[CGrimes]

Evening,

After comparing the Atom board I was planning on getting with the Zotac ION (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/165386 for example) - I'm opting instead for the latter, mainly because the external PSU will save internal space/heat on a project I'm about to start.

I'm seeing lots of confusing information now. I'm a seasoned windows user, but have no experience with Linux, How much trouble am I going to run into Post-Installation if I opt for LITE? Or should I just go for a Windows build - I'm mainly going to be running SD Content (which is what my XBox has been doing happily for the past few years), but I'm finding myself falling over more and more 720p. I'd also like to future proof for 1080p (New TV Soon). I've spotted a couple of other threads (one titled [Linux] install HOW TO XBMC for Zotac ION seems a good place to stare at blankly for a few hours trying to figure out what it all means). THe problem is, as a complete Linux noob, I'm happy to go away and learn if needed, but is it worth it? Am I going to get a massive decrease in boot time if I'm only running XBMC?
How slick is LITE compared to WINDOWS?

Thanks for your help, please be patient, I did learn the XBOX build eventually!

EDIT: Sorry - I'm working on an HTPC that will do nothing else but sit under my tv and stream from a network share. I dont need the wireless to work, I don't need keyboard or mouse support, or any other software once I'm up and running. Ideally, I'd like to connect my old xbox Remote via USB, but if that's only reason to chose one build over another, I'd be happy with any remote

[kortina]

I was a complete Linux noob before starting my XBMCLive (9.04) build.

I managed to install on my Zotac9300 (Celeron 2.0ghz) setup without any issues.

I have even configured my Microsoft MCE Remote Dongle to reveice XBOX remote codes.

This allowed me to transition from my XBOX setup to a Full1080p setup without any change in usability for my wife.

The picture is clearer, there are no memory issues at 1080p.

The only thing that my wife misses is the slightly faster boot up time of the xbox, and the 'flubber' animation at the start.


The forums are FULL of content and will answer almost every problem that you may face. There is sometimes a bit to much stuff that you need to sort through.

In hind site I should have got the ION system, but I was worried that if the ION system failed as a media centre I wouldnt be able to use it for much else. The Zotac9300 gave me the option of turning it into a workstation by replacing the $20 CPU with a $150+ CPU.

PS - I have the same setup, where XBMC is just an appliance that sits in my lounge room and streams content from the wired network (Win2008R2 SMB). No Keyboard, no mouse.

[CGrimes]

Well, that's a reassuring start to be sure. Thanks for the reply
I was looking at the 9300, or indeed very similar before I spotted the Ion board had the external PSU included, which also saved on the extra cost.

I'm actually building this inside an old xbox chassis (or am aiming to hehe).
Question: How did you reconfigure the reciever to accept the codes from the xbox remote? Is it something I could do in xbmc, or can it be trained at the hardware level? I have an old MCE reciever, but it's one of the original Microsoft devices, doesn't look nice and cant really DO anything without windows drivers (AFAIK anyway).

I'd be so smug if I can get the xbox dvd dongle to work, my flatmate won't even know anythings changed hehe

[kortina]

MCE Dongle + xbox remote + XBMCLive
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?p=4...post424989


I have read posts on getting the original dongle to work, but never attempted it. (search the forums)

The MCE Dongle is nice, because it supported by XBMCLive out of the box. It is a $15 device that will save you HOURS of f$#*ing around with LIRC.

My hair is worth more than $15

It amazes me at the number of people who insist on using some weird one off devices worth $2 and will spend hours getting it to work. Not that the xbox dvd dongle is in that category.

[RockDawg]

The only thing that my wife misses is the slightly faster boot up time of the xbox,...

Why not just suspend rather than shutdown? Then "startup" is even faster than the Xbox's boot up.

...and the 'flubber' animation at the start.

Somebody actually misses that? I used to have one Xbox with an X3 chip and two softmoded Xboxes and I hated that the two softmoded boxes couldn't bypass the flubber. It was so loud and annoying! I guess it's just further proof of 'different strokes for different folks'.

[kortina]

the flubber thing I found weird too. I guess she just doesnt like the POST screens of the Zotac, cause it looks like a computer.

I killed my first Zotac by flashing the bios with a custom gfx boot pic.

I still need to finish playing with the sleep/suspend settings, this is likely to fix the boot time problems.

I would still really like to see a Zotac specific version of XBMC Live to try and reduce the boot times a bit. There seems to be more than enough people with an Asrock ION to have a specific build for them.

[CGrimes]

http://htxb2.blogspot.com/

Thought I'd blog the project hehe.
If anyone has any feedback or advice, I'll see it there first

I'll drop by here now and then to update or seek advice on any issues