[snoxbox]

Would you suggest a full install of Ubuntu on the flash drive, with XBMC on top? Or are you talking about XBMC live, if so how does library data get saved?

Personally, I went for XBMC Live. What I did was boot XBMC Live off 1 USB stick, and chose the install method to install to another USB stick. This basically results in XBMCBuntu. Everything is saved as usual. I've since updated to the latest SVN versions of XBMC, updated Nvidia drivers etc.

A friend of mine started in Live, but couldn't get some things working, so ditched it and went for the full ubuntu install. He has all sorts of other problems now.

If you don't know Linux, I'd recommend going Live. You're not losing out on anything XBMC wise by doing it, and it's much easier to get working. Just beware that you cannot just install Live and be done with it. You need to upgrade to a newer verison of xbmc to get smooth 1080p playback.

[kortina]

Are there any plans to release some specific XBMCLive distro's ?

I understand that one of the main benifits is the flexibility.

But there are plenty of users who have
Acer Revo
Zotac Atom
Zotac 9300

These seem to be getting some decent numbers, would it be worth releasing a specific version that booted even faster?

[iainmacleod]

Okay, thanks a lot - do tell when it arrives and how everything goes.

This is going to be used as my main HTPC for me, do you suggest I go for a different motherboard or something? I don't want to be tight with my cash and bodge together a system that just about works, I want something capable if you get what I mean.

Rather than building you might just plump for this:

ASRock ION 330 NVIDIA ION
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6856158007

pretty much the same thing, more expensive though:
comes with same amount of RAM, no remote, but it does have an optical.

If money is not an object, check out my signature for my main HD HTPC - you can throw anything at it. 1080p Dark Knight plays like a dream on a 52" Samsung.

If you want to go safe you need the CPU, I would say, 2.80GHz min. With that use a decent mb, with integrated graphics. Make sure it has pci express 2.0 x16 (so you are not limited if you chose to get GPU down the line).

RAM should be minimum 2 - infact I have a system running 2, and I dont see issues, it is not my main system so dont watch much HD content on it. I have xbmc on 3 systems; main htpc, desktop, and asus eee pc 1000HE (can't handle 720p up, figure it is GPU and RAM).

The problem with small systems is cases, and PSU.

I did read you can overclock the Zotac, so maybe GUI wont be an issue.

http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/2009/08/05/a...l-package/

[Frozone]

Hey guys I don't mean to hijack your thread OP but I was intending on doing almost the same, xbmc-live off usb, need 1080p h.264. But some in my thread suggested against going for the Zotac N330 and suggested a seperate mobo and cpu because the n330 would struggle with the GUI of XBMC... I also want to use Aeon. Is this true, what do you think I should do?

Hey,
I have the Zotac 330 D, and I am using Aeon ShowMix. When I am runing it with only 1x 2GB RAM I have ~20fps. When I put in the second 2GB --> ~25 fps. --> Really important to have 2 RAM Sticks(2x1GB or 2x2GB)
Then I overclocked the RAM from 800 to 840 and now I have ~30fps and this is OK for using the GUI (And I guess with the "normal" Aeon would be even faster)

P.S. The fps are in Movie Section when I am on 1 Movie with Multiplex fullscreen. In other Views is faster.

[iainmacleod]

Hey,
I have the Zotac 330 D, and I am using Aeon ShowMix. When I am runing it with only 1x 2GB RAM I have ~20fps. When I put in the second 2GB --> ~25 fps. --> Really important to have 2 RAM Sticks(2x1GB or 2x2GB)
Then I overclocked the RAM from 800 to 840 and now I have ~30fps and this is OK for using the GUI (And I guess with the "normal" Aeon would be even faster)

P.S. The fps are in Movie Section when I am on 1 Movie with Multiplex fullscreen. In other Views is faster.

How did you go about overclocking the RAM, do you have a guide? I have read about overclocking the CPU - but have yet to find a guide to that.

*edit* found this http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3566&p=4

Does it run hotter with the overclocked RAM, cause that is one benefit of the machine, silent running to some extent.

[Kieron]

We have excluded Atom+ION based boards from this selection. Although they are great for a Linux based HTPC too, they currently still have one drawback: Adobe Flashplayer doesn't support hardware accelerated HD-video playback yet, therefore they are unsuitable for playing Flash based Internet HD video streams (Hulu, BBC IPlayer, etc).
If you don't care about Flash based HD-video streams on your HTPC, then please have a look at our overview of all available Nvidia ION based products, too.

Is this true? I was hoping to use my HTPC for things such as BBC iPlayer etc... so I can't use Ion if I want it to work?

[iainmacleod]

Sounds like it, that is not a big thing for me anyway. I have heard some people stating they have had some success with flash - maybe not HD quality though.

Like was said previously, you may as well get another mini/micro itx, slam on a 2.8 GHz processor, dual channel memory kit (4gb), and buy a nice case.

[Kieron]

Okay thats what I think I'm going to do. How does this sound;

intel e5200
Zotac GeForce 9300-ITX
120W PSU
Crucial 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 Ballistix Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5 Lifetime Warranty


Cheers
Kieron

[iainmacleod]

Well there are lots of issues with what you have chosen, your CPU FSB is only 800 and your MB can support 1333/1066MHz

Your RAM is 1066MHz but your MB only supports 800.

What price range where you thinking about? And what form-factor where you looking for? mini/micro...?

[Kieron]

To be honest I don't really mind what form factor as long as its not gigantic... Price range is £300 max which is around $500. If I have to spend any more it just means waiting, or doing it gradually, until I have the extra cash. Oh and I don't need any hard drives because I have them all in my NAS already, I hope to run XBMC live from a usb or a SSD.

[Frozone]

How did you go about overclocking the RAM, do you have a guide? I have read about overclocking the CPU - but have yet to find a guide to that.

*edit* found this http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3566&p=4

Does it run hotter with the overclocked RAM, cause that is one benefit of the machine, silent running to some extent.

U do it in the same section in BIOS like CPU overclocking. And, no its not getting warmer. I good thing would be to buy 1066 RAM and then set it in BIOS as high as the Chipset keeps working with it (Testing). I think for this reason the Boards don´t support 1066 Ram because of the Chipset. Is with the CPU the same.

[iainmacleod]

To be honest I don't really mind what form factor as long as its not gigantic... Price range is £300 max which is around $500. If I have to spend any more it just means waiting, or doing it gradually, until I have the extra cash. Oh and I don't need any hard drives because I have them all in my NAS already, I hope to run XBMC live from a usb or a SSD.

Ok start with a small MB:
GIGABYTE GA-E7AUM-DS2H LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9400 HDMI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813128363

Nice CPU with 64 bit support, so you can do over 3GB or RAM if you feel.
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819115206

Good RAM
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820231098

A nice case with a good enough PSU. This is really personal pref, but here are some:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811147098
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811129039
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811108106

HTPC Specific cases:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLis...icro%20ATX

And then a harddrive of choice, go with green for power efficiency and silence.

My suggestions, minus the HD, will run you anywhere from $350-400 shipped.

[iainmacleod]

U do it in the same section in BIOS like CPU overclocking. And, no its not getting warmer. I good thing would be to buy 1066 RAM and then set it in BIOS as high as the Chipset keeps working with it (Testing). I think for this reason the Boards don´t support 1066 Ram because of the Chipset. Is with the CPU the same.

Thanks for the info.

[Kieron]

Thanks so much for all of that. One problem with that Mobo though, it doesn't have Optical out. Need this to connect to my AV setup. Here is a link to my original 'requirements': http://www.xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p...ostcount=1

Could you suggest an alternative?

Kieron

EDIT: My bad, it has optical!

[iainmacleod]

Thanks so much for all of that. One problem with that Mobo though, it doesn't have Optical out. Need this to connect to my AV setup. Here is a link to my original 'requirements': http://www.xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p...ostcount=1

Could you suggest an alternative?

Kieron

EDIT: My bad, it has optical!

If you are looking for the IR and LCD display, you could get the Antec Fusion case I have:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/macleod_198...270053020/

But since updating my machine a while back I have not got the LCD working again, if you scour the forums, you will find lots of people have issues with this.