LinuxMCE Core and Orbits

[serpins]

Hi all.
After reading all the wiki pages and a lot of posts i still have one doubt only.. i guess.
I have a rack with my servers in the basement where i´m gonna put my LinuxMCE Core were there isn´t any TV or LCD.
I only have LCD and TV´s where i go to put the orbiters by PXE boot.
Do i still need a Nvidia card in the core ? Or only in the orbiters ?

Thanks in advance

Serpins

[serpins]

Orbits = Media Directors ? Or not ?

[dopey]

Media Directors have On Screen Orbiters, but the Orbiter is separate from the Media Director. Think of the Orbiter as a remote control for the Media Director. The On Screen Orbiter isn't really remote, but it allows you to control it with various standard devices like keyboard/mouse, gyration mouse/remote, etc. You can also have the Orbiter completely standalone and put on a mobile device to control any media director in the house. Using the Nokia 770 for this seems to be increasingly popular.

Edit:
I forgot to answer your original question... No, you do not need any special video card in the core... or any other media director for that matter. You only need such video cards if you intend to use UI2 (alpha-blending and such) on the device that the video card is using. In your case, it doesn't seem you want to use the Core as a media director at all, so a cheap video card would suffice.

[darrenmason]

What dopey said was right but I just wanted to add...
The video card is still important (in fact the most important part IMO) for playing the media. So your media directors do need a good video card even if they are not running UI2 with Alpha Blending. Even then is is more about getting a video card driver that supports the compositing that alpha blending requires. But if your core is not acting as a media director and not playing video then pretty much any old video card will do.

The on screen orbiters (or any orbiters) are designed so that that they can control any device in the house. If you tell it what room you are in (or it detects it) then you will get a user interface for that room. So for instance, I could be in the lounge room and using the on screen orbiter of the media director in that room I could tell the system to play music or a video in another room.
Hope this helps (rather than making it more confusing)

[Hagen]

For a core that woun't be showing any media "any" video card or the internal video will work ok with UI1.
But you should have the possibility to "do things" locally, so I would not recommend a "no video" sollution.

[serpins]

Hi all..
Thanks in advance for your help.
Hagen - Yes U1 its enough in the core, because i´m gonna control via any Orbiter in the house except from the basement (Core).
            I gonna use an old one video card...
darrenmason - No confusing.... Sintentic and understandable! Thanks.
dopey - Yes, i´m not gonna use the Core as a MD.I gonna use only UI1... it´s enough.I spent all my time in the office, Living Room and Bedrooms.I control everything remotely.

To all - Thank you very much for your answers. Soon i will publish a complete list of my entire system (Core and minimum 2 MD´s) and in that time i will
need your help again to approve or reject my future system.

Again many thanks.

Greatings from Portugal

Serpins

[nite_man]

You can use as Orbiter following:
- Nokia770 or N800;
- any PC with web browser (Web Orbiter);
- Windows based Tablet PC - TabletKiosk Sahara;
- Symbian 60 1st edition, windows mobile 2005 phone or Trio.