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Alright all you PH techies... I was recently given a computer that has lots of issues related to missing files from Windows XP. There is no windows disk to get them from and I was thinking of cleaning out the hard drive and running it on Linux.

Do you have a favorite version of Linux?

Will it run Windows programs? My plan is to turn this computer into a DVR and media center.

Thanks for the help!

Try Ubuntu. http://www.ubuntu.com/

You can boot it off of a CD to test it out first, without having to install it completely.

You might get some windows programs to work under emulators and such, but you'd be better off looking for Linux-based programs to run.

Most commercial DVRs are Linux-based.

MythTV has good instructions on how to build your own DVR http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8562


As for what distribution to use there are many but I run CentOS 4 and Ubuntu 7.04 depending upon the requirements. Ubuntu is a Debian-based distro that has 2 different setups available for download, workstation and server, both a single CD ISO image. CentOS is a Red Hat-based distro that contains everything the might be wanted, currently a 5-CD ISO image or 1 DVD ISO image, in a single download.

oph wrote:Most commercial DVRs are Linux-based.

MythTV has good instructions on how to build your own DVR http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8562


As for what distribution to use there are many but I run CentOS 4 and Ubuntu 7.04 depending upon the requirements. Ubuntu is a Debian-based distro that has 2 different setups available for download, workstation and server, both a single CD ISO image. CentOS is a Red Hat-based distro that contains everything the might be wanted, currently a 5-CD ISO image or 1 DVD ISO image, in a single download.

I'm starting to think I'm in a little over my head here.