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OK, thank you.
So I should install an hibrid.

I am more interested in its router/firewall and nas characteristics than in distributing multimedia contents, as the system where i am going to install it is not very capable (graphics are old intel inboard).

Regards

I am trying to install linuxMCE in a Pentium IV 3.2 GHz machine with 1GB ram and i915G integrated graphics.
Motherboard GA8I915G-MF with a ICH6 southbridge.

My main interest is using it as the firewall/router and home archive, as a core system. It would be an always on box, with two 1TB harddrives in RAID.

If it can distribute TV signal (I have a tuner) and my multimedia content, it will be great, but if it is not able to do that, i will survive with that capabilities.

The problem is that the DVD of the 810 version does not an option to install just a core system. and I could not find a CD installation.

How should I install a core system with the new linuxMCE distribution (I have some previous experience in installing 710 version).

Gigabyte has some too (see http://www.giga-byte.es/products/mb/specs/ga-ma69g-s3h_10.html) the problem is that all MB with hdmi i could find where not able of displaying 1080p video (just 768) as they have graphics chipsets that don't support full HD (are just HD ready).

That is all i had working UI1.
I had UI1 running but it didn't work properly, menus did not appear and dissapear correctly.

It didn't work smoothly even with UI1.
I suppose it was due to the graphics card, but it is an onboard card and i couldn't disable it (there is no option in the bios even if there is an PCI-Express slot in the mb).
I tried to install a nvidia Pci-express card but could not boot the system with it as the main graphics card.

I will see to test this in another machine, but i don't have another spare machine now to test lmce.

Thank you 1audio:
1) i will follow your advice of using 60Hz. It would be enough for an MCE system to watch videos and photos.
2) These are bad news for me I tried to mount another ndivia card in the boards PCIE-16x slot, but the system continues booting in the onboard i915G chip. I checked the BIOS and couldn't find an option to disable it. The manual didn't help -although it comments how to phisically install another video card in the board-.
3) I will try to update the BIOS of my other advanced SLI computer. Unfortunatly yesterdeay it suddenly crashed and couldn't make it come to live again. I think there is a hardware proble in it (may be graphics card or motherboard).

In the future my wish is to buy a dedicated not too expensive system to run linuxMCE, but I would like to try it first!!

Thank you, MasterC.
As you suggested, I have tried 1024x768 resolution and 85Hz. It should be enough for testing the linuxMCE capabilities.

I would buy a Nvidia card, but I have tested one (Gigabyte one with 7600 chip, I think) and it didn't work.
My motherboard (GA-8I915G-MF) has a PCIE-16 slot, but i tried connecting it there and couldn't get it to work. The BIOS does not have an option to disable the 82915G chip and there was no message of the system that detected the PCIE card, so I could not start the system from it.
I will try to see if i can get a new driver in xorg, but my linux knowledge right now -i hope that would change in the future- is not good enough to help developers to test a driver

I have triad almost all mixes of possible configuration for the MD graphics, and none work properly.
Using opengl accelerator, I could manage to get UI2 with masking (no blending) working, but it was not stable, sometimes you could get the menus and select on them and sometimes not.
Using UI1 I could reproduce a DVD, but was not very stable either.

May be it is my system configuration (the i915G graphics card) but i am not sure.

I have another system much newer, with a GA-590SLI-S5 motherboard and an AMD64 x2 5800+, but tried to install kubuntu there and it didn't work either (complains about the system timer with a kernel panic in the very first steps).

It seems to me that LinuxMCE is not very stable and mature yet, but it is a very interesting software, so i will keep trying.
The linuxMCE developers don't seem very active in the forums these days either, they must be very busy in the developing stage. More work seems to be needed in the compatibility and installation area, to have a systems easy to install in many systems.

Thank you for your help it aid me to get a working system and have an idea of the posibilities. Will keep looking forward to linuxMCE advances and trying to get a stable and capable system.

Thank you MasterC, I have done what you said and downloaded the driver install package, thus I have the latest intel graphics drivers version, I suppose.
Some problems remain, though.
1- I cannot get 1280x1024@75Hz or 80Hz with an ADI Provista 19" monitor, in the kubuntu system configuration/display i can choose just 60Hz. It should, as I had it running that way with Windows.
2- cannot get UI2 interface working properly. I select masking option and the MD does not display correctly. Blending does not work at all. Is there some options I could try to put them to work?
When I select UI2 with masking and try to start the MD services, an error message appears:

ERROR:UI2 with mask needs XvmcUsesTextures
Error: UI2 with mask needs AllowGLWithComposite
Error: UI2 with mask needs RenderAccel
Warning: you try to run UI2 with mask on the i810 driver. Performance will be affected.
Do you want to run helper script to try to fix it? Press Cancel if you want to close LMCE Launch Manager completly.

It seems that the driver or the i82915G graphics chip does not supply some services that are needed.
Or is it a misconfiguration of the driver parameters?

Thanks a lot, MasterC.
I am having troubles getting he MD to work in the COre. It seems intel 82915G integrated chip has not the appropiate driver in kubuntu. I have put a question on this in the installation forum. It uses the i810 driver. I could manage to put it to work in KDE in 1280x1024, but just at 60HZ (it should be capable to do it at 75 or 80Hz). The MD orbiter doesn't work properly. I could just run it in U1 mode and could not display any video or picture correctly (even if the test application runs the video an manages to do masking).
I am quite new in linux (well i have been out of linux for more than 10 years, so it has advanced a lot since then) what is Xvm? I saw i could choose some other acceleration engines, like opengl, wich will work with the 915?. I don't know how to install a new diver from intellinuxgraphics. They say in their web that graphics controller drivers for 945 or older are included in the linux distribution.

I have no TV tuner yet. I want first to install the system and test it displaying DVD and divx. then i will install a TV TDT/analog tuner and move it to the living room. You say the PVR-500 would be fine. I will write that down, thank you.

I have a LMCE installation similar to the one described byt TotallyMaxed and the core works perfectly: it has 192.168.1.250 as external ip address (connected to a adsl router in 192.168.1.254) and an internal addresss 192.168.2.250 acting as a DHCP server in that net.
I have turned off the DHCP server in the ADSL router.
I have other computer (running windows vista) that takes addresses from LMCE dhcp server (it take 192.168.2.249 address) and using the MCE as its gateway...
BTW when the MCE computer is down - it shouldn't but i am testing the MCE hybrid install and the MD isn't working yet- i have configured a second static address in my vista computer as 192.168.1.1 and the gateway IP address of the adsl router 192.168.1.254. Thus i can surf internet in the vista computer even if the MCE computer is turned off, just have to reboot or reload the network interfaces.

I agree that DHCP server in LMCE is crucial for its functionality. If you want just a media server, there are many other options. Media server is just one of the things the LMCE can do. It is a residential gateway and thus it is the central point of communications and security of our home network. It has to take control of IP given and new devices connected, and for that, being the DHCP server makes lot of sense.
Taking control of all devices in the home assures security and future changes and developement in the LMCE without afecting the devices and without having to install software in the devices to interoperate with the LMCE system.

Anyway you can turn off the DHCP server in MCE, but you loose the new device detection from LMCE: for detecting a device it has to ask for an IP - it cannot be detected if you use a static ip, either- and LMCE must serve the IP addresses.

May be there are other ways of detecting new devices, but are not so clean.

Hi, I am new to this amazing software. I am trying to install it and get up and running properly.
I have a Pentium 4 3.2GHZ with 1GB of 400MHZ DDR2 RAM and a Gigabyte GA-8I915G-MF with an integrated intel i915G and integrated 5.1 audio.

Is this configuration capable of running 1.1B2 Core and MD?
I would like to have it as my Core system in the main room and add a better graphics card and TV TDT tuner and device input and Home automation (may be z-wave?) later, and more disk with a RAID 0 or RAID 5 configuration. But that will be in the near future.
But I would like to know if it is a capable enough to run the system fluidly...
It should be able to encode and decode two video streams simultaneously -with an appropiate graphics card and TV tuner, of course-. But I am not sure if the motherboard and processor are good enough to do that.

Thank you for your opinions.

I have read about Pluto and Linux MCE two weeks ago and since then i am trying to test it in my computer.
It sounds like an amazing software with lots of posibilities as a residential bridge. I have read about residential bridges capable of managing home automation, communications and video about two year ago. It sounded great for me, but soft and hard was too expensive to try them.
Now my dream can go to live with Linux MCE.

I have made a Linux MCE 1.1B2 test installation in one computer. I installed it as hybrid Core/MD and booting directly in Linux MCE.
The Core seems to be working properly, as DHCP and web admin works and it dispatches orbiters properly.

When Ubuntu installed, I could manage the KDE desktop and all seem to work properly (in 1280x1024@80Hz)
Then I installed MCE and select booting as MD instead of KDE. My problems just started. First my computer showed just the basic 640x480. Then I could manage to change it to 1280x1024, but the MD doesn't display properly, the orbiter does not work well and i cannot see video or even pictures correctly.
I have been playing with U1 and U2 (with and without transparencies) and the interface does not work. I can see the buttons but not the background pictures/video. Transparency does not work at all.


I think it is a problem with my display drivers, but have not experience in Linux (i haven't used Unix or Linux since lots of years ago, when X11R6 display systems developed).
My computer has a Pentium 4 3.2GHz and a Gygabyte GA-8I915G-MF motherboard wich has a Intel 915G integrated video adapter.
The Linux MCE installer seems to configure the system to use a basic i810 device driver.

What driver should I use? How can I select the correct driver and install it in Ubuntu? I remember that installing display drivers in Linux required kernel recompilation and some makes....

Thank you for your help.