[Stephen Hooper]

Sorry you chose to read it that way.

On 9/24/06, Chad Woolley <thewoolleyman at gmail.com> wrote:
> OK.  Point taken.  I was going to write a detailed refudiation of my
> own, but I don't have time to argue.  Next time I'll save my valuable
> time, and keep my advice to myself, even though it may be pertinent,
> detailed, and grounded in personal experience which is relevant to the
> situation described in the original post.  I wouldn't want to
> contradict anything you believe, or your definition of "just works".
>
> Exiting this thread, apologies extended.
>
> Peace,
> -- Chad
>
>
>
> On 9/24/06, Stephen Hooper <stephen.hooper at gmail.com> wrote:
> > You are refudiating a point I was not trying to make, and in fact was
> > offering as an example of the absurd.
> >
> > Nevertheless, like I said before, Ubuntu may be great, and video may
> > just work.  Fact of the matter is, you are now arguing about what
> > "just works" means, and I would posit that my way is just as much
> > "just works", as your way.  The steps to accomplish the fact are
> > different it is true, but the end result is the same:  I too can
> > "click on a  video link in firefox, and see the video pop up and start
> > playing with working audio."  I swear I only use this awesome power
> > for nefarious purposes.
> >
> > I do agree that the original poster is probably in the same situation
> > as you seemed to find yourself.  I am glad that you like Ubuntu.
> >
> > I still maintain that in the terms of answering the posters original
> > post: implying that the best way to fix problems is to move to a
> > different distribution.  Seen from the eyes of a newcomer, I can't
> > help but wonder what it means, and the confusion you can cause by
> > advocating such a "killer" cure.
> >
> > I still maintain that if the original author had googled, found the
> > link, then at least he would have fixed a problem instead of following
> > the Windows mentality:  if its broke, slow, or blue... reinstall!
> >
> > If the author does not want to follow those instructions, he could
> > then write something like "Hey.  I just checked out Fedora, and hate
> > the amount of crap I have to work for to get it to play movie/mp3
> > files.  Can someone suggest a better alternate distribution."  Then
> > maybe it would all seem less silly to me.
> >
> > Finally, I would think your experiences with Fedora, and with Ubuntu
> > would be valuable, but  I would suggest a different thread.  A subject
> >  like "Why I love Ubuntu, and  the problems I experienced  with
> > Fedora" may be suitable.
> >
> > I am not trying to argue anything you claim below the second paragrah,
> > and one like to point out that this email is not meant to be an attack
> > on Ubuntu, but a defense of my thought process relating to the
> > questioning of what I had said in my first email, and your response to
> > it.
> >
> > On 9/23/06, Chad Woolley <thewoolleyman at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > I swear this is not trolling, just My Humble Opinion :)
> > >
> > > On 9/22/06, Stephen Hooper <stephen.hooper at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > Upgrading your distribution to fix a video problem?  Try Gentoo: video
> > > > just worked for me on this beastie as well.  Of course, I had it
> > > > compile everything, but what the hey!
> > >
> > > Sorry, I disagree.  "Having to compile everything" doesn't fall under
> > > the "just works" category in my book, even if it does compile and work
> > > flawlessly.  "Just works" to me means I install the distro, click on a
> > > video link in firefox, and see the video pop up and start playing with
> > > working audio.
> > >
> > > I started using Linux as my main box (I'm a software developer, so
> > > this is not just hobby use) about a year and a half ago. My primary
> > > reason was not because I was a linux zealot, but because I wanted a
> > > real operating system that I could rely on and didn't have to
> > > reinstall every year.  I wasn't a linux guru, but had used it for
> > > close to a decade, including installing and using it for a few
> > > production servers.
> > >
> > > I started with FC4, and had several various troubles.  I found RPM to
> > > be flaky and annoying to use.  I also had persistent heat-related
> > > crashes which FC + ext3 didn't deal with well at all, and the worst
> > > final one took much of my /etc with it, prompting me to go ahead and
> > > switch to Ubuntu (about the time I re-joined this group).  So, FC
> > > failed my "real operating system" criteria because I had to reinstall
> > > it within a year.  Maybe it was my lack of skill, but whateva...
> > >
> > > I then switched to Ubuntu, and have been much happier. Multimedia was
> > > the only thing that didn't work, and like I said they seem to have
> > > fixed that (at least for me) in Ubuntu 6.06.
> > >
> > > As for the distro switch, it was pretty painless for me, and I'd
> > > recommend it for anyone who is at least comfortable installing extra
> > > drives and installing the new distro on them without blowing away
> > > their old data.  I bought new drives, and installed Ubuntu on Software
> > > Raid with XFS (which eliminated filesystem corruption during power
> > > outages/hardware crashes).  I left my old filesystem mounted under
> > > /media (Ubuntu did this automatically).  I just copied over what I
> > > needed as I needed it.  I had all my data well organized, and most
> > > well behaved apps are a painless migrate just by reinstalling and
> > > copying the settings dir over (like ~/.mozilla).
> > >
> > > Just my experience, and I wanted to relate it since it seems like the
> > > Original Poster's situation is similar to mine.
> > >
> > > -- Chad
> > >
> > > _________________
> >
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