If you are going to build a Core, why not build an MD?

If you live in the UK this is what I would do:

buy a motherboard (find one from the WIKI), preferably with onboard NVidia graphics, Gigabit Lan, and Sound (about £35)
RAM 512Mb min (about £7)
CPU don't need much - AMD Sempron LE-1200 2.1GHz clock speed 256Kb L2 cache 45Watt AM2. (£20)
Case - A nice one to keep the ladies happy - this is where you can spend.

My MD's are old PC's that were being thrown away, new Quiet power supplies and hidden in cupboards

(prices are from Spot On Computers, Manchester)

I followed Colin's advice and now have DD and DTS passthrough working.

I went to the teminal, typed 'alsamixer', used the arrow keys to move to the right and there is a setting called 'IE958 Optical Raw' and 'Audigy Analogue/digital output jack' I unmuted them both and it works.  I don't know if one or the other, or both does it.  but it is now working.

Try that

Thanks Colin!!

I have the same problem. 

My MD says 'file not found' when it tries to play audio or video.  I rebuilt the image but this did not work, I didn't delete the image.

strangely I can change the orbiter to control my Hybrid MD/Core and start a film, and then using the floor plan stream to the MD and that works fine

Anybody got any ideas of an easier way than suggested above to get this working?

My Company Techstyle UK Ltd. (www.techstyleuk.co.uk) imports products from the far east to Europe and North America for Wholesale and Retail customers.

In my search for new products (and because I have set up a LMCE system) I have found a supplier for Z-wave products.  Below is an example of the products/prices:

Window/door sensors  - £20.99
PIR Motion Sensor - £24.99

I am looking for some feedback on prices and interest from the LMCE community.

Maybe take a look at the JavaMO page on the wiki.

http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/JavaMO

Is ACPI disabled in the BIOS of the PC's that you are trying as MD's?

I have an Audigy 2 ZS working in my hybrid MD/core and had it set up for multi-channel audio in the MD page in Web Admin and it had recognized the Audigy chip but, like you say, only Stereo output.  So I opted for Digital output and get sound on all speakers but I am not sure if I am getting 6 independent tracks becasue my reciever is not recognizing the Dolby digital or DTS output so the card must be decoding

I watched a DVD sychronized with the core with no issues

As for the Web admin page.  I tried to access the web admin page instead of running the setup disk and it will not let you access the page until the setup program has told the device what its IP address is.  I tried the default and it didn't work, once the setup disk is complete you can access the admin page

I have now switched the NIC's of my core and have the internal network very stable (although my external network losses connection - but that is another story)

I have successfully streamed video and audio from the core to the MD wirelessly using the method discussed in the rest of this post.  Simultaneous video and audio with the core also works but the PXE boot takes a few mins longer than with wired.

I have a MD PXE booting, not Wirelessly but using a network bridge.  I have a linksys wireless router conected to the Core and then a Linksys WGA54G Game adaptor connected to the MD via cat 5e cable.  When the MD is switched on it PXE boots via the Game adaptor (£20 from Amazon.co.uk).  The boot takes about 5 mins longer than wired but once booted you can watch streading video content and simultaneous video/DVD with the core without issue.  Also Audio is flawless.

I have not tried multiple machines via this method but I do have a PDA orbiter using the same Wifi connection.

I would look at http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Category:Hardware for general hardware and http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Category:Mainboards for a list of motherboards.  These are not neccessarily fully working kit but look at the individual pages for each component and a list of problems (if there are any) can be found

Tschak909, Zaerc, Pluto Guys and all the other developers thanks for your great work!!

I am a Newbie to Linux and installed Linux MCE about 3 months ago as an alternative to Windows MCE and MControl.  I also have a number of things that I either cannot get to work (RS232 control of my TV, NVidia 8600GT, IR Blaster, Tesco VOIP) or do not work correctly (SB Audigy 2ZS DTS passthrough, Disapearing NTFS drive, Router crashes, One particular DVD that would not play) but I am separating my issues up, prioritising them, researching them (posting questions - sometimes) and then in most cases fixing them (then posting the method) - This is how to Keep something as powerful and complex as LMCE as simple as possible

Keep up the good work!!

I have a 8600 GT and have not managed to get it working yet.  I get a blank screen during installation.

my Mbrd has on board video so I switched to that and it is fine.

Pigdog,

All of those are options, I was thinking about installing windows on a memory stick and booting from it, I think that would be useful for a number of projects.

With regards to my installation, I am not sure this method works very well.  The first time I got it to work it worked fine, since then I have had trouble getting my WiFi PDA orbiter working at the same time as the Wifi bridge connected MD.  I also have a condition where everything losses communication, like the DCErouter needs rebooting - I do remember a post that talked about a problem with a certain motherboard where the connection was unstable but I cannot find the post.

My issues may be related to the motherboard rather than the setup.  Once I have solved the m'brd issue I will post new results

techstyle

the WGA54G setup disk is windows based.  If you run the device from any other machine it assumes that MAC address.

I tried to set it up with a laptop and the WGA54G was setup properly but it assumed the MAC address of the Laptop, when I connected back to the MD it would not PXE boot.  I stuck in a HDD with windows on it booted it up and then set it up from the MD, then successfully PXE booted into Linux MCE.

I am new to Linux but do have some experience on Windows systems so it was easier for me to do it that way.  The key is that you need to set up the WGA54G on the machine it is going to be attached to, however you do it is fine, I guess.