Ubuntu is not a good distribution for Multimedia

[Robert Parker]

On Wednesday 08 December 2004 00:18, Ben Edwards wrote:
> On Tue, 07 Dec 2004 13:47:44 +0100, Vincent Trouilliez
>
> <vincent.trouilliez at wanadoo.fr> wrote:
> > Hi Ben,
> >
> > As far as I understand it, Ubuntu is one of the distros that offers the
> > most complete package selection. What distro were you using before that
> > had all the softaware you wanted in the very latest version that you
> > wanted ?
>
> Not sure if your understanding is quite right.  Ubuntu offers a very
> good but reduced set of packages selekted specificaly for 'Standard
> Desktop' use.  To describe Ubuntu as offering 'the most complete
> package selection' it would have to suport at least as mutch as Debian
> Sarge.  The reduced package selection is a good thing from a suport
> point of you and douse make it a great distro for day to day desktop
> use.

Is there some problem with ./configure && make ..etc for this stuff on Ubuntu?
The reason I ask is that my son and I tried compiling some of the video stuff 
on his Fedora 2 box a while ago only to find that we had some problems with 
libraries.
Too long ago to be more specific, but we put it down to nervousness on 
Redhat's part about the MPAA etc. He since moved on to Yoper and Suse, as 
well as his Fedora gateway + wife's office box.

If possible I'd like to see him move onto a Debian based distro, if only to 
avoid the panic phone calls after his Fedora box (now 3) got trashed in the 
first update after installation. To get there mult-media capability is a 
requirement..

Cheers
Bob