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[laerm]

Hi all -

I haven't been active on these forums for a long time but I finally ready to boot Windows to the curb and switch to Linux on my media PC, so I'm curious where you'd all rate MC on a reliability scale right now. I pretty much only use it to listen to music and sync with my phone: video or images aren't a thing for me. Do you think I could make the switch to Linux and be pleased with where MC is at?

If so:
1. recommendations on a distro good for media
2. how to convert the library to use Linux paths

Thanks!
Micah

[Awesome Donkey]

I have MC installed in a main Linux install and a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ using Raspbian running 24/7 and haven't had any issues. I can answer the first question, however I don't have the time to write out an answer to the second since it can be pretty complex.

1. Ubuntu, Linux Mint or Debian. If you're looking for a "Windows-esk" type of experience, Linux Mint using the Cinnamon desktop environment is likely your best bet.

[laerm]

Great, thanks. I'm pretty familiar with Linux and use Ubuntu and Gallium for my work; I was just curious if there was something out there geared towards audio.

Micah

[Awesome Donkey]

Sure, there's "audio" and "audiophile" distros out there but I don't think they're worth messing with. Why? Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint, etc. are all capable of bit-perfect playback via ALSA with MC, so those "audio" distros don't really matter.

[laerm]

Okay, works for me, that's all I needed to know. I've gone ahead with Linux Mint. Thanks!

[Scobie]

Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint, etc. are all capable of bit-perfect playback via ALSA with MC

is this OOTB or do I have to enable it?

Thanks

[Awesome Donkey]

MC Options > Audio > Audio Device and select one of the hw: outputs for your DAC if available.

[Scobie]

OK so this setting is specifically for a connected DAC, I guess if I'm only ever talking DLNA to connected devices it's of no use.

[carlismysecondname]

Works fine in Xubuntu but not in Lubuntu (at least for me).

Better to have at least 4GB of RAM and faster processor than the minimal required in Windows. JRiver works extremely well on a Windows machine even with minimal specs, but will often choke or freeze frequently with the same lower specs on Linux -- Likely due to the fact that the software is being ported and not really originally designed to run natively in Linux. I've noticed the same thing happen with many linux programs ported to run in Windows like Gimp and other media editing programs. I have four OLDER laptops and I can't say I enjoy using JRiver on them as much as I do with Windows -- quite frustraing actually. That's just my experience. If you have newer/better spec'd computers with Linux you'd probably be mostly okay(?) though. Computers are getting faster anyhows. But then again, the thing is, I prefer Linux on my older machines and would rather run Windows on my newer ones -- except if it's something like a rasberry pi.