I need a z-wave alternative. Especially since I live in th UK; z-wave don't do our plugs!
I have had a few 'experiences' setting up LMCE.
First off, dont buy a HTPC case with built in imon vfd and remote - (I have the thermaltake bach, but silverstone also do this) it's a pain!
The remote would be handy for LMCE as it has a mouse 'pad' but this doesn't work in linux. There is however a patch to make the pad generate left, right, up, down movements, so I'm gonna give it a go and post a howto here if it works.
The vfd screen is also difficult to set up with LMCE. Again I'm still working on this so I'll post back.
My advice - save the £40 ($80) extra and buy a gyro mouse, or even a windows mce remote.
Second, if you have a wireless network card that requires ndiswrapper (like mine - belkin pre-N) don't use the LMCE dvd installer, you have to install kubuntu then ndiswrapper then the LMCE cd's (in my experience anyway). The dvd install has a different libc6 to the one ndiswrapper depends on, and I couldn't change it!
Third, don't install nvidia drivers from their website or via envy - LMCE only likes its own propietary driver. But do go for an nVidia card over ATI
Fourth, don't buy a samsung HDD! I did as they're cheap, but they are VERY sus and slow!!
There's probably more, so I'll keep thinking :-)