Sip Posted February 6, 2008 Report Share Posted February 6, 2008 (edited) I'm just about ready to put my new HTPC together in the next few days ... and the main question I am still struggling with is to go with linux or win xp? I don't want to dual boot this machine. If anybody around here have their own htpc or similar machine setup, I'd love to hear your thoughs (Domino?)? With linux, I am having a bit trouble deciding which route to go ... full blown LinuxMCE, MythTV, or Freevo ... is there anything else that's good? I guess I could try but I would rather just focus on one from the beginning. I don't think I am going to use it to record anything (so using it as a PVR is not an issue right now). I download most of what I watch since I don't have cable or satellite so the main use of it will be playback. I do plan to eventually add a blu-ray drive to it but at this point, that's not a big issue either. Also, I have a Dlink DSM-520 media player so it would be nice to use this htpc as the media server for that on my tv in the bedroom. For now, I am leaning heavily towards linux and most of the hardware I have, I know will work fine (assuming I can get the hdmi output of the motherboard to cooperate in linux). Here's the breakdown of the main parts I have: http://www.antec.com/images/400/Fusion_new_f.jpg Case: Antec Fusion 430 (has a built in VFD display)MB: Asus m2a-vm hdmi (uAtx)RAM: Corsair XMS2 2GB DDR2 800 (cas 5)CPU: AMD Athlon X2 BE-2350 Brisbane 2.1GHz 45W Dual-Core (it's a 65nm chip so that's why 45W)HD: 320 GB SATA 7200 RPM WD Caviar (16mb cache version) I think I am going to go with ubuntu for now. Any thoughts? Edited February 6, 2008 by Sip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vava Posted February 6, 2008 Report Share Posted February 6, 2008 I've installed CentOS on the linux machines we have, but that's for standard client/server applications - I'm not sure if it's ok to install for an htpc without an additional media center app like SageTV. From what i understand knoppix has an MCE for htpc, but I have not experience with this implementation. Sorry - I can't be of help until I eventually build my own htpc. With a little baby, I don't see that day coming anytime soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StverDJ Posted April 28, 2008 Report Share Posted April 28, 2008 Stick with XP. You will run into many driver issues with linux for a HTPC. Looking at that case you selected, you will have a hard time with the controls in the front, remote control capabilities, blu-ray, sound, video, etc etc. And with XP SP3 shipping out in a day or two, it will be very stable. Windows Media Center is really nice and easy to use with a remote control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sip Posted April 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2008 (edited) I've got Ubuntu Gutsy running on it pretty stable (after about a month of messing with it on a daily basis). Performance is good and I haven't had to reboot it for over a month now. I use it daily. I didn't care about the volume control on the case but it's working fine. I have the LCD working no problem. The IR sensor is being detected but I haven't had the time to try to setup a remote control with it yet. Overall, I think it's a tough call between XP and Linux. XP definitely offers advantages but I think for the long run, getting into the guts of linux and getting it set up will pay off. It is NOT the right choice for the n00bs though if they want to start using the box right away. I don't plan to use Blue-ray anytime soon but I watch 720p resolution videos on it with AC3 and DTS auio streams without a hitch on a regular basis. My TV is 42" so 720p is more than enough (actually I prefer it over 1080p). For 1080p though, I don't think my hardware is up to par for it, especially with all the other stuff I have running on this box ... but I am very happy since it runs very cool, stable, and produces almost no sound. Edited April 28, 2008 by Sip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ED Posted April 28, 2008 Report Share Posted April 28, 2008 maybe someone can explain me what i did wrong, I resently bouth this quad speet intel HP reconditioned vista hope premiun desctop, it came with Nvidia gforce 8600 card with 256mb, loaded cd+dvd write and etc... but i ordered vista ultimate upgrade (did back up my original settings in case something went wrong) loaded the vista ultimate....now nothing works, now i try to back up to original factory settings, it shutting down every time i try to do this e please tell me what to do, HP is not helpful and it takes forever for microsoft to respond back, i have files whch i workes very hard and its all gone now, no nvidia card or any cad program of mine works Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sip Posted April 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2008 i have files whch i workes very hard and its all gone now I didn't understand what this means ... did you have files on the new pc that you need back? Did the installation format the hard drive? If you just want to install vista premium, I was reading somewhere about this trick that you can make vista upgrade itself ... basically you probably just want to wipe the entire pc clean, then follow the instructions (which I can find for you) of installing vista upgrade over itself. But if you need to recover files off of this pc, then don't do anything until we can figure out if there is anything recoverable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashot Posted April 28, 2008 Report Share Posted April 28, 2008 Ed jan, what you need to do - to be exact, is invite Sip over for xorovats, and he will make the impossible into a miracle in regards to the computer!!! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ED Posted April 28, 2008 Report Share Posted April 28, 2008 I didn't understand what this means ... did you have files on the new pc that you need back? Did the installation format the hard drive? If you just want to install vista premium, I was reading somewhere about this trick that you can make vista upgrade itself ... basically you probably just want to wipe the entire pc clean, then follow the instructions (which I can find for you) of installing vista upgrade over itself. But if you need to recover files off of this pc, then don't do anything until we can figure out if there is anything recoverable. yes sip I had files and programs which either wont work or files are gone, i press f12 to go and roll back the comp, it askes for back up files which i made, then it says no date was found to back it up to......why my nvidia card wont work, norton 360 wont show, it was a upgrade from home primum to ultimate. anyhow i spent till 3am again last night just cant load those back up files Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garo Posted April 29, 2008 Report Share Posted April 29, 2008 How about taking out the hard drive and connecting it to another computer as a secondary disk to get access to the files you need? Once you have the files you can try to rerun the ultimate setup or format the drive and do clean install. Also, don't forget to install sp1 for Vista - I've had different problems with my nvidia cards until I applied sp1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ED Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 my work along with programs is all gone, i don't know exactly what i did wrong, managed to reinstall factory (vista home premium) settings now wireless wont work. Garo, Sip, is it possible to install xp2 pro over vista based computer? i just had enough of this vista BS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garo Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 You can boot from XP setup CD and choose the option to delete existing hard disk partition and create it again to wipe out vista from the drive. Another option is to boot from a foppy disk into MS-DOS and use fdisk to manually delete the partition and format the hard drive again to do clean XP install. You can make ms-dos bootable floppy disk by downloading the files from http://www.bootdisk.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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