Pre-Install Quenstions

[victorbrca]

Hi all,


  I've just found Linux MCE and found it very interesting. I've been looking for something like this for a while...

  I read the main topics on "User's Manual" and "Getting Started". It looks pretty straight forward and I'm somewhat anxious on installing it at home. However I have some questions I wanted to get through before spending the money on a core, and experience is usually better than manuals, your experience that is!!

  My network at home is a little crowded as you can see on my diagram at the end. What I'm looking for is to simply watch TV on the PCs and access data (Video & Music) from my NAS or core so I can watch on the TV.

  Questions are:

1- Would a standard 100Mb network be enough for video/audio streaming? (I'm aware the User's Manual advise 1G. Low budget)
2- Can I place core and media director on separate subnet than my PCs and use static routing? I do not want to use MCE as DHCP server.
3- Would a P4 with 512 RAM be enough for a core?

Thanks a lot for any input!!!


Vic.

[victorbrca]

1- Would a standard 100Mb network be enough for video/audio streaming? (I'm aware the User's Manual advise 1G. Low budget)
2- Can I place core and media director on separate subnet than my PCs and use static routing? I do not want to use MCE as DHCP server.
3- Would a P4 with 512 RAM be enough for a core?

1. I would say that 100mb network would be fine.
2. I'm not sure about the routing as i'm having troubles with that at current.
3. Pretty sure the P4 & 512 ram would do the job. i'm using an amd athlon 2.08Ghz and 512 of DDR333
and seems to do ok.

  how fast is the cpu? & what ram are you using?

  Not sure yet. I'm going to be shopping for a used one, this is why I wanted to investigate before I start spengding money...


Vic.

[victorbrca]

I have another question...

In case I have digital cable with a box at home, would LinuxMCE allow me to change the channels from any of the Media Directors or PCs?

If so, would I need to connect the core or a media director to that cable connection?

And, would I need to connect it before the cable box or after the cable box (between TV and cable box)?


Thanks a lot,


Vic.

[John Taylor]

Yes you can do that using Linux MCE and yes you can connect it to the core or media director and you need to connect it after the cable box.

[Shiner_Man]

victorbrca, on a side note, could you tell me what software you used to create that network map?  It's very slick.

[tsaxton]

looks like visio professional 2 me.  excellent detail vic.

[victorbrca]

victorbrca, on a side note, could you tell me what software you used to create that network map?  It's very slick.

Sorry for the delay... Yes it was visio. I could not find anything similar for Linux... However, I do use a neat free on-line tool at work for when client's don't have any diagram software. Check it out here

Vic.