Ubuntu

Everyone is raving about Ubuntu. For the first time in a long time (IMHO) Linux has a variant which might actually replace Windows for the average user.

With my new HTPC in mind, I set off to set up both Ubuntu and Kubutu (the KDE desktop equivalent) on a virtual machine to test whether all the common applications I need to use on my HTPC are available or replaceable under Linux.

In case you've not used them, VirtualPC (free, from Microsoft) or better still VMWare Workstation (commercial, from VMWare) allow you to install another operating system and have them run inside your existing OS. I use them a lot at work for software testing purposes, but they work great for this Linux test as well. VMWare supports Linux better than VirtualPC, but I have got both of them working fine.

Ubuntu install was painless, and immediately I was surprised how much Linux has come on since I last looked at it a number of years ago. Certainly, the Ubuntu team have worked on making the OS more friendly and with a nice add/remove programs screen to handle the delight(!) of package dependencies, it's really not difficult to get results on Linux now.

I'm mainly looking at Linux because it's free and therefore can help me reduce my costs in building the HTPC. Also, it's a better operating system than Windows at its heart and has great community support. It's also hard not to pick up on other people's success stories with Linux as an HTPC, such as the Win XP MCE "competitor" MythTV. There's even a Linux distribution available (KnoppMyth) which installs from scratch ready configured to run Myth.

That said, KnoppMyth is a bit too far for me because I want a normal desktop as well as a nice big screen experience, much like I get from WinXP MCE at the moment.

Whether you go for Ubuntu or Kubuntu seems to be a personal preference. I like the look of Kubuntu because you can set it up to look pretty close to MacOS (which you have to admit is nice). It also feels a bit more integrated than Ubuntu in my opinion. Having said that, I did encounter a problem or two with some Kubuntu applications and didn't with the equivalents in Ubuntu, so for the moment due to the lack of issues I've had with it, Ubuntu is my choice linux flavour.