(2012-11-14, 18:52)eg4190 Wrote: The difference between setting up XBMC on Linux and Windows is this: Linux is more work to set up, but once everything works, you never need to touch the box again; Windows is easier to set up, but you're constantly dealing with annoyances that never go away.
Windows likes to update your machine once a week and reboot in the middle of the night. Windows makes it difficult to get certain remote configurations to work without running EventGhost as an administrator (and you can't have administrator programs start at boot). Windows likes to annoy you with pop-ups and reminders to get the latest video drivers and security updates when you're only using the box to watch movies. XBMC crashes more often on Windows from my experience and drops you to an ugly desktop. Windows can make it hard to get the computer to wake up from sleep without causing video issues.
Yeah, there are workarounds for some of these issues. But they aren't any *less* work than getting HDMI audio or a WiFi adapter to work in Linux.
Typical post of a clueless Windows user. Windows Updates can be easily configured to not reboot at night, hey you can even configure it to not update at all! Same with popups about drivers and the like. Turn them off, only takes two seconds.
If XBMC is crashing to the desktop, then you've got faulty hardware, plain and simple. How is that Windows' fault? Let me see....it isn't.
Waking from sleep and video issues? Wut? You've done something wrong.
I've tried various Linux distros on various machines, and boy is that one unfriendly method of running XBMC. OpenELEC, where do I start. Takes an hour to get the USB stick working, then it doesn't install properly. If it does, then it's another hour to maybe get the sound working. If it works at all. Forget it if you move your HTPC and need to change from HDMI to analogue sound, that's another 30 minutes of fruitless Googling.
Tried running it on Ubuntu, that wasn't anywhere near as horrible, but same issue with sound.
Windows 7 is fantastic in comparison. I can install it from USB stick to a SSD in less than 20 minutes, install drivers in 10, run all the Windows updates in 30. Copy over my XBMC profile directory and that's XBMC up and running in it's entirety in 1 hr 10 mins, no messing, no fuss, no Googling. My Windows boxes boot straight to XBMC off SSD in under 15 seconds, and run for weeks without "dropping to desktop" - and none of my Windows boxes cost more than £200. They all run on Intel's DH61AG boards, either Celeron or Pentium Sandybridge CPUs, using the iGPU. 4GB RAM (recycled 2GB sticks from laptop upgrades), and small SSD drives (32GB/64GB Crucial m4 mSATA).
I spend all day messing with servers and PCs. I don't want to do that in the evening too. I want something that's easy installed, and just works. For me, that's Windows 7.