Basic LinuxMCE use

[blaze416]

I am new to the LinuxMCE community and am looking to set up my first Media Center.  I know that LinuxMCE can do alot of cool stuff but all that I really want it to do is store my movies and music so they can be viewed from my living room TV.  I dont need it to follow me in every room, (Plus its hard to hid all of that cable in an apt.) 

Since it is an apt. I was wondering how well it will work if I want to use a wireless card to get it connected to the internet.  If anybody has ever tried this and what their experiance was with it. 

This is the list of the hardware that I do have already

ASUS K8NE-DELUX mobo
Nvidia 5200 FX video card
and the cables that allow a computer to be hooked to my TV. 
Microsoft MC remote

What else would I need for my basic needs on this project?

Thanks for the help in advanced

[RichardP]

Since it is an apt. I was wondering how well it will work if I want to use a wireless card to get it connected to the internet.  If anybody has ever tried this and what their experiance was with it. 

Internet access over wireless should not present any problems at all. However, you may find it a little slow for streaming video to/from another computer (or you maybe not - I don't use wireless that way, so I don't know).

Best Regards,
RichardP.

[cirion]

Are you thinking of having just one computer in the living room or do your think of having a server somewhere with all the drives and running a diskless MD in the livinroom?

If you are going for a single PC install with all the drives on that, you can use wireless for internet. No problem. If you are going this route, LinuxMCE might not be the best software for you... If all you need is the media part (Movies, Music, Pictures and MythTV) then you really should look at MythBuntu... They have a livecd you can boot and try
http://www.mythbuntu.org

If you are going for a 2+ pc install with one Core/Hybrid (Your server) and one or more diskless MD's then wifi is not usable. To run diskless MD's a cable is the only way. Wifi does not support PXE boot.

[Hagen]

Avoid WiFi at all costs, it's not stable enough

[daath]

If it's 802.11n wireless you will not notice anything slow.

[blaze416]

Thanks guys.  I'm just looking for 1 computer.  Nothing more. I wouldnt be streaming or anything.  The wireless would just be used for internet access.  But what I could do is just use a wireless bridge and run a cable to the system if that would be a better option.  I will check out the Mythbuntu and see if thats a little bit better option for me if this doesnt work out.

[cirion]

For pure internet access all wifi are good enough... That is as long as you have enough coverage...
A cable delivers more stable connection but since you are not going to stream video it is not needed.

[skeptic]

Sounds like you want MythTV, not LinuxMCE. 

[RichardP]

Thanks guys.  I'm just looking for 1 computer.  Nothing more. I wouldnt be streaming or anything.  The wireless would just be used for internet access.  But what I could do is just use a wireless bridge and run a cable to the system if that would be a better option.  I will check out the Mythbuntu and see if thats a little bit better option for me if this doesnt work out.

I don't think you'll need to bother with a wireless bridge unless it is for other reasons. Just go the simple route, with wireless in the PC, and an access point (your router or whatever you currently use). As I've said, I've used LMCE on a wireless with no problems, but I haven't tried streaming. Since you're not interested in that, you don't have a problem anyway. LMCE doesn't care about how the connection gets there. The only reason people are concerned about wireless with LMCE is because of the issues of PXE booting and streaming speed, both of which don't affect you.

Best Regards,
RichardP.