Can this setup be done?

[rperre]

Hi all, very interested in this LinuxMCE, i'm ready to try it and I'm picking the hardware as we speak, but... haha

I'm going to build a core (or hybrid) and possibly 5 or more MD's (big house). Now I know only 2 of these MD's are going to be important to do HD on.
I would like to use Netboot but can put a small hd in the MD's if necessary.

For the Core/Hybrid I'm probably going for a cheap quad core intel setup and a decent Gpu so I can use a monitor if I want to.

We have a current home intercom, and I would like to incorporate this somehow in the system, still have to do research on this as also for the security system part, we have an old system installed, but do not use it. The way I see it, we at least have wires running, which helps.

My first question is: is a cheaper quad core or a better dual core going to be able to run 5+ (up to 10) MD's?


After building my core and 1 or 2 MD's that work I will upgrade swiftly, for the MD's i'm going for the ATOM ION boards with the M350 enclosure.

I want to give the developers of this system a big CONGRATULATIONS and THANKS for this great system, Hopefully I will be able to contribute after using the system for a while and integrating my intercom and home security.

Richard

[colinjones]

A dual core with 2GB of RAM is more than sufficient even if it is a hybrid. These systems don't need huge CPU grunt unless you are doing high rate HD video completely in software. The ION platform is a good choice and will soon support hardware video acceleration so HD will be a snap. I would suggest you look at the Acer Aspire Revo for a complete ION system, with small foot print, low power consumption and low cost.

You don't need an HDD in your MDs, as their system always netboots. If you do put one in you can configure it to be a swap drive which may or may not improve performance, but it isn't necessary at all. I would strongly suggest you consider keeping your media separate from your core and MDs, perhaps a decent NAS or even a big disk in a PC and share out the media. This allows you to rebuild your systems with no concern for the security of your media.

[rperre]

CollinJones, thank you for the answer, that cuts down on my cost a lot, I was affraid the core would not be able to keep up with 10 MD's (when I'm done).

I already have NAS in the house with all media and files on it that we use with the 6 computers in the house, I can bump it up to 2,5Tb so should be enough to start with.

I looked at the Revo, but although it looks nice, I want to mount the MD on the back of the monitors/TV's or on the wall, even for current old TV's in the house I want to make it future proof and the M350 enclosure looks just as nice as the Revo.
Cost is also a factor, I have build computers all my life, and building the ATOM ION with the M350 and 1Gb of RAM for the MD's cost about 225 to 250 depending on N230 or N330, the revo MRSP is 299, for the eventual 10 MD's that's $500-$750 saving for me.......

I do have one small (pun intended) question, with some research and programming would it be possbile to have these boogers work on this system to act as an orbiter? http://www.mini-box.com/Samsung-S3C2440A-400MHz

I know you can say, everything can be made to work, but is it viable? These only cost about $110 and look like an awesome orbiter to use, I would mount these in wall where my current intercom is now together with a speaker and microphone for music distribution and possible intercom or voice activation features. Looks like a nice project for the coming year for me.

Thanks again,

Richard

[PlatypusPedersen]

rperre, take a look at http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Mini2440

[rperre]

Thank you for the link,

I saw more references after I posted, I should use the search function a little better 

Richard