I was looking for an easy and good alternative for Windows 7 on a laptop used as a media station to watch Netflix and Crunchyroll and I choose Elementary OS.
This GNU/Linux distribution is based on Ubuntu and it’s relatively easy to install. Anyway, it needs some steps to work great as media station. Here we go:
- Make AppCenter Work
- Click on Applications on the top left corner of the screen
- Click on Terminal
- On the console type these commands:
sudo dpkg --configure -a sudo apt update
- Update your system
- Open the AppCenter moving the mouse at the bottom on the screen, then click on the store icon
- Click on Updates on the top of the window
- Click on Update All and wait until all packages are installed
- When finished, click on the Power icon in top right corner of the screen and restart
- Update language (if different than English)
- Go to the System settings on the bottom bar
- Choose Language & Region
- A yellow box should appear telling the language installation is not complete: click on Complete installation
- Type the user password you’ve choosen during the installation
- Click on Unlock
- Select your language, region and format
- Log out using the top right power button and log in again. The OS is now translated.
- Click on Update names to change home directories names according to the selected language (or keep it in the English version)
- Install VLC
- Go to AppCenter
- On the top right corner of the AppCenter search “vlc”
- Click Install
- Install your preferred browser
- On the top right corner of the AppCenter look for your favourite browser:
- If you’re looking for Firefox, type “firefox” and install it
- If you’re looking for Chrome, type “chromium” and install it. It’s the open source alternative of Chrome.
- On the top right corner of the AppCenter look for your favourite browser:
- Make your browsers ready to watch streaming shows:
- If you’re using Firefox, go to Menu > Preferences > Content > and flag Play DRM content checkbox. It will allow services using this meh technology.
- Optional: Install Flash Player for Linux if needed (automatically installed in Firefox):
https://get.adobe.com/it/flashplayer/otherversions/
- Optional: Translate your browser
- On Firefox, type about:addons in the address bar
- Search for your language and install
- Language pack
- Dictionary
- Optional: Install Office Productivity Tools:
- On AppCenter, search for LibreOffice, LibreOffice Writer and LibreOffice calc and install them (one by one) to open Word and Excel files or Open Office files.
- Optional: get new wallpapers automatically
- In the AppCenter search for “Variety“
- Install and configure it
- You can add nice quotes and a clock to the desktop editing Preferences
- Switch the sound to the TV when the HDMI cable is plugged into the port:
- By default, when you plug the HDMI cable to the PC you can hear the sound coming from PC speakers
- To solve this issue open the Terminal and type
sudo bash
And type your password.
- Follow this howto to automatically redirect sound to the TV when it’s plugged in. To create or edit files you can use:
nano /path/to/file
With these steps your brand new media station is ready for watching streaming relying on the strong security implemented in GNU/Linux systems.