Generally, modern distributions you don’t access the command line any more frequently than you would under windows. Basically everything that you would need to do on a normal basis is able to be done from the desktop.
But don’t make a laptop your first experience. Laptops are hard to get even Windows running correctly on. Because of how proprietary and bespoke things are. Tracking down the correct drivers for the correct version of Windows can still drive you mad.
If you really want to learn and have a good time. Go on to eBay and sink $100 into an old business E-Waste Tower. You can get sixth generation core i7 systems with 16 GB of RAM for that if you look around. I bought two last year for around that price. And run one of them heavily everyday myself the other I got for my father. In fact the picture was from it.
The only other solid sanity preserving advice I can give you with regards to all of that. Is that when it comes to Wi-Fi invest in an Intel chipset. I currently have a number of devices running with Realtek chipsets. As long as you get the right ones they will work without any effort. If you get one of the wrong ones though. You’ll pull your hair out. Intel works every time all the time.
And if you eventually want a laptop that runs it. Go framework, tuxedo, system 76, or similar. They’ve designed with it in mind. That or research comparability. I have a mid 2010’s HP elite book with an and CPU and Vega graphics. Everything works perfect but the finger print sensor. Those are always bespoke. Similarly I got an old Chromebook tablet that was compatible with postmarket Linux. The pen and touch screen works great. The camera sensor, because it’s a cell phone module however doesn’t currently. But my only real gripe is the 4gb of ram. Under KDE with Firefox and another couple apps I get close to using it all. But it’s not a big concern. Because it was supposed to be lightweight and minimal. And it’s already far better than any Android tablet I’ve ever owned.
Yes you absolutely can. I have a few like that. I have jelly fin running on a 4th generation i7 system serving all our movies and TV shows. It doesn’t have to be super powerful Etc
Yeah I used to use Plex as well. And there’s nothing super wrong with that. I just like the fact that jelly fin isn’t putting a lot of stuff behind paywalls or taking features away. Which Plex has done over the years as well as introducing advertisement and stuff. I’m not so worried about all the extra streaming content they want to provide. I can get most of it through other apps already.
Yes it is. It’s not a complete replacement for plex. If you do a lot of watching off your local network. That’s a lot trickier to set up. But if all you want is a simple box on your network to stream your media it works well. I think even Synology Nas units now have it as an option as well as Plex?
I have a couple of those. For my money the Chromecast TV is pretty equivalent. But they are solid little systems. I don’t take advantage of any of the gaming capability. Mostly just streaming. But I’ve had one since 2015 and still use it to this day everyday so it’s a pretty solid little device
Generally, modern distributions you don’t access the command line any more frequently than you would under windows. Basically everything that you would need to do on a normal basis is able to be done from the desktop.
But don’t make a laptop your first experience. Laptops are hard to get even Windows running correctly on. Because of how proprietary and bespoke things are. Tracking down the correct drivers for the correct version of Windows can still drive you mad.
If you really want to learn and have a good time. Go on to eBay and sink $100 into an old business E-Waste Tower. You can get sixth generation core i7 systems with 16 GB of RAM for that if you look around. I bought two last year for around that price. And run one of them heavily everyday myself the other I got for my father. In fact the picture was from it.
The only other solid sanity preserving advice I can give you with regards to all of that. Is that when it comes to Wi-Fi invest in an Intel chipset. I currently have a number of devices running with Realtek chipsets. As long as you get the right ones they will work without any effort. If you get one of the wrong ones though. You’ll pull your hair out. Intel works every time all the time.
And if you eventually want a laptop that runs it. Go framework, tuxedo, system 76, or similar. They’ve designed with it in mind. That or research comparability. I have a mid 2010’s HP elite book with an and CPU and Vega graphics. Everything works perfect but the finger print sensor. Those are always bespoke. Similarly I got an old Chromebook tablet that was compatible with postmarket Linux. The pen and touch screen works great. The camera sensor, because it’s a cell phone module however doesn’t currently. But my only real gripe is the 4gb of ram. Under KDE with Firefox and another couple apps I get close to using it all. But it’s not a big concern. Because it was supposed to be lightweight and minimal. And it’s already far better than any Android tablet I’ve ever owned.
I could make a server out of that for my video files.
Thanks for the info on Linux.
Yes you absolutely can. I have a few like that. I have jelly fin running on a 4th generation i7 system serving all our movies and TV shows. It doesn’t have to be super powerful Etc
I have used Jelly Fin a few times, last time I couldn’t get my network to agree with me. I use Plex to stream my videos.
Yeah I used to use Plex as well. And there’s nothing super wrong with that. I just like the fact that jelly fin isn’t putting a lot of stuff behind paywalls or taking features away. Which Plex has done over the years as well as introducing advertisement and stuff. I’m not so worried about all the extra streaming content they want to provide. I can get most of it through other apps already.
You make a good case for switching back to Jellyfin. It’s open source, if memory is correct.
Yes it is. It’s not a complete replacement for plex. If you do a lot of watching off your local network. That’s a lot trickier to set up. But if all you want is a simple box on your network to stream your media it works well. I think even Synology Nas units now have it as an option as well as Plex?
I am getting an Nvidia Shield from my brother. I am excited to use it.
I have a couple of those. For my money the Chromecast TV is pretty equivalent. But they are solid little systems. I don’t take advantage of any of the gaming capability. Mostly just streaming. But I’ve had one since 2015 and still use it to this day everyday so it’s a pretty solid little device