help me figure out if linuxMCE is for me?

[mr.thraz]

ok, I've got a few machines in my home.

I've got a desktop thats triple boots into win xp, os x and ubuntustudio
i use it for audio production.

the specs are

The MadTux High Performance PC  :

    * An extreme performance 3.33 GHz Intel Celeron D Processor with a 533MHz FSB
    * 2GB DDR 400 RAM
    * 160 x2 GB Hard Disk included
    * Embedded Intel Extreme Graphics engine with 64M shared memory
    * Onboard Realtek ALC655 6-channel audio CODEC
    * A Realtek 10/100 LAN port to connect to your network or broadband connection without having to buy an extra LAN card
    * One AGPro slot
    * 3 PCI slots, 1 CNR slot
    * 2 available SATA slots (internal)
    * 2 UltraDMA IDE slots supporting UltraDMA/100 devices with 100MB/s transfer rate
    * 4 USB 2.0 ports
    * 300W power supply

and i have a laptop i use for mobile audio production.
the specs are:
The hp Pavilion dv9000z

    * AMD Turion 64 X2
    * 1 gig of ram
    * 120 gig hd
    * 4usb ports
running xp sp2

my lady has a desktop with
an amd atholon x2 dual core
4200+  2.21 ghz with 4gigs
of ram.
running xp

she uses it for web work and
rendering 3d digital images.

she also has a macbook she brings
home from work.

we are going to build her a linux box
for rendering as well+ she maybe
buying a laptop in the new year.

she lost a lot of data on a dead
external drive so we just bought a
nas.

we will be setting it up next
week and connecting it to
our network through our
buffalo airstation G 54
which is feeding us the net through 
grande communications here in texas.

between our four computers we have a
lot of media and once the nas is up i
suppose we'll have alot more.


i found out about LinuxMCE through youtube
and thought "it would be great to see our media
in the living room and not disturb each other
playing our media in the office" where we both work.

a few years ago we received a a msi maga180
and we've yet to use it.

its got a built in stereo and s-video out
plus it comes with 2 remotes.

i thought why not hook that up to our cable box
and standard definition tv. we could have the
stereo and cable plus our media and youtube
in all in the living room if it will run linuxMCE.

my question is:

with this much tech in the
house will i run into big problems?

will it conflict with my nas?

do you think the mci mega 180
can do the job or is it too old?

should i scrap this idea and just buy
the Neuros' OSD?

I'm anxiouslly awaiting comments thanks for listening.

[totallymaxed]

Hi,

Sounds like you have many many components you need. See some comments below;

ok, I've got a few machines in my home.

I've got a desktop thats triple boots into win xp, os x and ubuntustudio
i use it for audio production.

the specs are

The MadTux High Performance PC  :

    * An extreme performance 3.33 GHz Intel Celeron D Processor with a 533MHz FSB
    * 2GB DDR 400 RAM
    * 160 x2 GB Hard Disk included
    * Embedded Intel Extreme Graphics engine with 64M shared memory
    * Onboard Realtek ALC655 6-channel audio CODEC
    * A Realtek 10/100 LAN port to connect to your network or broadband connection without having to buy an extra LAN card
    * One AGPro slot
    * 3 PCI slots, 1 CNR slot
    * 2 available SATA slots (internal)
    * 2 UltraDMA IDE slots supporting UltraDMA/100 devices with 100MB/s transfer rate
    * 4 USB 2.0 ports
    * 300W power supply

The PC above could become your Core/Hybrid (ie the Media Server... with a client capability in a single machine)

and i have a laptop i use for mobile audio production.

Your Laptop above could be used potentially as a PXE booted MD (Media Director - ie Media player) - great thing is no software is installed at all on your HD. You don't say what the spec is so if its a MacBook then you could use VMware to PXE a Virtual PC as a LinuxMCE MD... if your Laptop is a real PC then it depends on the onboard graphics you have. So more info needed on this machine really... but its usable for sure.

The hp Pavilion dv9000z

    * AMD Turion 64 X2
    * 1 gig of ram
    * 120 gig hd
    * 4usb ports
running xp sp2

Machine above could be used as a Orbiter (ie a Windows based remote control for any device or media inside LinuxMCE) or also could be PXE booted as a full MD.

my lady has a desktop with
an amd atholon x2 dual core
4200+  2.21 ghz with 4gigs
of ram.
running xp

Desktop above could be PXE booted as an MD or could run the Windows Orbiter.

she uses it for web work and
rendering 3d digital images.

she also has a macbook she brings
home from work.

If its an Intel based MacBook you could run VMware and PXE boot it as described for the other laptop above.

we are going to build her a linux box
for rendering as well+ she maybe
buying a laptop in the new year.

Great... even more hardware for you both to 'play' with ;-)

she lost a lot of data on a dead
external drive so we just bought a
nas.

Your NAS will work fine as a storage location for Media with LinuxMCE... just let LinuxMCE detect it ans use it... all automatic and easy.

we will be setting it up next
week and connecting it to
our network through our
buffalo airstation G 54
which is feeding us the net through 
grande communications here in texas.

Airstation... will work fine. Just let LinuxMCE running on your Core/Hybrid server/client act as the DHCP server for your network.

between our four computers we have a
lot of media and once the nas is up i
suppose we'll have alot more.

Yep... your media library will grow!

i found out about LinuxMCE through youtube
and thought "it would be great to see our media
in the living room and not disturb each other
playing our media in the office" where we both work.

a few years ago we received a a msi maga180
and we've yet to use it.

its got a built in stereo and s-video out
plus it comes with 2 remotes.

Not sure about the maga180... can't comment.

i thought why not hook that up to our cable box
and standard definition tv. we could have the
stereo and cable plus our media and youtube
in all in the living room if it will run linuxMCE.

my question is:

with this much tech in the
house will i run into big problems?

No... just don't rush to do everything at once. Get the Core/Hybrid setup and working first with your Airstation. Then build out from there.

will it conflict with my nas?

Your NAS should be no problem at all. Can't see any conflict at all... the NAS is just more managed storage for your LinuxMCE Core/Hybrid to use.


Hope the above is of some help

Andrew

[mr.thraz]

thanks that did help some. but for further clarification

this is an msi mega 180.


http://www.msicomputer.com/pressrelease/mega180CES.asp

we've got a gig of ram on it. i dont remember the name of the processor but i believe it was the amd equivalent of  a p3 chip

you said the madtux pc should be my core. i really don't know what that means but i don't think i can install
another os on it. as i said i use it for audio production and i'm constantly switching between os's on it.

it really shouldn't leave the office anyway as i use it to make music and i want my lady to have
accssess to her media when I'm in the office and vice versa.

so i ask again do you guys think the msi box can handle linuxMCE

[mr.thraz]

dont be shy speak up.

[pnauta]

What a laugh to see that MSI thinks it will only support WinXP http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=MEGA_180&class=mega
Anyhow, some things you did not tell are how large a hard disk is in the Mega 180, and whether you did get the TV tuner card that was optional at the time.  But apart from that, if it was my machine, and I'd like to preserve what's on the hard disk (winXP with all sorts of nice software and drivers set up possibly), I'd make a ghost image of it using Acronis or similar and then go ahead.  The fact that it is from 2004 is actually a plus, because most hardware is already supported in the latest kernels.  The only stuff that's not going to work without programming is most likely that snazzy front panel, but one could figure that out as well.  So, looks like this machine should be able to run core/hybrid LinuxMCE, or could be upgraded to do that (max 2Gb mem, which is cheap nowadays, hard disk can be replcaed with larger ones, CPU is going to be a bit harder to upgrade, but still available)  For the rest, sounds like you have all you need to get going.  Wish I had such a machine lying around, I built one from scratch using the latest and yet unsupported...

So, what do you have to loose?  Investing some time may render a nice hybrid / core LinuxMCE, otherwise an idle machine never been used is gathering dust.  I'd say: go4it.

[nevware]

There's going to be some hardware fun and games - it's inevitable. I've not had much joy with my on-board Intel graphics, for starters....

But the bigger question is that imho LinuxMCE is not actually a media centre in the same way MS MCE is - it also likes to do security, VoIP and home automation. If you're not actually planning to do that, LinuxMCE may be a bit over the top. For instance, you get the menu items for those features whether you use them or not (I didn't work out how to remove them). The cool things LinuxMCE does that are not available elsewhere as far as I know are the network boot - so all your devices can act as Media Directors (though I think that works best for wired networks - wireless may be tricky to get to work) and the "follow me" feature.

You could also look at Freevo, Geexbox or Mythbuntu - they do what you appear to want, but have slightly less baggage....

[Hagen]

The first thing to know about LMCE is that it requires one dedicated server (the core of the system) that is powered up and running at all times (no dual boot machine). It needs a decent machine to perform adequately. Other than that you can try 'anything' as an MD, if it works for your use then great.