Will the MCE CD's install on Kubuntu 8.10 or do I need 7.10?

[m7580n]

I will apologize first 'cuz I'm sure this topic has been covered, I did a search but did not find anything. I read some of the articles on the website but it didn't mention anything about it.

Will the LinuxMCE CD's install on Kubuntu 8.10 (or 9.04 Beta), or do the CD's only install (or work) on Kubuntu 7.10?

I'm downloading the Kubuntu 8.10 AMD64 DVD right now and will download the LinuxMCE CD's as soon as it's finished.

I have an HP m7580n with XP MCE and I would LOVE to get away from Microsoft. I just now found out about LinuxMCE and I can't wait to give it a try.

Any help to cut the cord with Microsoft will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Dan

[colinjones]

Dan

LMCE is currently 0710 only. The 0810 version is in Alpha at this stage, and will go Beta shortly, however as you are new to LMCE, you should only use 0710.

There are 2 installation methods - CD and DVD. You only need to choose one, not both. Choose DVD - this is much faster (~ 40mins vs 2-3hrs for CDs) and more straightforward.

There are 2 versions, 64bit (AMD64, works on either AMD or Intel) and 32bit (i386, again works on both chips) - choose 32bit as 1) it is more stable and 2) 64bit will not get you significantly more speed with this type of workload.

You need to ensure that you have hardware that is compatible. Look for a motherboard that is compatible with Linux kernel 2.6.22-14 - this is the kernel that comes with Kubuntu 0710. The video chipset should be nVidia for simplicity. Chips in the 6200-7300 range are perfectly adequate, however something in the 8xxx and 9xxx series will also work and in due course will also give hardware acceleration of video (post 0810). Most new nVidia chipsets will require you to install the latest video drivers, use this guide to update them - http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Display_Drivers

The other important hardware considerations are compatible audio and network chipsets. Generally, if they have drivers for 0710/2.6.22-14 and the audio driver works with ALSA, you should be fine. When you find a mainboard, search the forums and wiki for these chipset numbers to see if there is any commentary on compatibility.

You need to understand the networking requirements for your core/hybrid machine, here - http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Network_Setup

When ready to install, you just ensure the BIOS is prepared to boot from DVD, put the DVD in and boot. You do not need to install any software at all beforehand, it is all on the DVD. It will ask you some questions about which disk to install on - NOTE: the installer will overrwrite all data and partitions on the disk you point it to.

[m7580n]

Thanks Colin, I sincerely appreciate the help. I'm downloading the LinuxMCE i386 DVD now.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's what's in my HP Pavilion m7580n:

Motherboard manufacturer's name: ASUS A8M2N-LA * HP name: NodusM-GL8E

Processor - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600

Ram - 2gig

Chipset - GeForce 6150 LE chipset (Northbridge & Southbridge)

Onboard Audio - Realtek Built-in High Definition 8 channel audio ALC883 or ALC888 CODEC

Onboard LAN - 10/100 Marvell 88EC031

Video Card - GeForce 7300LE (Upgraded to GeForce 8600 GT)

TV Tuner - Hauppauge WinTV PVR 150 TV tuner card with FM tuner
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hauppauge didn't have any Linux drivers on their website, do you think this will be a problem?

I download the nVidia 8600 GT Linux driver and the Realtek HD Audio Linux driver.

I'll check on the compatibility of the motherboard, it was made by ASUS for HP but ASUS software (ASUS Probe) doesn't recognize it as an ASUS motherboard. Do you think I will have to install any drivers for the nVidia chipset on the motherboard?

It will take awhile to download the DVD so I'll do some checking (and lots of reading) in the meantime. I probably won't attempt the install until Mon or Tue nite.

Thanks Colin,
Dan

[colinjones]

I don't know about the motherboard, you will have to do some searches on the forum and wiki.

2G of RAM is oodles.

You seem to mention 3 GPUs. First the 6150LE is a GPU - rather slow, but I know Andrew's team have used 6100's in the past... perhaps will struggle with HD or UI2. Then you mention both the 7300LE and 8600GT as cards. You only need 1 GPU! Either 7300 or 8600 will be fine - the only issue you will come across is if you cannot fully disable the onboard GPU in BIOS. Some BIOS let you set which GPU gets initialised first - this isn't sufficient. Some BIOS's let you completely disable the onboard, that is what you want. If you cannot fully disable, get back to me at the time and I will show you how to get around that.

I have heard no so good things about Marvell NICs, but the key here is to look the part number up on their download site and see if there is a Linux driver for the above kernel version. If not you can get a dual NIC card based on Intel and plug that in.

The audio chipset is fine, many people use those.

The PVR 150 I cannot advise on, I capture DVB directly so haven't used those types of card, but they are mentioned all over this site and the wiki so you should be fine... do some searches starting with the wiki.

For the nVidia driver, you will only need to download the video driver, not the rest of the chipset - the nVidia video driver is a unified driver for all their modern GPUs, so there is only one file. You don't download it using a web browser, in those instructions you will see a wget command. This grabs the driver for you, you just need to look up on the nvidia web site the exact version number so you can substitute that into the command. Go to their downloads, choose Linux 32 bit, it will then tell you the exact file name of the latest driver - use that.

[m7580n]

Hi Colin, I got the specs from the HP website, the 6150LE is an error because I do not have onboard video. The Motherboard Chipset should have said nVidia nForce MCP51. I got this info from running System Information in the System Tools folder in XP.

I removed the 7300LE and put an 8600GT in 2 years ago, so I only have 1 GPU. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

Also, I ran Belarc Advisor and it said I had an nVidia nForce Networking Controller, so maybe that's 2 errors from the HP website?

Thanks for the tip on installing the video driver from the nVidia website, I didn't know that.

As for the Hauppauge tuner, I'll just have to install LinuxMCE and see what happens. I'm willing to try it!

I have XP backed up to a 2nd hard drive with Norton Ghost, so if anything goes wrong I can always restore that backup.

I almost forgot, earlier today I tried the Ubuntu 8.1 Live CD (ran it from the CD) and the internet worked great. Everything else seemed to work ok including the graphics. I have a widescreen monitor and it selected the correct 1400x900 resolution right from the start, I didn't have to change anything.

I'll install it Mon nite and see what happens. Thanks for all the info!

Dan