2014-08-22, 15:50
Cost is the only valid reason I can think of to go with OE over Windows. I took the approach of "I'll try with Windows first and if it falls short in any way, I'll try OE". I didn't have to try OE.
Windows 8.1 boots from cold in only a few seconds on an SSD, the logon and desktop also only appear for about 2s before XBMC is loaded. Factoring in the time it takes my AVR and TV to come on from cold, I sometimes don't even see any of the boot process. I've had no problems with IR, playback or bitstreaming audio plus I have the option of launching players like PowerDVD/TMT for 3D BluRay or BluRay ISOs if I want.
Disk space isn't an issue as long as you get an SSD big enough to contain the Windows install, it's not exactly going to grow much if it's a dedicated XBMC machine. Antivirus, as already stated, is also pointless on a dedicated HTPC so I haven't installed any and Windows Defender is turned off. Automatic updates have been disabled and I just update it whenever I have time or remember, it's not like I need to be jumping on critical updates the second they're released for an XBMC machine. Once in a while, I backup my userdata folder using an smb share, if the worst happens, Windows is reinstalled in about 5 minutes from a USB stick and the userdata copied back in less than that.
Changing the sleep button to power off the NUC rather than sleep was the only big change I had to make as waking from sleep was causing several problems. Can't remember where I found this gem on how to do this but thanks to whoever posted it:
Windows 8.1 boots from cold in only a few seconds on an SSD, the logon and desktop also only appear for about 2s before XBMC is loaded. Factoring in the time it takes my AVR and TV to come on from cold, I sometimes don't even see any of the boot process. I've had no problems with IR, playback or bitstreaming audio plus I have the option of launching players like PowerDVD/TMT for 3D BluRay or BluRay ISOs if I want.
Disk space isn't an issue as long as you get an SSD big enough to contain the Windows install, it's not exactly going to grow much if it's a dedicated XBMC machine. Antivirus, as already stated, is also pointless on a dedicated HTPC so I haven't installed any and Windows Defender is turned off. Automatic updates have been disabled and I just update it whenever I have time or remember, it's not like I need to be jumping on critical updates the second they're released for an XBMC machine. Once in a while, I backup my userdata folder using an smb share, if the worst happens, Windows is reinstalled in about 5 minutes from a USB stick and the userdata copied back in less than that.
Changing the sleep button to power off the NUC rather than sleep was the only big change I had to make as waking from sleep was causing several problems. Can't remember where I found this gem on how to do this but thanks to whoever posted it:
Quote:See current configuration
powercfg -getactivescheme
Now you have the guid of the scheme being used.
powercfg -q <currentguid>
Look for the subgroupguid for "Power buttons and lid"
powercfg -q <currentguid> <subgroupguid>
Now you have the guid of the setting
To alter the setting for ac power (and I'll show all the guids for this one)
powercfg -setacvalueindex 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c 4f971e89-eebd-4455-a8de-9e59040e7347 96996bc0-ad50-47ec-923b-6f41874dd9eb 3
