New Linux User - Enjoying Salix :)

[neRok]

hi all, just thought i would introduce myself as i will be hovering around here fairly often, trying to suss things out.

i am just starting out with linux, so its a real head f***, but im getting there.
i have been using windows for many years, mostly XP. i am fairly knowledgable on windows and can do things like make batch files, edit the registry, set up domains, made my own awesome n-lite disc etc, so fairly advanced stuff. i had always been interested in linux but never tried it, until i decided to build a htpc and read that MythTV was the go. so thats when i decided to try out linux.

i started with ubuntu, as im sure most converts do. it was easy to use and did a lot, but i didnt like the way it looked and felt (as in the desktop environment). so i tried out kubuntu but didnt like it either. Then i tried xubuntu and that was the one for me (sounds like goldylocks story lol). Xfce is defintely a great desktop, plus its 'light' compared to the others which is a bonus.

I had a few grievences with xubuntu but, just little things that gave me shits, and when i went to play ut2004 and i couldnt jump and run at the same time, i thought i might try a different distribution. i read that ubuntu was based on 'unstable' debian, so i gave debian 'stable' a try with the xfce desktop, but it seemed a bit hard.

So when i was searching the net for other xfce distributions, i found Salix. I gotta say, its a winner imo! install was quick and easy and it does all the essential straight away. one thing that annoyed me with other o/s was having to install the flash plugins for youtube etc, but salix already works. i also really like the theme and the colours with the full install, and the way the 'taskbar' is setup is just the way i like it (for bottom dwelling bars anyway).

i have a few goals for my 2 salix computers ('server' and htpc)
- samba, got it setup on the server but the htpc couldnt mount the shares for some reason (could connect and read with smbclient), im sure i will get this sorted.
- mythtv, got it installed now, took a while and a few tries. made a wiki page on here for all to see. i still need to get the capture card and remote working.
- wine, i see its in repos for 32bit systems, but i really want to use 64bit, so gotta get it working. need wine so i can rip with EAC.

[thenktor]

First I want to welcome you here at Salix and give you some hints about your problems:
1. As long as you are using Linux only you could try NFS instead of Samba.
2. Why do you want to use EAC over Wine? How do you even know that it would still work as expected over Wine? You could try Rubyripper. It has different options to get proper rips, e.g.:

1. Look up your CD drive's read offset in the AccurateRip database.
(One way to identify your CD drive is to issue the command: lshw. Another way is: dmesg|grep CD-ROM).
2. Copy the read offset value into the Cdrom offset field

Recommended Ripping Options:
• Match all chunks: 2 times
• Match erroneous chunks: 3 times
• Maximum trials: 20

You can probably leave the Ripping options at their defaults, however:
• it doesn't hurt to bump the Match erroneous chunks value up to 3.
• If you don't set the Maximum trials, a badly scratched CD could cause Rubyripper to keep trying for hours before randomly getting matches on bad chunks. (note: if this happens, please do not upload your rip)

Ripping related:
• Pass cdparanoia options: -Z
· This disables cdparanoia's built-in correction and leaves you relying entirely on Rubyripper's test-and-copy method. The speed benefit of this might be worth it, given cdparanoia's reputation of not having very secure correction on its own.

[neRok]

re samba, other people that live with me have windows laptops etc, so getting samba working 100% is my best option.

re ripping, i had EAC running great under wine in ubuntu and xubuntu, so i presume it will work fine in salix (if i can get wine running). i know there are linux programs that can rip, however EAC is considered the best from what i have read on other sites. i am after maximum quality for my music as i have a large collection (hundreds of cd's) and i rip it all to flac, plus i am used to it after ripping 300+cd's already.

[gapan]

i know there are linux programs that can rip, however EAC is considered the best from what i have read on other sites.

Most if not all of those sites are windows-centric, so you don't expect them to know their way around linux applications. Try rubyripper, it is just as good and it's a native application.

[neRok]

okay i will give it a go then, cant hurt. ill rip a few cd's and compare to rips i have already done with EAC.

1 thing that (according to this site: http://www.accuraterip.com/software.htm ) no linux program does is use the AccurateRip 'service'. EAC also has many advanced error correction utilities, helping get an accurate rip every time. and it supports all types of gaps and multiple ways to 'use' the gaps in the audio files. i dont know if ruby ripper does this, but i shall research!

[thenktor]

1 thing that (according to this site: http://www.accuraterip.com/software.htm ) no linux program does is use the AccurateRip 'service'. EAC also has many advanced error correction utilities, helping get an accurate rip every time. and it supports all types of gaps and multiple ways to 'use' the gaps in the audio files. i dont know if ruby ripper does this, but i shall research!

I meant: How could you be sure these things work correctly under "emulation"? Personally I more trust Rubyripper for my rips, because double or three times ripping the same track with the same md5 sum is enough for me.

[Kristho]

Wow... That was an unusually bad GUI rubyripper have... Sad SoundJuicer have gnome-deps - nice ripping software

[Shador]

1 thing that (according to this site: http://www.accuraterip.com/software.htm ) no linux program does is use the AccurateRip 'service'. EAC also has many advanced error correction utilities, helping get an accurate rip every time. and it supports all types of gaps and multiple ways to 'use' the gaps in the audio files. i dont know if ruby ripper does this, but i shall research!

As long as you have reasonably ok drive, I don't think you need any of this.

I meant: How could you be sure these things work correctly under "emulation"? Personally I more trust Rubyripper for my rips, because double or three times ripping the same track with the same md5 sum is enough for me.

I was told it's working in wine. But personally I prefer a native app, which also runs with 64bit systems (no multilib at this point), over some wine stuff.

Wow... That was an unusually bad GUI rubyripper have... Sad SoundJuicer have gnome-deps - nice ripping software

Actually, I think the rubyripper interface is great. Yes, it's different and somewhat uncommon, but it's also really fast and doesn't get into your way once you know your way around it.

[thenktor]

Actually, I think the rubyripper interface is great. Yes, it's different and somewhat uncommon, but it's also really fast and doesn't get into your way once you know your way around it.

On first sight I did not like it, too. But it does an excellent job.

[neRok]

well i looked into rubyripper and gave it a go, it is easy to use. looks like it should make accurate rips (comparing them multiple times), so thats good. but i dont know it handles gaps, EAC gives many options on which audio file to add the gaps to. also, there is some albums i have with pregaps.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregap
dont know how it will handle these, i will find one later and give it a go (my drive supports them).