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Mint is know for it's great codec support isn't it?

Personally I prefer openSUSE as YaST is just great and I wouldn't let something as easily solved as codecs be part of my decision to use a distribution or not.

 

Installing smplayer pretty much means you can play nearly all videos and it's got a nice interface as well.

Your question is equivalent to asking, "What's the best programming language for every application?".  There's no answer, and it's just not right...

 

If you post a more elaborate and detailed explanation of what you're exactly trying to accomplish, we may be able to recommend a couple different distros that may best suit your needs.

I use ubuntu Alot for programming at uni And i would say its definitely the best distro that i have used. (I tried a few on my desktop and laptop at home but settled on ubuntu). Im sure this is a discussion that could go on for a very long time ;) Its like asking If Windows Or Mac is better, Theres no definite answer, its just a matter of opinion.

That's for the most part true, but some things would be better depending on your skill level. Gentoo would for instance certainly not be advisable if you know nothing about Linux.

 

My opinion on this differs slightly.

 

I started my Linux experience some 6 years ago with redhat, got it installed, got the desktop running, then wasn't really that impressed with how 'windows like' I thought it was. I wanted something very different.

 

My second distro was Gentoo. While it took me nearly a week to get it installed I loved the experience and learnt more than I think I would have ever learnt using a distro like redhat. Even once I got a desktop running (back then I was using fluxbox) I refused to install a file manager because I wanted to get used to using the shell.

 

I guess what Im getting at is it depends what you want from your system. If you want something that just works, and is (in alot of ways) windows like then something like Ubuntu is great. If however you want to learn more about the ins and outs of how these things work and you don't mind if occasionaly your system is broken (not the gentoo is unstable, its just more maintainence) then something like Gentoo might be good for you.

 

To this day I don't use any file manager. I've recently gone back to Gentoo (funtoo) after using Debian for the past 2 years or so. The only reason I ever left Gentoo was because at the time I was living in a house with no broadband and maintaining a system built from source was impracticle. I am, once again loving it.

Ubuntu 7.10 was the last GNU Linux distro I played around with that I felt had almost enough polish for the masses to use comfortably.  They're on version 8 or maybe even 9 now so I imagine it's just gotten better.  :)

 

Once you know what you're doing though, they're all pretty much the same.

Okay, I suppose I should adjust what I said. For the regular computer user, who has no interest in learning deeply how Linux works, what it means to compile a file, and who just wants their computer to work, Gentoo would be a poor choice because all those things are necessary to use Gentoo. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but for most people it would just be a hassle. Gentoo is not being marketed as a beginner friendly or mainstream distro either though.

 

Most people only have one computer. I do for instance. There is no way I could possibly reserve one week on just installing an operating system. Maybe if I had a spare computer I didn't use for anything I would attempt to do a Gentoo stage 1 install on it just for fun. That's not most people's idea of fun though.

 

I think that if you're looking for a free OS alternative to OS X or Windows and you just want it to work out of the box without too much hassle, Ubuntu would be the best choice. If you're a more experienced user the range of possibly options is vastly greater though.

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