Rob,
Being a standard PC, it works fairly well.
Network boot works fine with a standard Pluto install, however I haven't managed to get the wake on lan stuff to work yet. I haven't looked into this, but I suspect it should be fixable.
The onboard graphics card works fine, I've got it connected to a projector running at 1024x768.
As for the audio, I'm using the SPDIF output (coax) connected to a Sony receiver. It seems to work ok for playing back music and dvds, however every now and then, the sound drops out for about a second (this could happen say, once every few mins). I'm not sure where the issue is here, but I'm going to try the optical connection instead of coax to see if that helps.
I also had to manually run alsamixer to play with some of the settings before the SPDIF would work, despite selecting the appropriate output in the MD configuration.
I would also like to get the 5.1 audio for DVDs and digital TV to work, as at the moment the MD is only sending out PCM stereo.
From my previous post, you can see that the remote works fine, and it has all the required buttons, including ones to select dvd, cd, tv, etc. I still can't get it to work with Pluto (hence the post - I hope one of the Pluto guys can help me out here).
Previously I've used it as a Mythtv frontend (before installing Pluto), and it worked great for that.
As far as noise is concerned, I'd say that it is acceptable for lounge room use. When idle, it runs about as silent as a PC can whilst still having a fan. Just make sure it has a bit of space around it or the fan speed will increase and make a little more noise.
I've also managed to get the 9 character VFD to work on the front by modifying a driver for lcdproc. I did this for my previous Myth installtion, but at that stage, a single line LCD for Myth was useless (and probablly still is). Ultimately I'd like to see Pluto scroll the current track being played, etc, to help with using the MD without the need to start up the projector. However, this is a slightly longer term project as I've still got a lot to setup with Pluto - I'm sure you know that it is quite a time consuming project
Anyways, hope that this helps and that someone can help me to get this remote to work!
Cheers,
-Kent