[Wintersdark]

I'm looking at migrating my htpc from Windows 7 to Linux. I'd originally went with Win7 as I had a spare license handy (having installed the Win8CP on my desktop), and was using Netflix a lot.

However, now I've pretty much exhausted anything I was interested in the (limited) Canadian Netflix library and cancelled my subscription, and am getting increasingly frustrated with Windows 8. No HD Netflix removes what stopped my going with Linux originally on my HTPC in the first place, and I'd like to go back to Win7 on my desktop, so all should be fine.

My HTPC is also my media server, and as it was built on a windows install my media drives are all NTFS formatted.

Is there a convenient way to migrate my XBMC setup and library over to a new install? Obviously, I'd sooner avoid starting from scratch again. As my media is shared both via oldschool Samba shares now (not using homegroups) it'll be simple enough to recreate my shares in Ubuntu - and, interesting, it'll actually be a bit easier to manage than with the current windows setup, so I'm not concerned about that.

Finally, are there any potential problem areas I should be aware of, setting up XBMC under Linux? I'd be using Ubuntu (as that's what I'm familiar with), and the only other software I'd be getting in there would be Sabnzbd/SickBeard/CouchPotato.

Should I just do a standard Ubuntu install, then install XBMC from the standard Ubuntu repository, or should I used the XBMC PPA, or is there a XBMC customized setup that's better to go with(xbmcbuntu?)?

[vidkun]

I haven't touched xbmc on linux in a long time so I'll leave those questions to others.

However, Ubuntu should have the ntfs-3g module built into the kernel so it should be able to see those partitions just fine. Also, I'm running Sabnzbd/SickBeard/CouchPotato on my headless Ubuntu server with no issues at all so you should be fine there as well.

[Wintersdark]

I tried xbmcbuntu first, but was unable to install successfully. I ended up deciding to go from scratch, installed Ubuntu Precise, xbmc, sabnzbd, sickbeard and couch potato, spent the night configuring 'em all. It went pretty well, really, I was worried but I guess I shouldn't have been.

Ubuntu Precise and XBMC Eden worked together flawlessly out of the box: No issues with audio, etc - I honestly was certain I'd spend a chunk of time fighting with audio over hdmi (I've had audio problems with linux installs forever). Particularly given my HTPC runs a very recent set of hardware (asrock A75M-ITX motherboard, AMD A6-3500 APU) without dedicated linux drivers!

I didn't import anything, mostly because gparted couldn't read the partition containing my windows install (it read all the other NTFS volumes, just not that one). I wasn't really interested in fighting with it, so just started anew. Helped me set things up a little neater than they were previously, anyways.

Sabnzb/sickbeard/couchpotato setup was largely identical to windows, so a piece of cake. Again, the clean setup helped me avoid a few mistakes/messy bits I did the first time around on Windows.

All in all, a relatively painless experience as far as whole new OS installs/system setups go.

[digitaltomj]

The best option to my knowledge is just backing up your Video and music library to separate files and overwrite the old ones so that all your metadata is there for the ubuntu install...I would also recommend placing all of your media on a separate disk or partition to give yourself more peace of mind when installing the new OS...NTSF works fine with Ubuntu, I wouldn't bother moving all of your files to a new disk, formatting, and putting your media back...just leave it as is and make sure to automout your media drives or ubuntu wont see it until you mount them...you should also make a swap partition during your ubuntu install that is the same size as the amount of ram you have...that should really be it, Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is pretty straight forward besides that. Samba still works, you'll just need to install it to reach any of your network shares.

PS, I dualboot windows 8 and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS...(I use windows 8 primarily however, and am in love with it) I'm just wondering what are your frustrations with it?

[Wintersdark]

As to why I'm removing Win8 on my desktop: https://plus.google.com/u/0/107450791902...yYDoQbdEEH

Yeah, I left all my media in NTFS partitions, that way if I should get twitchy and want to reinstall windows at a later date it's pretty painless.

I always, *always* have OS, data, and media in separate partitions regardless of operating system for that exact reason. I've been bit in the ass enough times over the years with borked OS installs due to my incessant tinkering

[digitaltomj]

haha yeah, I even do a sector by sector clone of my OS partitions too for that "oh crap" moment

As for the metro interface...I agree with you...I setup my comp to skip it entirely...however with the little reg tweak from stardock Start 8 it actually makes metro...good...it creates a start button, and when you click it its a mini metro, that not only looks better but acts better than any windows start menu...I love the metro search which finds what you type as you type a la google and i use it just like Ubuntu's unity...only its actually prettier, faster, and less glitchy...so if metro is your only gripe id say give start 8 a try and just bypass booting into metro like i did

That said, Ubuntu 12.04 is still a great OS and I love dual booting and having the option to use either

PS, I would recommend dualbooting simply for silverlight which you need for more things than netflix...just set up your grub 2 with grub coustomizer or another program so that Ubuntu is the default OS

[wsnipex]

silverlight is kinda supported under linux with moonlight. Usually its enough for watching videos and stuff.

btw, seeing that your have an AMD APU, you might want to take a look here: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=116996

[Wintersdark]

haha yeah, I even do a sector by sector clone of my OS partitions too for that "oh crap" moment

As for the metro interface...I agree with you...I setup my comp to skip it entirely...however with the little reg tweak from stardock Start 8 it actually makes metro...good...it creates a start button, and when you click it its a mini metro, that not only looks better but acts better than any windows start menu...I love the metro search which finds what you type as you type a la google and i use it just like Ubuntu's unity...only its actually prettier, faster, and less glitchy...so if metro is your only gripe id say give start 8 a try and just bypass booting into metro like i did

That said, Ubuntu 12.04 is still a great OS and I love dual booting and having the option to use either

PS, I would recommend dualbooting simply for silverlight which you need for more things than netflix...just set up your grub 2 with grub coustomizer or another program so that Ubuntu is the default OS

Oh, two separate machines. I've got Win8 alone on my desktop, and had Win7 on my htpc. Now I'm running Ubuntu on the htpc - as I no longer use netflix, I have no need for Silverlight there.

I've long loved Ubuntu, but alas as a gamer sort it's not really useful on my desktop. Unfortunate, really, because I'd love to use it there! I've tried dual-boot setups, but ultimately I don't bother because Windows can do everything it can, so switching back and forth is an unnecessary hassle.

Ubuntu is working out well on the htpc, though. Nice to keep it all free software!