Hi I am a noob at Linux so if you will be so kind to place me in right direction

[karl01]

Hi I am a noob at Linux so if you will be so kind to place me in right direction

Questions:

minimal system requirements for Linux MCE?
And witch graphic card do you use to make it running smooth?

I be grateful for a complete hardware requirements list. Its probably out there on googel butt you are the expert in this forum.     

Has anyone run Linux MCE under 32 BIT Microsoft Virtual Server? And if so whit any success?

If this post doesn’t fit here be so kind to move it ells veer. As I was weighting earlier I am a noob from Sweden whit limited English skills.

Best regards Karl               

[ddamron]

Welcome Karl!

System requirements are hard to determine.. it depends on what you're doing,.

Linuxmce is a mesh of a bunch of programs, Pluto (www.plutohome.com), Asterisk, MythTV etc.

First, you need to determine what you want it to do:
Obviously, you need some form of tuner or capture card if you want to record TV..
you can have multiple cards as well, but then, the requirements go up.

in a nutshell, linuxmce requires a Backend computer.  This computer may or may not have a front end on it.
(a dedicated backend sits in the closet and grinds away)

Front ends are PC's (or other hardware) that interface to the back end.
They are called Media Directors, and you can have as many of those as you need.

Then there are the Orbiters, (fancy name for remote control).  Normally, all Media directors have orbiters built into them.. but you can also have a Pocket PC as an orbiter.. etc.

Video cards are the tricky part... Newer Nvidia seems to work best..

so, to start out with, get your biggest machine, and set that up as the back end server....
then go to a smaller machine and set it up as a media director... etc...
BTW, the media directors (if properly configured) can PXE boot off the server, so you can have diskless MD's

HTH

Dan

[karl01]

Okay thanks. So I can’t run directly on a single computer? For example to record TV and DVD movies etc?

Do Linux MCE Supports DVD burning and internet browsing like Microsoft MCE

“BTW, the media directors (if properly configured) can PXE boot off the server, so you can have diskless MD's”

As in a thin client?

So it all comes down to amateur of choice, for me its not cheaper to setup a hole new Linux system.   

[ddamron]

It's all in how you look at it...
linuxmce will do quite a bit more than windows mce, like home automation, VOIP, and especially dvb-s...
Yes, you can run it all on 1 computer, called a hybrid installation.

(the media director runs also on the server, as does the on-screen orbiter)

Thin client -  no, not quite, if your thin client is PXE capable and PC based, then maybe yes...

Most thin clients have a base OS built into them, and they RDP or VNC (or whatever) into a server

If you want to control your security cameras, lights, home automation, irrigation system, AND whatever else, look at linux, Windoze won't do all that.