I saw a lot of discussion on using WiFi for wireless access to media. Here is a short summary of my testing (and similar to the published results of a respected engineering magazine)

1) WiFi is fine for audio, but not video. Same room you can do SD. Multiroom forget it.
2) 802.11n: too soon to bet on anything. It may or may not work.
3) Powerline- if your house is compatible (important) it can support 1-2 HD streams. Forget booting across it. way too slow for that. (I have tried. . .) My house is allergic to all of the powerline stuff. However I have seen it work in a few houses. I would go with HomeplugAV, just because it has the most momemtum in the US. DS2 in Europe and Panasonic in Asia. But they are all expensive- approx $100 per connection.
4) UWB will just make it to the other end of the room.
5) Wiring isn't that expensive or difficult. I can get a pro here (San Francisco) to pull wires for well less than $200 a connection and a little shopping is closer to $75. Other areas can for $50 or less. its just not too difficult to do. Look for an alarm installer looking to moonlight. And its far more reliable and secure.

I have seen a system using WiFi deliver problem free HD over 100'. However everything in it was very special and not compatible.

I think as you say peoples experience with WiFi will vary. My experience having used 802.11G in all our setups since early Pluto days is that in most locations it works but is not perfect if you are streaming Standard Def TV or Audio to a laptop running Windows. We use 85mbit and 200mbit Powerline line boxes (mostly HomePlug) and again these can work very nicely and PXE booting from even 85mbit units is fine. But I agree some house wiring will just trip powerline up and it can take a lot of work and extra Powerline boxes to route around these problems... by which time pulling cat5 might have been easier and cheaper. I guess you just have to use the approach that best suits you... as each has its place.

what if you need to edit config files or troubleshoot mythtv problems, etc? you cant do that from an orbiter. his question seems valid to me. i hate having to walk from my living room to the office to do any of the things that are suggested as far as editing things. im, admittedly, one lazy bastard though.

Just open a console from your Orbiter login with you username/password then ssh into the MD you want to with "ssh moonNN" Where the "NN" is the device id of the MD you want access to (you can find out the Device ID of an MD by going to Web Admin -> Wizards -> Devices -> Media Directors and scrolling to the MD in question, the ID is the number with the "#" in front of it underneath the MD's name)

I was looking around New Egg and found a perfect motherboard for my MD (I found a good one but I want it to be small) but than I remember reading a thread that AMD processors don't work well with LinuxMCE.. Or was that ATI graphics? I get them both confused since it's now one company.

Motherboards with AMD processors (32 bit ones at least) are fine... but ATI graphics cards or motherboards that use ATI on-boards are problematic. Having said that one my home MD's has an old ATI 9200 card in it and runs UI1 and TV/Video really well.

It already uses MySQL locally as the database.

sqlcvs is a technology developed by the Plutohome guys to allow sychronisation with the Pluto servers.
The idea is that when a home user creates and adds a new Device Template then the sqlcvs software allows that to be absorbed back into the full set so that once approved and checked by Pluto people everyone else would automatically have access to that template.
I think it works the same (or is meant to) for local configuration setups like new remotes etc and also for local documentation. The idea there was that you would create the documentation for your new device template on your local pluto core and it would also automatically get distributed to everyone via the central hub.

Now that we have forked and are in linuxMCE world - I am not sure if the sqlcvs server still works and does the automatic updating. If Paul is reading this he might be best placed to answer. If it is not, it would be a good thing to bring back as it allows new devices to quickly become available - or even updates to existing ones. I am not sure how this is meant to occur otherwise - I guess it would need to be release based.

A seperate issue might be whether postgresql is a better option than MySQL. I am not sure about this one. Is the database really proving to be a problem at the moment.

Regards
Darren

re postgres v Mysql - I can say that we see any scalability issues at all. It just is not an issue in the context of LMCE

Wow thanks! You really did help!

Wow a Celeron M Core handled 4 MDs while ripping a DVD?! I thought I need something powerful like a Core 2 Duo and If needed a Quad Core, But If a Celeron M can do that then I guess the cost should go down a bit .

I think I'm going to go with NAS so my media can be safe and secure.  The core can write to the NAS right?

Anyways this thread really has helped me and I hope this can help other people too !

If you have an a little PC or one that doesn't have the graphics 'grunt' to be a good MD then a low cost way to build a NAS would be to install a low cost HD inside it and add it to your core as a PXE booted MD (ie just use the drive for Data) and then accept the option to add the drive for storage when the Core auto detects it. Instant NAS!

Alternatively buy an off the shelf NAS and add that as a Windows share when your Core auto detects it.

I guess it makes some sense to have the core hybrid-capable.. Though, wouldn't any video chipset that can work with X (even with the generic vga or vesa drivers) be enough to work with UI1 since it's pre-rendered?

I'm just curious though.. Is it possible to install LMCE 0704 so that the core doesn't boot to X then (basically so it isn't a hybrid). I would imagine that it would perform better if you could do this and just serve X to the MDs.. All of the setup for the MDs (and any other services) is done via the web interface, correct?


-Dan-

Your right in a sense that any X capable chipset would suffice for purely UI1 rendering purposes. But often its useful to have the Core capable of playing media particularly when working with TV or streamed video.

Back in the very early days of Pluto (the ancestor of LMCE) it was possible to build an X free Core - in fact that was the only way to build a Core back then! But experience demonstrated that a Hybrid Core was far more flexible and was the configuration of choice for anyone who regularly did Pluto installs. Now however as far as i know there is no simple way to run an X free core.

are there any special requirements for the thin client or will any do?

See my other posts on this... but we are testing a number of fanless Via based clients using the C7/CN700 or CX700M chipsets at 1Ghz to 1.5Ghz. We just add a stick of memory, and optical drive if needed and thats it. Out of the box currently Kubuntu 7.04 and lmce-0704 do not have the Via driver support so you would need to build the Unichrome or Openchrome drivers to get the best graphics performance. These are low cost, energy efficient (as low as 9W) motherboards with excellent graphics.

I have an x800 xt card (AGP) and just wondering if anyone has managed to get it running (even with basic settings) with an ati chipset.

if not what is the Cheapest nvidea card that will do the trick.

Im using an old Radeon 9600 AGP based based card in an MD at home...worked straight out of the box so to speak. No driver problems at all.

hey luke what's the most low end you have successfully got working

We have UI1 and video playback working excellently on Intel i915/i945/i965 motherboards using there Intel based on-board video capabilities.

Having great difficulty finding a card that will fit what I am looking for .... have browsed around a lot and can only find either something that I can't confirm is compatible or doesn't have the features I am looking for! Can someone help please?

Looking for a dual tuner (High Definition) digital TV card for DVB-T (Australia), so that I can record 2 channels at once, or record one and watch another, etc. (ie genuine 2 tuner); hardware encoder - not interested in all the other extra features, as they don't seem relevant for LMCE!

If anyone can make some suggestions I would be greatly appreciative as I really can't get started on building the hardware until I have this sorted...

Also, does anyone know if I were to add a second card (or third) would LMCE be able to handle it as 4 (or 6) channels?

We use Hauppauge Nova-T500 twin tuner DVB-T cards and are very pleased with them. You dont need a hardware encoder card. We use the T-500 in multiple card installations successfully.

&pI'm wondering about the make/model of the Thin Client used in the Google Video.; I am also wondering about other models that are similar that will mount to the back of an LCD monitor in the same way and work with LinuxMCE.

Hi,

The thin client shown in the video is a Fiire.com Via based unit using a Via C7/CX700M chipset integrated on a Nano-ITX motherboard. Fiire add the proprietary Via Unichrome II Pro graphics drivers to the basic Via box.

We are testing numerous Fanless Via based motherboards - we're focussed mainly on C7 processors coupled with either the CN700 or CX700M graphics engine. Performance with these motherboards is excellent when coupled with either Openchrome drivers or Via's free Unichrome drivers - although in both cases currently you cannot run UI2 as these drivers do not provide all the features neede to support the UI. However under UI1 they work excellent and in fact have some of the best Video performance metrics we have seen (beating Nvidia cards in terms of framerate etc). They also provide a lot of on-board video output options like s-video, DVI, composite etc.

Regards

Andrew

Is it possible to install VDR and related plugins, after installing LinuxMCE - without breaking LinuxMCE - rather being limited to the MythTV package that comes with LinuxMCE?

I saw some threads which had broached this subject, but nothing since LinuxMCE 0704 came out. Anyone have any experience installing VDR after LinuxMCE?

Yes you can install vdr after installing lmce-0704 and it will not break anything and will run standalone fine... but integrating it with lmce's UI/DCErouter etc is not at all straightforward. The current vdr in the lmce-0704 release is a hangover from the Pluto days and as such is 'broken' as the devs have not revisited this part of the system yet.

I want to know if the specs for the fiire engine are needed to run a lmce network. Do you really need all of those a/v outputs? I guess I can see if this is your ONLY lmce box, but if you want to REALLY keep the core in a closet somewhere, shouldn't you just need a modest (dual-core?) server box with a good raid setup and 2 lan ports? ..and maybe a couple tuner cards to keep everything centralized.. Obviously I could build a server box with a decent amount of storage for the same price if I could forego the a/v "bells and whistles"

As far as maintenance, I'm guessing that the web interface and/or ssh (or maybe even a normal monitor/keyboard) would suffice..

I can see the merit of the fiire station boxes since you need a decent video card and whatever outputs for audio/video.. but the core should be able to be a "headless" box right?

..or am I just crazy?


-Dan-

We always build our Core's as Hybrid cores (ie they have some ability to deliver the lmce UI locally) even if for the most part the Core will be tucked away in a cupboard - it just makse some maintenance and other task simpler. So we usually use a motherboard with reasonable onboard graphics ie say one of the Intel i945 or i965 boards with 950 or 3000 graphics chips. These are inexpensive enough to not worry about in terms of them only being used now and then and will deliver UI1 perfectly.

I've been reading the forums for the past week and Linux MCE has seriously interested me and I've decided to start building LinuxMCE core with 4 or so thin clients.

Quick Questions:

Can this do Skype?
Can you use a Bluetooth headset for when answering calls?
How do diskless thin clients work (I've been wanting to do something like this for a while and I can't figure it out!)
How should my set up be? (I want a cheap set-up but I also want it to do it flawlessly. I also have a ton of media. Should I put it all on the Hard drive of the core or should I use NAS?)
Can two or more thin clients access the core without interfering with each other? (i.e. one thin client is watching a recorded tv show another is watching a DVD from the Jukebox)
and One of the most important question is, can I access this through the internet (A la Slingbox or so?) If so I have a great project in mind .

Thanks for reading and responding  ,
Clint

Hi... you've had a lot of response to your questions already but I thought I'd put my '2 cents' worth in too ;-)

- Skype
I believe there is some work going on to integrate Skype as a backend Voip provider (or at least there was). But right now you can install the Skype client as a KDE desktop app and use it there just as you would under Windows/Mac.

- Bluetooth Headset integration
As far as I know you can't just attach a Bluetooth dongle to a MD and then use a Bluetooth headset directly connected to it. However you could use a Voip enabled mobile phone (eg Nokia N95 etc) running a Voip app and use a Bluetooth headset paired to the mobile (cellular phone...sorry I'm a Brit ;-)) connected back to the Core/PBX over WiFi. In this scenario the Core would be the PBX and the Mobile phone would work just like any 'normal' voip phone would. We have tested this and it works very well.

- Diskless PXE booted Clients
Essentially when a PXE booted client boots it is using a directory on the Core as its boot drive. All the processing and code execution happens in the clients processor/memory. It means that the client only needs minimally a processor & 512mb ram and no local HD and optionally an optical drive if you want to play local CD/DVD content direct from discs. The delivers a low cost, low energy & low maintenance solution.

- Core's Hard Drive or NAS?
Well lmce-0704 is a very flexible platform and offers numerous options here. You could 'load up' your Core with drives (and they could be RAIDed too) or you could add a low cost self contained NAS, or build a NAS using something like FreeNAS or as you could add HD's to one of you MD's and make that the main storage solution in your system. All would work independently or mixed together in pretty much any way that suited you. Whether one is better than the other will depend on your needs etc... there is no 'right' or 'wrong' way though!

- Can two or more thin clients access the core?
The simple answer is yes they can. But as with any system there will be limits on how smoothly performance is delivered as you 'load up' your system. In our experience using a 2.8 ghz Celeron M/i915/1Gb based Core using a 10/100 network we can smoothly handle 4 PXE booted MD's all playing media or streaming UK standard PAL TV concurrently (even while the Core is say ripping a DVD). But in the end it comes down to making sure your LAN is setup correctly and configure optimally as well.

- Can lmce-0704 be used like a SlingBox?
Well as of today not really. However in the short term you could attach a Slingbox to your Core or an MD and use it to stream/control the Core/MD from outside your house just like you would a TV or DVR. We have not tested this... but I can't see any reason that this might not work in principle.

Hope the above helps you!

Andrew

On my machines at least, going to a different tty screen and logging on with root does not prompt for password. (ie: ctrl-alt-F1). Not very secure but that may serve your need.

If you do that from the Core though you will just get another console session on the Core. We need to ssh into one of the moons (ie MD's) as root to install some drivers etc.