An HTPC story . . . . . . Linux style.
Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 9:15 am
Whoever said building one of these - and not use an MS OS - was easy should be flogged!!!!
From a hardware point-of-view: the selection should be very carefully selected and researched out the wazoo.
Now don't get me wrong . . this has been a great learning experience . . .and I probably wouldn't have been as satisfied had I done the easy thing and just bought one.
Anyways . . .this great idea of mine started when I bought an LCD T.V. I figured "this is just a BIG monitor . .what's a monitor without a computer connected to it . . " so I started looking at cases that I thought my wife would approve. I ended up purchasing the nMedia 180B since its small and the end result is fairly light.
the Sempron is GREAT. no issues there. The mobo is GREAT . . the DVD-ROM and other parts are GREAT.
The MS MCE keyboard & remote with receiver . . . . . . *&^%.
I was going to use CentOS as an OS for my build, but it then hit me "Hey . . CentOS is a server platform . . you idiot". So I got Fedora 7 and this post is the end result of that. No . . .Linux is not for the feint of heart or those easily frustrated. I jumped the Fedora ship after a week of trying and got onto the Ubuntu 7.10 boat.
I think Ubuntu is a few revisions away from really taking Windows head-on on the desktop. Rapid installation. Rapid updates. A little different way of setting up some things . . like the wireless connection . . but still easy enough to deal with. They REALLY need to fix that stupid &^%$ called Totem. VLC is my savior for now since it works. I shall try Xine very soon.
So all in all the HTPC is doing its purpose admirably. Connects to the net flawlessly and plays movies.
Now to the crap:
- I get no sound through the T.v. . only through headphones
- That damn MCE KB&mouse wouldn't even get me past the POST screen, and I have my BIOS set to recognize USB keyboard and USB mouse . . unless the IR receiver is noted as something else? Maybe I should have just bought the Logitech DiNovo Edge and be done with it. . .but at $184 plus 14% tax . . . . .
I still have to TRY setup mythtv, but I won't get my hopes up. It would be nice to get it working though.
This is the longest post I have ever done on TR . . . interesting.
From a hardware point-of-view: the selection should be very carefully selected and researched out the wazoo.
Now don't get me wrong . . this has been a great learning experience . . .and I probably wouldn't have been as satisfied had I done the easy thing and just bought one.
Anyways . . .this great idea of mine started when I bought an LCD T.V. I figured "this is just a BIG monitor . .what's a monitor without a computer connected to it . . " so I started looking at cases that I thought my wife would approve. I ended up purchasing the nMedia 180B since its small and the end result is fairly light.
the Sempron is GREAT. no issues there. The mobo is GREAT . . the DVD-ROM and other parts are GREAT.
The MS MCE keyboard & remote with receiver . . . . . . *&^%.
I was going to use CentOS as an OS for my build, but it then hit me "Hey . . CentOS is a server platform . . you idiot". So I got Fedora 7 and this post is the end result of that. No . . .Linux is not for the feint of heart or those easily frustrated. I jumped the Fedora ship after a week of trying and got onto the Ubuntu 7.10 boat.
I think Ubuntu is a few revisions away from really taking Windows head-on on the desktop. Rapid installation. Rapid updates. A little different way of setting up some things . . like the wireless connection . . but still easy enough to deal with. They REALLY need to fix that stupid &^%$ called Totem. VLC is my savior for now since it works. I shall try Xine very soon.
So all in all the HTPC is doing its purpose admirably. Connects to the net flawlessly and plays movies.
Now to the crap:
- I get no sound through the T.v. . only through headphones
- That damn MCE KB&mouse wouldn't even get me past the POST screen, and I have my BIOS set to recognize USB keyboard and USB mouse . . unless the IR receiver is noted as something else? Maybe I should have just bought the Logitech DiNovo Edge and be done with it. . .but at $184 plus 14% tax . . . . .
I still have to TRY setup mythtv, but I won't get my hopes up. It would be nice to get it working though.
This is the longest post I have ever done on TR . . . interesting.