[Wireman67]

Wow! I read the rules of the forum, but I think I need a guide to the rules of the forum. I think I may have heard of one or two items listed on the banned items list.

What brought me here to this forum is that I am jumping into the Linux pool because of curiosity, necessity and to improve my skills to either create my own income or obtain a job to earn an income, I have been unemployed for 3 years, 1 month and 10 days; I am not receiving any financial assistance from any non-profit organization, federal, state or local government. I am really STEAMED and MAD! I am STEAMED because I possess knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) in the Sciences, Technology, Engineering, Industrial Arts, Mathematics, Education and Development; I am MAD because I want to MAKE and DESIGN concept ideas into reality. I am not an expert in anything, I am not a software engineer/programmer, but I did stay at Holiday Inn once.

I read a lot about Linux and I have gotten lost up to my neck in the distros, but I finally decided to choose Ubuntu. I have two older computers that I would like to repurpose one of them or both with Linux Ubuntu: I thought I read either on one of the Linux websites or in one of the Linux magazines that Ubuntu with KODI is called KUBUNTU. I would like to know which of my two older computers is best suited for a HTPC? I am open to any friendly guidance that helps me to repurpose both of my older computers and preferably without spending a lot of money.

Computer in Lian-Li PC602 ATX Desktop Case:

•Biostar P4M900 M4 MOBO,
•Pentium 4 CPU 3.20GHz (2 CPUs),
•4GB RAM
•ATI Radeon HD 4650
•1TB - WDC WD10EZEX-00KUWA0 [Western Digital Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive],
•Floppy Disk drive,
•LITE-ON LTR-40125S DVD/CD-ROM,
•Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1502 DVD/CD ROM
•450W Elite Power supply
•Operating Systems I possess on CDs and Floppies include Win95, Win98, Win98SE, WinNT 4.0, WinXP and Win 7



HP Pavilion a6157c TVPC Desktop

I have the Win VISTA Product Key, but I do not have the operating system because the Friendly Computer's shop failed to reinstall Vista and I moved from Virginia to Florida before I realized their failure
P5LP LE micro-ATX MOBO
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E4400
Intel Viiv
2GB RAM PC2-5300U 555-12-E3
1TB WDC WD10EZEX-00RKKA0
WinTV-HVR-1600 ATSC/NTSC 74551 LF Rev C1A3 from Hauppauge
LightScribe DVD Super Multi Drive/CD Writer
Memory card reader supports the following cards:
•Compact Flash I
•Compact Flash II
•IBM Microdrive
•Secure Digital (SD)
•mini-SD
•MultiMediaCard (MMC)
•Reduced size MultiMediaCard (RS-MMC)
•MultiMediaCard Plus (MMC plus)
•MultiMediaCard Mobile (MMC mobile)
•Memory Stick
•Memory Stick Pro
•Memory Stick Duo
•Memory Stick Pro Duo
•SmartMedia
•xD Picture Card (xD = extreme digital

[zerocool_ie]

you have loads of options here :
- Ubuntu is a full operating system without Kodi by default
- Kubuntu is a full operating system without Kodi by default
- Kodibuntu is a combination Kodi/operating system for use on PCs that are mainly just running Kodi. It is an alternative to installing Windows or a larger (and sometimes more complicated) Linux-based OS.
- OpenELEC is an embedded operating system built around Kodi.It runs Kodi and nothing else.

Both of your old PCs look up to the task of playing all SD and most HD media.
It all depends on what you want your HTPC to do!

[Wireman67]

Thank you for your feedback. I plan to use my old Lian-Li case either as a Linux platform for me to learn Linux, I plan to my old HP Pavilion a6157c TVPC as a dedicated HTPC; however, I need to do more homework on both of these topics before I attempt these projects. I received a recommendation from a BioStar representative [Biostar Hi-Fi A70U3P MOBO, AMD A6-7400k APU/CPU and 2x4 GB total of 8GB RAM preferably Kingston brand because they use for their mobos]; I was very pleased to get a response to my request for their assistance since my Lian-Li case has the Biostar P4M900 M4 MOBO; ironically I think this MOBO and CPU are dying because I cannot get the Live CDs/DVDs to operate. These are the Live CDs/DVDs that are glued into the Linux magazines I periodically purchase from the bookstore. These projects will be very challenging for me, so I know I will be pulling my hair; thus I greatly appreciate the feedback, guidance and recommendations from this forum about KODI. I already learned an acronym with your response "Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center"! I read that "OpenELEC is designed to be used with flash based drives, like compact flash, USB drives, or SSDs", so I guess I could use my OCZ Vertex 3 SSD 90GB. I most likely will have to use the HP Pavilion a6157c TVPC Desktop as the HTPC project because it is small enough to fit into the TV armoire case next to the TV.