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aassaf
Junior Member
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2010-08-03, 20:24
Hi,
I want to move from my xbox to a pc. I would love the pc to be able to run:
XBMC
Twonky (or another media streamer)
utorrent
I am not a linux user AT ALL, i have never used it, but i understand xbmc is much more stable with it. Is it straight forward, or should opt for windows?
What would you recommend as a cheap machine? Could the ACER handle it?
A
I am also considering at the same time to replace 2 1 tb NAS's i have with a 4 tb RAID NAS. I can do this separately, or alternatively i can buy a bigger machine that can handle the drives.
Thanks in advance,
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2010-08-03, 21:16
(This post was last modified: 2010-08-03, 21:23 by linuxluemmel.)
I guess with windows you would have faster success ..... but
with a linux-system you may learn more ...
Or what I would suggest if you never had contact with linux :
- Install your System with Windows and and xbmc for windows and
do learn Linux inside a virtual software like (VMWare or OpenBox).
If your later decide to run a linux system It would be more fun than to jump into the cold water.
PS : XBMC is running fine inside a VirtualBox PC with Linux ....
- all execpt dvd and bluray playing all is working ... .-)
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Sorry .. take a ASROCK ION or something similar as a advice ....
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I don't know that XBMC on linux is that much more stable (I don't know bc I haven't used Windows in years, but I haven't heard any real complaints about the win version), but depending on your hardware, there can be significant advantages to linux - e.g. VDPAU video acceleration for NVIDIA products. There are other hardware acceleration options available, but I don't know that they're as far along within XBMC.
So, one option might be to go for a small, inexpensive nvidia-based linux box (Revo, etc - should run between $200 - $300, depending on your location) for XBMC, and have a separate machine that runs as a server/torrent box/streamer. This is what I'm currently doing, and it's been working out quite well.
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Another option is a zotac mag for $280 which has the atom 330 or the newer diskless model which has the newer atom d510 and ion2 for $230
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2010-08-04, 16:46
(This post was last modified: 2010-08-04, 16:49 by pletopia.)
Pro: way better CPU - smoother skin browsing
Bluray
Con: PRICE
NOISE
PRICE
Size
PRICE
Ugly (IMHO)
PRICE
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Go with an older ION. the CPU is fast enough and I've never had issue with mine handling skins - mind you it's clocked at 2ghz. Bluray? I rip my media and compress it to a NAS so I don't need a BD drive on my XBMC box. One of my XBMC has no optical at all (Zotac) and the other only ever boots to optical for installs or backups. Use a good desktop to do ripping\compressing and a NAS for storage. 2TB or even 4TB isn't going to last you long if you begin storing movies at 8-10GB apiece.
You want to run torrents - Transmission can do this for you. There are music streamers for Linux too however I've got no experience with them (interested though). I too had zero Linux experience but there's a good wiki article on how to set it up and compile that I followed- I run SVN code. Linux is pretty stable IMO and my issues usually either involve something I've done or an issue with the SVN code which is often quickly fixed. My other box runs "Live" and is pretty much an appliance. Hardest part is getting sound working on either of these but at this point there's lots of advice for this to help you out. If you try it and it doesn't work out you can always fall back to Windows but IMO Linux is worth it and VDPAU is awesome!
) and off you go.
