Help getting started

[ogodt]

Hi all 

I've been looking at lmce for a while now and just getting started testing it, here is what i've made so far (if my english is bad it is because i'm from denmark  )

I installed a hybrid on a Dell optiplex 170l, 2,4 ghz intel celeron, 40 gb hard drive, 512 mb ram, intel onboard 82865G graphics controller, SoundMax integrated Digital audio, 2 nics, 6 USB, 4 PCI slots, i have orderd a Hauppauge 150 mce, and for now only CD.

I got it up and working, and finally got a laptop to work as orbiter 

Now ALL my questions.

1. is the Dell good enogh to work as a Core. If not what's missing.?

2. on the MD i should have a good Soundcard (surround sound), a good graphic card ? (this should not be on the Core right) and a DVD .

3. when i installed the XP orbiter i can only connect when i disable the firewall in Pluto-admin, what protokol and port is orbiter using so that i can allow that traffic and enable the firewall again.

Other then that my future plan's is to have a Dlink DNS323 NAS attached, buying some IP cameras and in time get some z-wave(when there is something good enough for 230 V and good looking WAF), i like the Danish ones www.innovus.eu but they are still a new and small company.
And maybe some networking music player like squeezebox.

Other then that i think Lmce looks genius, i'm a total newbee in Linux and think the wiki is hard to find it's way around.

I hope you will help me getting started the right way   

Ole

[ogodt]

Hi,

No one got any ideas ??

Ole

[freymann]

I've been looking at lmce for a while now and just getting started testing it, here is what i've made so far (if my english is bad it is because i'm from denmark  )

Hello and welcome to LMCE!

I installed a hybrid on a Dell optiplex 170l, 2,4 ghz intel celeron, 40 gb hard drive, 512 mb ram, intel onboard 82865G graphics controller, SoundMax integrated Digital audio, 2 nics, 6 USB, 4 PCI slots, i have orderd a Hauppauge 150 mce, and for now only CD.
1. is the Dell good enogh to work as a Core. If not what's missing.?

I think it's hard for anyone to say for sure that your equipment is going to work, unless they have used the same thing. That's likely why nobody has responded thus far.

Your CPU is at the lower end of power, and if you watch any amount of TV and 40 GB drive is way too small. I see you may be adding a Dlink NAS? I think you'll need it.

Onboard video chips by intel can cause you grief too, but there is finally a nice page in the wiki about Display Drivers you can reference:

http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Display_Drivers

If this is the only box in your system you should be fine, but when you add Media Directors I think you may be underpowered.

2. on the MD i should have a good Soundcard (surround sound), a good graphic card ? (this should not be on the Core right) and a DVD .

I've been using the onboard sound output on all my test machines and I'm pleased with the output. If you want to insert a good sound card that's up to you. There's a few entries on the Hardware:Sound Cards page you can refer to:

http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Category:Soundcards

You definitely want to keep in mind what video card you are going to use. The nVidia seem to be most popular and trouble free. Something in the 6000 or 7000 series seems to be fine. I've personally used the 7200GS (fanless) card in two machines without problems, and a 7300GT. My onboard nVidia GeForce 6150LE also seems to work.

You can have a DVD ROM in any of your machines.

If you're "core" is also a MD (hybrid) you'll need good parts in it too.

3. when i installed the XP orbiter i can only connect when i disable the firewall in Pluto-admin, what protokol and port is orbiter using so that i can allow that traffic and enable the firewall again.

Sorry, I have no idea about that one.

My core is behind a hardware router that has a firewall, and the rest of my machines are behind the core. However, the hardware router is also our wireless access point, and in order to allow the wireless clients easy access to the core's file I disabled the firewall in Pluto-admin too.

Other then that i think Lmce looks genius, i'm a total newbee in Linux and think the wiki is hard to find it's way around.

The wiki is getting better, but you're right. When you go to the wiki it's like a big blank page but you know there's some good reading in there. If you read the forums you'll start to find links to handy reference pages. Bookmark them right away as it can be hard to go search and find them later.

[ogodt]

Hi freymaan and thank you for helping

I think it's hard for anyone to say for sure that your equipment is going to work, unless they have used the same thing. That's likely why nobody has responded thus far.

Your CPU is at the lower end of power, and if you watch any amount of TV and 40 GB drive is way too small. I see you may be adding a Dlink NAS? I think you'll need it.

Onboard video chips by intel can cause you grief too, but there is finally a nice page in the wiki about Display Drivers you can reference:

http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Display_Drivers

If this is the only box in your system you should be fine, but when you add Media Directors I think you may be underpowered.

The Dell is gonna act like a Core and it was also the CPU i was a bit worried about, the NAS is ordred with 500 GB in raid, is the on board video a problem when it's a Core ??

i'm starting out with on MD and then expand nice a slowly over years.

I've been using the onboard sound output on all my test machines and I'm pleased with the output. If you want to insert a good sound card that's up to you.
You definitely want to keep in mind what video card you are going to use. The nVidia seem to be most popular and trouble free. Something in the 6000 or 7000 series seems to be fine. I've personally used the 7200GS (fanless) card in two machines without problems, and a 7300GT. My onboard nVidia GeForce 6150LE also seems to work.

notice taken about the onboard sound, and for the Video card i've seen that it should be a nVidia.

The Dell who is going to be the Core is one i got at home rigth now and the MD i have to buy from scratch, so it was more if i could save some money (i can't afford to buy 2 new PC),
i going to get the Hauppauge this week (i hope) then i will see how the Dell handles it.

Ole

[freymann]

The Dell is gonna act like a Core and it was also the CPU i was a bit worried about, the NAS is ordred with 500 GB in raid, is the on board video a problem when it's a Core ??

 It doesn't matter if your video is onboard or a separate video card. The problem is making sure whatever type of video card you have is compatible. nVidia, as I mentioned, should work OK... but stay away from the latest and greatest, as Linux drivers for the newest cards may not be available. So again, the 6000 or 7000 series of nVidia video cards should be OK, even some 8000 series, although I had no luck with the 8400 myself I hear some are doing fine with 8600's.

 By acting as a core do you mean it will just be the main fileserver and tv recorder/tuner? You won't be watching TV and using it as a MD too? If you can't afford a bunch of computers, you'll likely use that a "hybrid core".. .meaning it's the main core and you'll use it as a MD too.

 Your NAS is fine.

 I would still vote for a faster CPU and perhaps even a larger internal drive. All of the TV you are going to watch is saved and streamed off your hard drive. If that can come off an internal drive, it will be quicker.

 I have a large internal drive (500GB) for the OS and LiveTV, and a second internal drive (500GB) for my media collection. The 1st internal drive is also the NFS drive for the media directors. I wanted to ensure I had plenty of room. Internal SATA is faster than external USB drives, yes?

 I also have another 500GB drive in one of main Media Director's, but I've opted not to include that in the mix thus far.

 It's not so bad to fiddle with the MD's after you are set up, but I find major changes to the core usually break it and mean you have to reinstall and start over, so set up the core first, tinker, play. Make notes of what you did, why and where for future reference. Get the core working the way you want and then tinker with booting MD's. Be prepared to reinstall a few times.

[jondecker76]

I would have to agree that your current setup may be a little low-end for a hybrid setup. But as either a dedicated core, or a separate MD it should be fine. Of course, there is nothing from stopping you from setting it up as a hybrid and having a little fun. It will likely perform just fine for you. I wouldn't try to run 4 other media directors off of though.

For video card, go NVidia - they are well supported. I have 2 MD's running geforce 5200 (128MB) PCI graphic cards with no problem at 720p.

As for sound cards, its more a matter of personal opinion. If the card works in linux, it should work with LinuxMCE. On of my MD's has an older Esoniq 16 bit card that sounds absolutely incredible.

The best thing you can do right now is do a lot of reading. Use hardware that is known to work. Ask questions here and on IRC - it will help get things rolling very smooth for you.

[ogodt]

It doesn't matter if your video is onboard or a separate video card. The problem is making sure whatever type of video card you have is compatible. nVidia, as I mentioned, should work OK... but stay away from the latest and greatest, as Linux drivers for the newest cards may not be available. So again, the 6000 or 7000 series of nVidia video cards should be OK, even some 8000 series, although I had no luck with the 8400 myself I hear some are doing fine with 8600's.

The Dell is only going to act like a Core (tv recorder/tuner) so if the intel graphic i got now is working on the Core that should be fine right ? But for the MD i am certainly going for a nVidia.

I would still vote for a faster CPU and perhaps even a larger internal drive. All of the TV you are going to watch is saved and streamed off your hard drive. If that can come off an internal drive, it will be quicker.

I can see your point on a larger drive, i will put a larger one in it.

thanks.

[ogodt]

I would have to agree that your current setup may be a little low-end for a hybrid setup. But as either a dedicated core, or a separate MD it should be fine. Of course, there is nothing from stopping you from setting it up as a hybrid and having a little fun. It will likely perform just fine for you. I wouldn't try to run 4 other media directors off of though.

It's as stated before going to be dedicated Core placed in a scullery (i think it's called) with all my other networking stuff, but now i'm a bit concernd about the CPU power??

As for sound cards, its more a matter of personal opinion. If the card works in linux, it should work with LinuxMCE. On of my MD's has an older Esoniq 16 bit card that sounds absolutely incredible.

I just want surround sound in 5.1 but i dont need perfect sound.

The best thing you can do right now is do a lot of reading. Use hardware that is known to work. Ask questions here and on IRC - it will help get things rolling very smooth for you.

that's what i'm doing right now, but i'm getting impatient  and just want to go ahead and build stuff, but i wont build anything that does'nt work, so i will read an post here 

Thanks

[freymann]

The Dell is only going to act like a Core (tv recorder/tuner) so if the intel graphic i got now is working on the Core that should be fine right ? But for the MD i am certainly going for a nVidia.

 Sounds good to me.

I can see your point on a larger drive, i will put a larger one in it.

 In the meantime, you could go ahead and do your first install on the smaller drive (it will wipe it clean and then install) and then play with it. You would be free to tinker all you want knowing that later you will install a larger drive and reinstall. It's a good way to get some practice with LMCE before you move to the real install.

 You can install without having your Tuner card there, so if you're getting anxious -- go for it!

[ogodt]

In the meantime, you could go ahead and do your first install on the smaller drive (it will wipe it clean and then install) and then play with it. You would be free to tinker all you want knowing that later you will install a larger drive and reinstall. It's a good way to get some practice with LMCE before you move to the real install.

 You can install without having your Tuner card there, so if you're getting anxious -- go for it!

I'm already on it, it's installed as a hybrid (for now) and working perfect i think, i should have got my Hauppauge but it's delayed    but when i get that, i will try to install the card and play with that and then i will do the first dedicated Core install