[vjmcdonnell]

Hi,
Just bought my first htpc and it comes preloaded with linux. I have never used linux before so should I keep it or move to windows. Can get a copy of XP for free.

What I want to do is code my videos to mkv (and music) on my win 7 laptop and transfer them to the htpc. I have a wifi router that both will be connected to.

Why im thinking of windows is have a kinect and would like to try it out for controlling xbmc or can this be done in linux?

The spec of the machine I is as follows,

Zotac motherboard
Intel Atom 1.6Ghz. 2Gb RAM. 250Gb hard disk.
NVIDEA GeForce graphics.
VGA/DVI/HDMI out.
10 USB 2.0 ports. (6 on the rear panel,4 onboard)
Onboard serial ATA II. (3 on board + 1 e-SATA on the rear panel)
Gigabit LAN
Built in WiFi
Digital audio out plus regular audio in /out sockets.
Currently loaded with XBMC Live on the hard disk. This is XBMC bundled with an embedded Linux operating system. The computer boots directly into XBMC.

Im not a windows novice as have formatted many hard drives and such in my time but linux will be all new.

What do you think?

Thanks

[DejaVu]

I own a similar system (Acer Revo R3700) and although it's capable of running Windows 7 which it came with, I opted for XBMCLive as its easier to use and runs a lot better.

The windows version of XBMC IMO is not as good as the Linux version because the Video Acceleration is better. When I was running XBMC in Windows, HD Video would play OK, but often, my TV seemed to flicker. I have not had that problem with XBMCLive and decided a while ago it was the best approach and stuck with it.

Windows is also bloated to the max and too much of it is unnecessary for a HTPC.

I too started out knowing sweet fa about Linux, but since using it on my Revo have not looked back.

[vjmcdonnell]

Guess I'll have to give linux a spin and see what I think.

[boykster]

Give the LIVE version a shot - you can even try it without installing anything.