# First time for Linux... I guess **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 27, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-for-linux-i-guess/515300 "2009-10-27T14:37:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-for-linux-i-guess/515300/21 "2009-10-27T20:34:14Z")
> [@Pedro](#): > > [http://www.dosbox.com/](http://www.dosbox.com/) > [http://www.winehq.org/](http://www.winehq.org/) > > Depending on your needs you’re probably better off running Windows in a virtual machine or dual booting. Sweet. Yeah, I just want to make sure I can run the occasional Windows program should the need arise. I already know how to run Dos Box, so thats cool too! ---
**Author:** ![Casserole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b77776/32.png) [@Casserole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casserole)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-for-linux-i-guess/515300/22 "2009-10-27T23:30:54Z")
Technically, **W** ine **I** s **N** ot an **E** mulator. 😉 Just sayin’. Correct, Ubuntu does not play mp3s by default, but if you have a working connection to the internet, the built-in player will pull up a nice dialogue and download and set it all up for you, no typing required. This is to adhere to Canonical’s promise of free software, and as Zeriel mentioned, there is no free implementation of the mp3 codec. .flac and .ogg will play out-of-the-box, though. In this day and age, if you’re not doing any technical work on the computer (that is, you’re “sticking to the path”), you shouldn’t have to touch the terminal at all. I also came in to post this: [Linux is NOT Windows](http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm) as a nice read before attempting to compare Linux and Windows, since there is no comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-for-linux-i-guess/515300/23 "2009-10-27T23:35:35Z")
Ubuntu is good, but Mint is better if you want all of the media codecs installed. Mint is actually a variant (or flavor) of Ubuntu. I’ve been using Ubuntu for years now, and just recently discovered Mint and enjoy it. (using it on my laptop actually, still have Ubuntu on my PC) edit: I see somebody already brought up Mint. That will teach me to respond before reading all of the posts. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-for-linux-i-guess/515300/24 "2009-10-28T17:39:07Z")
> [@StinkyBurrito](#): > > **Digital Stimulus** , I read your article. It was pretty good. Worth a read. Thanks for giving it a look-see and confirming my opinion. > [@Translucent\_Daydream](#): > > I was reading on how to install the codecs from the command line on Ubuntu and Xubuntu, and I am not familiar with that style of command line syntax. I am assuming it is Unix. You don’t mention what you were looking at, but I’ll assume it was _apt-get_. If so, FYI, that’s a Debian thing (and Ubuntu is a Debian derivative). There are a bunch of package tools available (e.g., _yum_), usually depending on (or specific to) the distro. One thing to do to enable multimedia playing is just to [install](https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MPlayer) [mplayer](http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Jaunty), well known to handle things other players cannot. (Personally, I use the [SMPlayer](http://smplayer.sourceforge.net/) frontend to mplayer, finding it preferable.) All of the above are available in the repositories, and thus via _apt-get_. Although I suggest using _synaptic_, a GUI package manager front-end to the _apt_ system (IIRC, available from the menu bar via System-\>Administration-\>Synaptic). Also, you might as well type _apt-get moo_ on the command line to see some super-cow powers…don’t ask me why it’s there, I’m just pointing it out… ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-for-linux-i-guess/515300/25 "2009-10-28T19:55:58Z")
I’ve been having a devil of a time having an Asus Eee, running Linux, to hook up to the Internet. That sours my appreciation of Linux. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-for-linux-i-guess/515300/26 "2009-10-28T21:07:23Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > I’ve been having a devil of a time having an Asus Eee, running Linux, to hook up to the Internet. That sours my appreciation of Linux. Are you talking out of the box it has linux but still won’t connect to the internet or did you install it on their yourself? ---
**Author:** ![Hallucinex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba9def/32.png) [@Hallucinex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hallucinex)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-for-linux-i-guess/515300/27 "2009-10-29T10:10:36Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > I’ve been having a devil of a time having an Asus Eee, running Linux, to hook up to the Internet. That sours my appreciation of Linux. Not sure if you’ve already tried this or if it’s the one you’re using - but there’s the [eeebuntu](http://eeebuntu.org) distro that’s apparently designed specifically for the eee’s - so might be set up a bit better for you out of the box. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-for-linux-i-guess/515300.md?page=1)