LinuxMCE - User contributions [en]

Talk:UsageTemplateVersionInfo

2010-06-13T14:42:46Z

Alx9r: New page: I think this Usage Template Version thing is a good idea. I have a refinement to suggest. Currently, the "Usage Information" link seems on first read as if it would provide usage informa...

I think this Usage Template Version thing is a good idea. I have a refinement to suggest.

Currently, the "Usage Information" link seems on first read as if it would provide usage information on the device of page upon which the template is being used. I suggest changing "Usage Information" to "Edit this Box" or "How to Edit this Box", and make the typeface smaller. This should make it more obvious that the use of that link is utilitarian to editing the page.

--[[User:Alx9r|Alx9r]] 16:42, 13 June 2010 (CEST)

Control LinuxMCE using a Windows device as an Orbiter

2009-06-08T15:50:44Z

Alx9r: /* Special Steps for Windows Vista */

There are two things that need to be accomplished when setting up an Orbiter using a Windows device:
* Install the Orbiter application on a Windows device
* Set up the Orbiter on the core.

To accomplish these two things, follow the Setup Instructions below. If all goes well, the Orbiter is set up on the Core automatically the first time the Orbiter application is launched on the Windows device. If the orbiter is not set up on the core, follow the [[#Manual Orbiter Setup on the Core|manual setup instructions]] below.

====Setup Instructions (Start Here First)====
To set up an orbiter on a Windows device, follow these steps:
# Go to the '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Device-->[[Orbiters]]'''
## Click ''Download Orbiter Win Installer'' to get the application installer that will run on your Windows device.
# Install the Orbiter application on the Windows device.
# Launch the Orbiter application. Under Windows XP it is installed as '''Pluto Orbiter''' in the Start Menu.
# It should prompt you to set up a new Orbiter. Select ''Yes - This is a new Orbiter''. Follow the on-screen prompts. Select the ''Basic'' skin when prompted. The Core will then generate the Orbiter, which can take a while. Finally, click ''Yes - Reset it now'' when prompted. The application will exit.
# Launch the Orbiter application again. You should now see LinuxMCE Orbiter controls.

Note: If the Windows device will be connecting to the core via the "External" home LAN network, you will need to configure the firewall to allow Orbiter access (or disable the firewall altogether) in order for the Orbiter application to connect.

====Special Steps for Windows Vista====
After completing the steps in the Setup Instructions above on Windows Vista, you might see an error message as follows when launching the Orbiter:

''Unable to download UpdateBinary to 'UpdateBinary.exe' folder. Please check if the 'Path' device is correct''

Upon launch, the Orbiter attempts to download the UpdateBinary file and save it to the Windows Vista hard drive. The error occurs because Windows Vista restricts applications from writing to certain locations. By default, the Orbiter seems to attempt to write the file to ''C:\Program Files (x86)\Pluto\Orbiter''. Windows Vista prevents this from happening. To fix the problem you need to tell the Orbiter to download to a folder where Windows Vista allows writing. To do so, follow these steps:
#Press '''Windows-R''' to launch the run menu.
#Type "%APPDATA%" in the dialog box and press enter. You should see a Windows Explorer window showing folders that contain configuration data from a variety of applications.
#Create a folder named "Pluto" in that folder.
#Highlight the folder you just created. Press Alt-Enter to open the properties window.
#Copy the full path to the right of the ''Location:'' field. You will need this later.
#Launch the Orbiter application on Windows Vista. Note the device ID in the first window that opens.
#On the Admin Page, navigate to the ''Advanced'' page for the device ID you found in the last step.
#Find the ''Path'' box and paste the path you copied earlier into the box.
#Click save at the bottom of the page.
#Close the Orbiter running on Windows Vista.
#Reload Router and wait for it to complete reloading.
#Launch the Orbiter on Windows Vista. It should load without the UpdateBinary Error.

====Manual Orbiter Setup on the Core====
'''Note:''' You normally shouldn't have to manually set up an Orbiter running on a Windows Device if you follow the simple instructions above. However, if they don't work for you, try following these instructions:

* Go to the '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Wizard-->Devices-->[[Orbiters]]''' then click ''Add Orbiter''.

Note that two devices can never share the same Device ID. So if you have two web pads you want to use as Orbiters, create 2 separate Orbiters, or devices, and give each one a unique name. Specify the room, resolution, and language, choose a skin, and select a main menu or user interface. Click the 'help' button on that page for information about other [[Orbiters]].

* [[DCERouter]] caches a list of all the devices in your home for better performance. Go to '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Wizard-->[[Restart]]''' and click ''Quick Reload Router''. All the devices will close and wait for the router to restart, which takes about 15 seconds. If you're adding lots of devices, you can add them all at once, then do a Quick Reload Router when you're all done.

* The user interface for each Orbiter needs to be pre-built according to the language, skin, and resolution that you selected. If you reboot the Core it will automatically rebuild all the Orbiter user interfaces. However, you probably want to start using your Orbiter right away, so go back to '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Wizard-->Devices-->[[Orbiters]]''' and click "Quick Regen". You will see a message in red indicating the Orbiter's user interface is being generated. This process can take from 5 to 20 minutes depending on the speed of your Core, the resolution, and the user interface.

* After the user interface has generated, make note of the device number for this new Orbiter (as shown in [[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]). Then open a web browser on whatever device you want to run the Orbiter software, and bring up the [[LinuxMCE Admin Website]] page. There is a link "Download Orbiter Win Installer" on both the first LinuxMCE Admin login page, as well as on the '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Wizard-->Devices-->[[Orbiters]]''' page. Click the link and run the Orbiter Installer -- either the Windows XP/2000 version or the CE Version. Once installed, run the LinuxMCE Orbiter. Type in the device number, and the IP address of your Core. Also check 'full screen' if you want the Orbiter to run full-screen. Click 'Apply'. The Orbiter will start. These settings are remembered, so you do not need to type them in again.

===Programmer's guide===
*[[Orbiter Programmer's Guide]]

[[Category: Orbiters]]

Control LinuxMCE using a Windows device as an Orbiter

2009-06-08T15:26:01Z

Alx9r: /* Setup Instructions (Start Here First) */

There are two things that need to be accomplished when setting up an Orbiter using a Windows device:
* Install the Orbiter application on a Windows device
* Set up the Orbiter on the core.

To accomplish these two things, follow the Setup Instructions below. If all goes well, the Orbiter is set up on the Core automatically the first time the Orbiter application is launched on the Windows device. If the orbiter is not set up on the core, follow the [[#Manual Orbiter Setup on the Core|manual setup instructions]] below.

====Setup Instructions (Start Here First)====
To set up an orbiter on a Windows device, follow these steps:
# Go to the '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Device-->[[Orbiters]]'''
## Click ''Download Orbiter Win Installer'' to get the application installer that will run on your Windows device.
# Install the Orbiter application on the Windows device.
# Launch the Orbiter application. Under Windows XP it is installed as '''Pluto Orbiter''' in the Start Menu.
# It should prompt you to set up a new Orbiter. Select ''Yes - This is a new Orbiter''. Follow the on-screen prompts. Select the ''Basic'' skin when prompted. The Core will then generate the Orbiter, which can take a while. Finally, click ''Yes - Reset it now'' when prompted. The application will exit.
# Launch the Orbiter application again. You should now see LinuxMCE Orbiter controls.

Note: If the Windows device will be connecting to the core via the "External" home LAN network, you will need to configure the firewall to allow Orbiter access (or disable the firewall altogether) in order for the Orbiter application to connect.

====Special Steps for Windows Vista====
After completing the steps in the Setup Instructions above on Windows Vista, you might see an error message as follows when launching the Orbiter:

''Unable to download UpdateBinary to 'UpdateBinary.exe' folder. Please check if the 'Path' device is correct''

Upon launch, the Orbiter attempts to download the UpdateBinary file and save it to the Windows Vista hard drive. The error occurs because Windows Vista restricts applications from writing to certain locations. By default, the Orbiter seems to attempt to write the file to the folder from which the Orbiter was run.

====Manual Orbiter Setup on the Core====
'''Note:''' You normally shouldn't have to manually set up an Orbiter running on a Windows Device if you follow the simple instructions above. However, if they don't work for you, try following these instructions:

* Go to the '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Wizard-->Devices-->[[Orbiters]]''' then click ''Add Orbiter''.

Note that two devices can never share the same Device ID. So if you have two web pads you want to use as Orbiters, create 2 separate Orbiters, or devices, and give each one a unique name. Specify the room, resolution, and language, choose a skin, and select a main menu or user interface. Click the 'help' button on that page for information about other [[Orbiters]].

* [[DCERouter]] caches a list of all the devices in your home for better performance. Go to '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Wizard-->[[Restart]]''' and click ''Quick Reload Router''. All the devices will close and wait for the router to restart, which takes about 15 seconds. If you're adding lots of devices, you can add them all at once, then do a Quick Reload Router when you're all done.

* The user interface for each Orbiter needs to be pre-built according to the language, skin, and resolution that you selected. If you reboot the Core it will automatically rebuild all the Orbiter user interfaces. However, you probably want to start using your Orbiter right away, so go back to '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Wizard-->Devices-->[[Orbiters]]''' and click "Quick Regen". You will see a message in red indicating the Orbiter's user interface is being generated. This process can take from 5 to 20 minutes depending on the speed of your Core, the resolution, and the user interface.

* After the user interface has generated, make note of the device number for this new Orbiter (as shown in [[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]). Then open a web browser on whatever device you want to run the Orbiter software, and bring up the [[LinuxMCE Admin Website]] page. There is a link "Download Orbiter Win Installer" on both the first LinuxMCE Admin login page, as well as on the '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Wizard-->Devices-->[[Orbiters]]''' page. Click the link and run the Orbiter Installer -- either the Windows XP/2000 version or the CE Version. Once installed, run the LinuxMCE Orbiter. Type in the device number, and the IP address of your Core. Also check 'full screen' if you want the Orbiter to run full-screen. Click 'Apply'. The Orbiter will start. These settings are remembered, so you do not need to type them in again.

===Programmer's guide===
*[[Orbiter Programmer's Guide]]

[[Category: Orbiters]]

Control LinuxMCE using a Windows device as an Orbiter

2009-06-08T15:10:15Z

Alx9r:

There are two things that need to be accomplished when setting up an Orbiter using a Windows device:
* Install the Orbiter application on a Windows device
* Set up the Orbiter on the core.

To accomplish these two things, follow the Setup Instructions below. If all goes well, the Orbiter is set up on the Core automatically the first time the Orbiter application is launched on the Windows device. If the orbiter is not set up on the core, follow the [[#Manual Orbiter Setup on the Core|manual setup instructions]] below.

====Setup Instructions (Start Here First)====
To set up an orbiter on a Windows device, follow these steps:
# Go to the '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Device-->[[Orbiters]]'''
## Click ''Download Orbiter Win Installer'' to get the application installer that will run on your Windows device.
# Install the Orbiter application on the Windows device.
# Launch the Orbiter application. Under Windows XP it is installed as '''Pluto Orbiter''' in the Start Menu.
# It should prompt you to set up a new Orbiter. Select ''Yes - This is a new Orbiter''. Follow the on-screen prompts. Select the ''Basic'' skin when prompted. The Core will then generate the Orbiter, which can take a while. Finally, click ''Yes - Reset it now'' when prompted. The application will exit.
# Launch the Orbiter application again. You should now see LinuxMCE Orbiter controls.

Note: If the Windows device will be connecting to the core via the "External" home LAN network, you will need to configure the firewall to allow Orbiter access (or disable the firewall altogether) in order for the Orbiter application to connect.

====Manual Orbiter Setup on the Core====
'''Note:''' You normally shouldn't have to manually set up an Orbiter running on a Windows Device if you follow the simple instructions above. However, if they don't work for you, try following these instructions:

* Go to the '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Wizard-->Devices-->[[Orbiters]]''' then click ''Add Orbiter''.

Note that two devices can never share the same Device ID. So if you have two web pads you want to use as Orbiters, create 2 separate Orbiters, or devices, and give each one a unique name. Specify the room, resolution, and language, choose a skin, and select a main menu or user interface. Click the 'help' button on that page for information about other [[Orbiters]].

* [[DCERouter]] caches a list of all the devices in your home for better performance. Go to '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Wizard-->[[Restart]]''' and click ''Quick Reload Router''. All the devices will close and wait for the router to restart, which takes about 15 seconds. If you're adding lots of devices, you can add them all at once, then do a Quick Reload Router when you're all done.

* The user interface for each Orbiter needs to be pre-built according to the language, skin, and resolution that you selected. If you reboot the Core it will automatically rebuild all the Orbiter user interfaces. However, you probably want to start using your Orbiter right away, so go back to '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Wizard-->Devices-->[[Orbiters]]''' and click "Quick Regen". You will see a message in red indicating the Orbiter's user interface is being generated. This process can take from 5 to 20 minutes depending on the speed of your Core, the resolution, and the user interface.

* After the user interface has generated, make note of the device number for this new Orbiter (as shown in [[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]). Then open a web browser on whatever device you want to run the Orbiter software, and bring up the [[LinuxMCE Admin Website]] page. There is a link "Download Orbiter Win Installer" on both the first LinuxMCE Admin login page, as well as on the '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Wizard-->Devices-->[[Orbiters]]''' page. Click the link and run the Orbiter Installer -- either the Windows XP/2000 version or the CE Version. Once installed, run the LinuxMCE Orbiter. Type in the device number, and the IP address of your Core. Also check 'full screen' if you want the Orbiter to run full-screen. Click 'Apply'. The Orbiter will start. These settings are remembered, so you do not need to type them in again.

===Programmer's guide===
*[[Orbiter Programmer's Guide]]

[[Category: Orbiters]]

Control LinuxMCE using a Windows device as an Orbiter

2009-06-08T15:08:27Z

Alx9r: /* Setup Instructions */

There are two things that need to be accomplished when setting up an Orbiter using a Windows device:
* Install the Orbiter application on a Windows device
* Set up the Orbiter on the core.

To accomplish these two things, follow the setup instructions below. If all goes well, the Orbiter is set up on the Core automatically the first time the Orbiter application is launched on the Windows device. If the orbiter is not set up on the core, follow the manual setup instructions below.

====Setup Instructions (Start Here First)====
To set up an orbiter on a Windows device, follow these steps:
# Go to the '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Device-->[[Orbiters]]'''
## Click ''Download Orbiter Win Installer'' to get the application installer that will run on your Windows device.
# Install the Orbiter application on the Windows device.
# Launch the Orbiter application. Under Windows XP it is installed as '''Pluto Orbiter''' in the Start Menu.
# It should prompt you to set up a new Orbiter. Select ''Yes - This is a new Orbiter''. Follow the on-screen prompts. Select the ''Basic'' skin when prompted. The Core will then generate the Orbiter, which can take a while. Finally, click ''Yes - Reset it now'' when prompted. The application will exit.
# Launch the Orbiter application again. You should now see LinuxMCE Orbiter controls.

Note: If the Windows device will be connecting to the core via the "External" home LAN network, you will need to configure the firewall to allow Orbiter access (or disable the firewall altogether) in order for the Orbiter application to connect.

====Manual Orbiter Setup on the Core====
'''Note:''' You normally shouldn't have to manually set up an Orbiter running on a Windows Device if you follow the simple instructions above. However, if they don't work for you, try following these instructions:

* Go to the '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Wizard-->Devices-->[[Orbiters]]''' then click ''Add Orbiter''.

Note that two devices can never share the same Device ID. So if you have two web pads you want to use as Orbiters, create 2 separate Orbiters, or devices, and give each one a unique name. Specify the room, resolution, and language, choose a skin, and select a main menu or user interface. Click the 'help' button on that page for information about other [[Orbiters]].

* [[DCERouter]] caches a list of all the devices in your home for better performance. Go to '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Wizard-->[[Restart]]''' and click ''Quick Reload Router''. All the devices will close and wait for the router to restart, which takes about 15 seconds. If you're adding lots of devices, you can add them all at once, then do a Quick Reload Router when you're all done.

* The user interface for each Orbiter needs to be pre-built according to the language, skin, and resolution that you selected. If you reboot the Core it will automatically rebuild all the Orbiter user interfaces. However, you probably want to start using your Orbiter right away, so go back to '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Wizard-->Devices-->[[Orbiters]]''' and click "Quick Regen". You will see a message in red indicating the Orbiter's user interface is being generated. This process can take from 5 to 20 minutes depending on the speed of your Core, the resolution, and the user interface.

* After the user interface has generated, make note of the device number for this new Orbiter (as shown in [[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]). Then open a web browser on whatever device you want to run the Orbiter software, and bring up the [[LinuxMCE Admin Website]] page. There is a link "Download Orbiter Win Installer" on both the first LinuxMCE Admin login page, as well as on the '''[[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Wizard-->Devices-->[[Orbiters]]''' page. Click the link and run the Orbiter Installer -- either the Windows XP/2000 version or the CE Version. Once installed, run the LinuxMCE Orbiter. Type in the device number, and the IP address of your Core. Also check 'full screen' if you want the Orbiter to run full-screen. Click 'Apply'. The Orbiter will start. These settings are remembered, so you do not need to type them in again.

===Programmer's guide===
*[[Orbiter Programmer's Guide]]

[[Category: Orbiters]]

CM11

2009-06-08T14:45:55Z

Alx9r: /* Troubleshooting */

{| align="right"
| __TOC__
|}
[[Category: Hardware]]
[[Category: Power Line Control]]

== Description ==
The CM11 (A/F/G/U/...) is a device that uses [http://hypermetrics.com/rubyhacker/x10proto.html X10] protocol to control lights and other appliances around the house by injecting data into powerline.

Each X10 device has an address formed as ''housecode''[A..P]+''unitcode''[1..16]. As powerlines are usually shared between near houses/apartments it's a good idea to choose an other housecode than your neighbor, or have a suitable filter installed by a qualified electrician.

Note that some electric equipment can generate a lot of static on the powerlines. This can drasticly reduce the performance of the X10 installation. The solution is to install filters, effectively isolating these devices from the rest of the power grid. These type of filters are usually installed between the power socket and plug of the appliance. Some X10 switches and dimmers also have these filters built in already (depending on the make and model of course) to ensure more reliable operation.

== Setup ==
# [http://192.168.80.1/ web admin] -> Show devices tree -> ''the device to which the CM11 is connected'' (For instance "CORE". If you are running a hybrid core, make sure you select the "CORE" device not the "The core/hybrid".)
# Create Child Device -> Pick device template -> CM11A (The wizzard pops up to say she didn't detect lighting?, then shows "dev81" and an OK button in 1.1-RC1, I just ignored this).
# Device data -> COM Port on PC -> ''the port to which this device is connected'' -> '''save'''. (ttyS0="com1", ttyS1="com2", and so on, "pci0000:00/0000:00:13.1+2" in my case, which is a USB port [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=1850.msg8883#msg8883]).

== Adding lights ==
# [http://192.168.80.1/ web admin] -> Show devices tree -> CM11A
# Create Child Device -> Pick device template -> ''take your pick'' (I added "Light Switch (on/off)")
# Device data -> Port/Channel Number -> ''HousecodeUnitcode'' -> '''save''' (codes range from "A1" to "P16", no seperator)

When you are done adding lights, you can continue with the setup wizzard to assign them to the proper rooms and give them names (she refers to ZWave devices and seems unable to actually controll the X10 devices in 1.1-RC1) Also you might have to "reload the router" before they actually work (orbiter screens will be also be regenerated), but they do work.

== Troubleshooting ==

===Reset CM11A Completely===
I had a terrible time getting my CM11A to work under LinuxMCE. After about 2 weeks of searching, i found a post on the internet [http://www.shed.com/ddt1.html here]. Basically, what it narrows down to is that whenever the interface is moved to a new PC, it may lock up. To clear this, unplug the serial cable from the CM11A, unplug the CM11A from the wall, and remove its batteries (they aren't even needed for how LinuxMCE uses the interface). Let it sit for at least 15 minutes, then hook it back up. (I have also read that some people had to let it sit overnight during this step)
After 2 weeks of frustration, everything works as it should now. If you are having problems getting your CM11A to work, i highly recommend doing this procedure.

===CM11A Disabled Periodically===
If you are finding that the CM11A device and its children (i.e. light switches, etc) are being disabled periodically, try connecting the CM11A to a different serial port. Doing so solved the disabling problem in [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=8238.msg54578#msg54578 this case].

== See also ==
* Insteon [http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Insteon_-_Setting_Up_PLM_Template PLM] now supports bidirectional X10 communication.
* The older [[CM11A]] page, which appears to be more aimed at development.
* The pluto [http://plutohome.com/wiki/index.php/CM11A CM11A] page.
* The pluto [http://plutohome.com/wiki/index.php/Gc100 gc100] page for setup on the serial port of the gc100.
* An interesting comment about pluto with the CM11 [http://smart-home-blog.com/archives/726#comments] containing a workaround dealing with sensors and remotes.
* Discussions on the forum:
** [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=1762.msg8037#msg8037 Re: UK & Ireland Users]
** [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=1882.0 CM11]
** [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=1850.0 CM11g]

Hardware Selection Portal

2009-05-31T01:16:33Z

Alx9r: New page: ''Note: This page is currently under construction.'' The selection of appropriate and compatible hardware components for your LinuxMCE system is critical to its smooth installation, relia...

''Note: This page is currently under construction.''

The selection of appropriate and compatible hardware components for your LinuxMCE system is critical to its smooth installation, reliability, and performance. The careful selection of some hardware components is more critical than others.

There are various resources available to help you do a good job selecting hardware components. The resources fall into a handful of categories:
*'''Guides and Howto''' topics are dedicated to the selection of particular types of hardware. These guides are quite general and serve to educate you on the relevant technical issues regarding hardware selection. They usually do not recommend specific hardware models and require quite a bit of legwork and learning for you to properly select particular models of hardware. On the plus side, though, the guides and Howtos strive to provide you with enough information to vet ''any'' hardware for use with LinuxMCE.
*'''[[:Category:Hardware|Hardware categories]]''' where information about particular models of hardware components can be found. The advantage of the hardware categories is that they often contain concrete information about other users' experience with particular models of hardware. The breadth of hardware models covered, however, is limited and far from exhaustive. In other words, the information about the models that are listed can be very helpful, but if the model you are interested in isn't in the list, they will be of little help.
*'''[[:Category:User Setups|User setup pages]]''' can give you insights into what hardware other users are actually using in practice.
*'''The Forums'''

===Computer Hardware Selection===
*[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|Howto: Selecting a Mainboard]]
*[[How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers|Howto: Selecting other Computer Components]]
*[[:Category:Mainboards]]
*[[:Category:Graphic Cards]]
*[[:Category:Network Adapters]]
*[[:Category:Soundcards]]
*[[:Category:Cases]]
*[[:Category:Nettops]]

User:Alx9r

2009-05-29T20:38:41Z

Alx9r: /* Pages Under Construction */

=Sample User Setup=
I have moved my sample user setup to the wiki topic [[Alx9r's Sample Setup]].

=Extensions I'd Like to See Added to this Wiki=
*http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Cite/Cite.php for <ref></ref> style footnotes.
*http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ParserFunctions as needed for navboxes described at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Transwiki
*A mainstream Common.css (I suggest just copying wikipedia's).

=Stuff that ought to be in a "Newbie Portal"=

*Pointer to FAQ
*Hardware Selection
**graphics chips that work
**discrete codes, RS232 control
**general considerations
***esthetics
***noise
***slots
***storage
***com ports
**some summary of what is currently being used and pointer to sample user setups
*LinuxMCE Installation
**What to Expect
**Things to Contemplate Before the Installation
***Network Topology
***VDR vs Myth
***Audio and Video Connections
**Things you'll Probably Want to Have for the Install
***a monitor to use during some low-level operations
***another computer connected to the internet and the core
***an ssh client
***a keyboard and mouse, wireless is nice, synergy also works
*Some Common But Non-Automatic Setup Steps
**adding support for IR Remote
**controlling RS232 AV Equipment
*Organizing Media
*Getting Help
*Troubleshooting
**How to find and view logs (ie. /var/log/pluto, tail -f)

=Pages Under Construction=

[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]] - A guide dedicated to making the most crucial hardware selection decision: Selecting a Mainboard.

[[How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers]] - A guide to help you select all the other components that make up a good LinuxMCE computer.

[[Hardware Selection Portal]]

[[How to Integrate Blu-ray Support into Your LinuxMCE System]]

[[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-29T20:24:40Z

Alx9r:

The selection of the mainboard is probably the most crucial decision when building a LinuxMCE computer. An entire [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|guide is dedicated to just to mainboard selection]]. ''This'' guide is meant to help you select the other components that go into a LinuxMCE computer.

Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

You might consider a [[:Category:Nettops|nettop]] computer for use as a [[Core|core]] or [[Media Director|media director]]. Nettop computers are usually purchased fully integrated. This means that what you buy is actually a mainboard with a power supply, hard drive, memory, case et cetera all put together and ready to use. If you are considering a nettop computer, you should still scrutinize all of its components to assess its appropriateness for your LinuxMCE installation.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally, cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components for a reason: To keep them cool. This is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|the mainboard selection article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. SATA and PATA optical drives generally work with LinuxMCE out-of-the-box. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk storage] of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the [[Core|core]] boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media. It should be connected to your mainboard using a SATA or PATA connection.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that partition it will be deleted. Keeping your media on a partition separate from your system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

Media kept on a separate partition from the system drive on the same physical hard disk can survive re-installation of LinuxMCE. However, the risk of permanently losing access to the media on the media partition is much higher than if it were on a physically separate hard drive. Because of this, we recommend that media be stored on a physically separate hard drive from the system.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or [[Hybrid|hybrid]]) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors.

The following are common locations for media storage used by other users:
*hard drives connected by SATA or PATA to media directors or the core (in either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JBOD#Concatenation_.28SPAN.29 JBOD] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID RAID] configurations)
*hard drives in external enclosures connected via USB to media directors or the core
*networked attached storage devices

===Case===
Most [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_case computer cases]that can physically contain all of the components of your LinuxMCE computers will work just fine. We do recommend that you select the appropriate style or form factor of case for the location where the computer will reside. There are four different styles of case that are commonly used to house LinuxMCE computers:
*'''Tower''' - A normal desktop PC case. These are typically used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight in utility rooms, closets, and basements.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19-inch_rack Rackmount]''' - Also used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight. The advantage of rackmount cases is that they can be neatly mounted in a rack alongside other computer and network equipment.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater_PC HTPC]''' - Used for hybrids and media directors where the esthetics are important and there is room for home theater components. These cases generally look like other home theater components.
*'''[[:Category:Nettops|Nettop]]''' - Small form factor used mainly as media directors where hiding or unobtrusive mounting of the media director is important. Nettops can often be mounted completely out-of-sight behind the display.

===TV Tuner Cards===
The Hauppauge PVR-150, PVR-250, and PVR-500 are the [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=6369.msg38610#msg38610 officially supported] TV tuner cards. They work out-of-the-box with LinuxMCE. These are all standard definition TV tuner cards. Some of these cards are difficult to find new, however, they are widely available used.

There are also officially-supported external TV tuners: The standard definition Hauppauge PVR-USB2, and the high definition Silicondust HDHomeRun.

Many LinuxMCE systems incorporate multiple TV tuners. This is because each tuner can only be tuned to one channel at a time. The number of tuners you need is the sum of the following:
*the maximum number of media directors you want to be able to simultaneously watch different channels
*the number of channels you want to be able to record simultaneously
If you intend to record two programs in adjacent time slots on different channels you should budget two tuners for that task. This because the beginning of the second program may start before the end of the first.

Suppose, for example, you have two media directors. Using four TV tuners would allow you to simultaneously record two channels and watch different channels on each of the media directors.

TV tuner cards can be incorporated into the core and any media directors. They are shared throughout the system regardless of where they are physically located.

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-29T20:23:06Z

Alx9r: /* Media Storage */

''Note: This page is currently under construction.''

The selection of the mainboard is probably the most crucial decision when building a LinuxMCE computer. An entire [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|guide is dedicated to just to mainboard selection]]. ''This'' guide is meant to help you select the other components that go into a LinuxMCE computer.

Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

You might consider a [[:Category:Nettops|nettop]] computer for use as a [[Core|core]] or [[Media Director|media director]]. Nettop computers are usually purchased fully integrated. This means that what you buy is actually a mainboard with a power supply, hard drive, memory, case et cetera all put together and ready to use. If you are considering a nettop computer, you should still scrutinize all of its components to assess its appropriateness for your LinuxMCE installation.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally, cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components for a reason: To keep them cool. This is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|the mainboard selection article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. SATA and PATA optical drives generally work with LinuxMCE out-of-the-box. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk storage] of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the [[Core|core]] boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media. It should be connected to your mainboard using a SATA or PATA connection.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that partition it will be deleted. Keeping your media on a partition separate from your system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

Media kept on a separate partition from the system drive on the same physical hard disk can survive re-installation of LinuxMCE. However, the risk of permanently losing access to the media on the media partition is much higher than if it were on a physically separate hard drive. Because of this, we recommend that media be stored on a physically separate hard drive from the system.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or [[Hybrid|hybrid]]) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors.

The following are common locations for media storage used by other users:
*hard drives connected by SATA or PATA to media directors or the core (in either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JBOD#Concatenation_.28SPAN.29 JBOD] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID RAID] configurations)
*hard drives in external enclosures connected via USB to media directors or the core
*networked attached storage devices

===Case===
Most [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_case computer cases]that can physically contain all of the components of your LinuxMCE computers will work just fine. We do recommend that you select the appropriate style or form factor of case for the location where the computer will reside. There are four different styles of case that are commonly used to house LinuxMCE computers:
*'''Tower''' - A normal desktop PC case. These are typically used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight in utility rooms, closets, and basements.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19-inch_rack Rackmount]''' - Also used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight. The advantage of rackmount cases is that they can be neatly mounted in a rack alongside other computer and network equipment.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater_PC HTPC]''' - Used for hybrids and media directors where the esthetics are important and there is room for home theater components. These cases generally look like other home theater components.
*'''[[:Category:Nettops|Nettop]]''' - Small form factor used mainly as media directors where hiding or unobtrusive mounting of the media director is important. Nettops can often be mounted completely out-of-sight behind the display.

===TV Tuner Cards===
The Hauppauge PVR-150, PVR-250, and PVR-500 are the [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=6369.msg38610#msg38610 officially supported] TV tuner cards. They work out-of-the-box with LinuxMCE. These are all standard definition TV tuner cards. Some of these cards are difficult to find new, however, they are widely available used.

There are also officially-supported external TV tuners: The standard definition Hauppauge PVR-USB2, and the high definition Silicondust HDHomeRun.

Many LinuxMCE systems incorporate multiple TV tuners. This is because each tuner can only be tuned to one channel at a time. The number of tuners you need is the sum of the following:
*the maximum number of media directors you want to be able to simultaneously watch different channels
*the number of channels you want to be able to record simultaneously
If you intend to record two programs in adjacent time slots on different channels you should budget two tuners for that task. This because the beginning of the second program may start before the end of the first.

Suppose, for example, you have two media directors. Using four TV tuners would allow you to simultaneously record two channels and watch different channels on each of the media directors.

TV tuner cards can be incorporated into the core and any media directors. They are shared throughout the system regardless of where they are physically located.

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-29T20:19:33Z

Alx9r: /* Media Storage */

''Note: This page is currently under construction.''

The selection of the mainboard is probably the most crucial decision when building a LinuxMCE computer. An entire [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|guide is dedicated to just to mainboard selection]]. ''This'' guide is meant to help you select the other components that go into a LinuxMCE computer.

Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

You might consider a [[:Category:Nettops|nettop]] computer for use as a [[Core|core]] or [[Media Director|media director]]. Nettop computers are usually purchased fully integrated. This means that what you buy is actually a mainboard with a power supply, hard drive, memory, case et cetera all put together and ready to use. If you are considering a nettop computer, you should still scrutinize all of its components to assess its appropriateness for your LinuxMCE installation.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally, cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components for a reason: To keep them cool. This is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|the mainboard selection article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. SATA and PATA optical drives generally work with LinuxMCE out-of-the-box. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk storage] of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the [[Core|core]] boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media. It should be connected to your mainboard using a SATA or PATA connection.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that partition it will be deleted. Keeping your media on a partition separate from your system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

Media kept on a separate partition from the system drive on the same physical hard disk can survive re-installation of LinuxMCE. However, the risk of permanently losing access to the media on the media partition is much higher than if it were on a physically separate hard drive. Because of this, we recommend that media be stored on a physically separate hard drive from the system.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or [[Hybrid|hybrid]]) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors.

The following are common locations for media storage used by other users:
*hard drives connected by SATA or PATA to media directors or the core
*hard drives in external enclosures connected via USB to media directors or the core
*networked attached storage devices

===Case===
Most [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_case computer cases]that can physically contain all of the components of your LinuxMCE computers will work just fine. We do recommend that you select the appropriate style or form factor of case for the location where the computer will reside. There are four different styles of case that are commonly used to house LinuxMCE computers:
*'''Tower''' - A normal desktop PC case. These are typically used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight in utility rooms, closets, and basements.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19-inch_rack Rackmount]''' - Also used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight. The advantage of rackmount cases is that they can be neatly mounted in a rack alongside other computer and network equipment.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater_PC HTPC]''' - Used for hybrids and media directors where the esthetics are important and there is room for home theater components. These cases generally look like other home theater components.
*'''[[:Category:Nettops|Nettop]]''' - Small form factor used mainly as media directors where hiding or unobtrusive mounting of the media director is important. Nettops can often be mounted completely out-of-sight behind the display.

===TV Tuner Cards===
The Hauppauge PVR-150, PVR-250, and PVR-500 are the [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=6369.msg38610#msg38610 officially supported] TV tuner cards. They work out-of-the-box with LinuxMCE. These are all standard definition TV tuner cards. Some of these cards are difficult to find new, however, they are widely available used.

There are also officially-supported external TV tuners: The standard definition Hauppauge PVR-USB2, and the high definition Silicondust HDHomeRun.

Many LinuxMCE systems incorporate multiple TV tuners. This is because each tuner can only be tuned to one channel at a time. The number of tuners you need is the sum of the following:
*the maximum number of media directors you want to be able to simultaneously watch different channels
*the number of channels you want to be able to record simultaneously
If you intend to record two programs in adjacent time slots on different channels you should budget two tuners for that task. This because the beginning of the second program may start before the end of the first.

Suppose, for example, you have two media directors. Using four TV tuners would allow you to simultaneously record two channels and watch different channels on each of the media directors.

TV tuner cards can be incorporated into the core and any media directors. They are shared throughout the system regardless of where they are physically located.

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-29T20:09:19Z

Alx9r: /* System Hard Drive */

''Note: This page is currently under construction.''

The selection of the mainboard is probably the most crucial decision when building a LinuxMCE computer. An entire [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|guide is dedicated to just to mainboard selection]]. ''This'' guide is meant to help you select the other components that go into a LinuxMCE computer.

Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

You might consider a [[:Category:Nettops|nettop]] computer for use as a [[Core|core]] or [[Media Director|media director]]. Nettop computers are usually purchased fully integrated. This means that what you buy is actually a mainboard with a power supply, hard drive, memory, case et cetera all put together and ready to use. If you are considering a nettop computer, you should still scrutinize all of its components to assess its appropriateness for your LinuxMCE installation.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally, cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components for a reason: To keep them cool. This is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|the mainboard selection article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. SATA and PATA optical drives generally work with LinuxMCE out-of-the-box. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk storage] of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the [[Core|core]] boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media. It should be connected to your mainboard using a SATA or PATA connection.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that partition it will be deleted. Keeping your media on a partition separate from your system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

Media kept on a separate partition from the system drive on the same physical hard disk can survive re-installation of LinuxMCE. However, the risk of permanently losing access to the media on the media partition is much higher than if it were on a physically separate hard drive. Because of this, we recommend that media be stored on a physically separate hard drive from the system.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or [[Hybrid|hybrid]]) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===Case===
Most [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_case computer cases]that can physically contain all of the components of your LinuxMCE computers will work just fine. We do recommend that you select the appropriate style or form factor of case for the location where the computer will reside. There are four different styles of case that are commonly used to house LinuxMCE computers:
*'''Tower''' - A normal desktop PC case. These are typically used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight in utility rooms, closets, and basements.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19-inch_rack Rackmount]''' - Also used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight. The advantage of rackmount cases is that they can be neatly mounted in a rack alongside other computer and network equipment.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater_PC HTPC]''' - Used for hybrids and media directors where the esthetics are important and there is room for home theater components. These cases generally look like other home theater components.
*'''[[:Category:Nettops|Nettop]]''' - Small form factor used mainly as media directors where hiding or unobtrusive mounting of the media director is important. Nettops can often be mounted completely out-of-sight behind the display.

===TV Tuner Cards===
The Hauppauge PVR-150, PVR-250, and PVR-500 are the [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=6369.msg38610#msg38610 officially supported] TV tuner cards. They work out-of-the-box with LinuxMCE. These are all standard definition TV tuner cards. Some of these cards are difficult to find new, however, they are widely available used.

There are also officially-supported external TV tuners: The standard definition Hauppauge PVR-USB2, and the high definition Silicondust HDHomeRun.

Many LinuxMCE systems incorporate multiple TV tuners. This is because each tuner can only be tuned to one channel at a time. The number of tuners you need is the sum of the following:
*the maximum number of media directors you want to be able to simultaneously watch different channels
*the number of channels you want to be able to record simultaneously
If you intend to record two programs in adjacent time slots on different channels you should budget two tuners for that task. This because the beginning of the second program may start before the end of the first.

Suppose, for example, you have two media directors. Using four TV tuners would allow you to simultaneously record two channels and watch different channels on each of the media directors.

TV tuner cards can be incorporated into the core and any media directors. They are shared throughout the system regardless of where they are physically located.

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-29T19:45:58Z

Alx9r:

''Note: This page is currently under construction.''

The selection of the mainboard is probably the most crucial decision when building a LinuxMCE computer. An entire [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|guide is dedicated to just to mainboard selection]]. ''This'' guide is meant to help you select the other components that go into a LinuxMCE computer.

Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

You might consider a [[:Category:Nettops|nettop]] computer for use as a [[Core|core]] or [[Media Director|media director]]. Nettop computers are usually purchased fully integrated. This means that what you buy is actually a mainboard with a power supply, hard drive, memory, case et cetera all put together and ready to use. If you are considering a nettop computer, you should still scrutinize all of its components to assess its appropriateness for your LinuxMCE installation.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally, cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components for a reason: To keep them cool. This is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|the mainboard selection article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. SATA and PATA optical drives generally work with LinuxMCE out-of-the-box. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk storage] of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the [[Core|core]] boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media. It should be connected to your mainboard using a SATA or PATA connection.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or [[Hybrid|hybrid]]) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===Case===
Most [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_case computer cases]that can physically contain all of the components of your LinuxMCE computers will work just fine. We do recommend that you select the appropriate style or form factor of case for the location where the computer will reside. There are four different styles of case that are commonly used to house LinuxMCE computers:
*'''Tower''' - A normal desktop PC case. These are typically used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight in utility rooms, closets, and basements.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19-inch_rack Rackmount]''' - Also used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight. The advantage of rackmount cases is that they can be neatly mounted in a rack alongside other computer and network equipment.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater_PC HTPC]''' - Used for hybrids and media directors where the esthetics are important and there is room for home theater components. These cases generally look like other home theater components.
*'''[[:Category:Nettops|Nettop]]''' - Small form factor used mainly as media directors where hiding or unobtrusive mounting of the media director is important. Nettops can often be mounted completely out-of-sight behind the display.

===TV Tuner Cards===
The Hauppauge PVR-150, PVR-250, and PVR-500 are the [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=6369.msg38610#msg38610 officially supported] TV tuner cards. They work out-of-the-box with LinuxMCE. These are all standard definition TV tuner cards. Some of these cards are difficult to find new, however, they are widely available used.

There are also officially-supported external TV tuners: The standard definition Hauppauge PVR-USB2, and the high definition Silicondust HDHomeRun.

Many LinuxMCE systems incorporate multiple TV tuners. This is because each tuner can only be tuned to one channel at a time. The number of tuners you need is the sum of the following:
*the maximum number of media directors you want to be able to simultaneously watch different channels
*the number of channels you want to be able to record simultaneously
If you intend to record two programs in adjacent time slots on different channels you should budget two tuners for that task. This because the beginning of the second program may start before the end of the first.

Suppose, for example, you have two media directors. Using four TV tuners would allow you to simultaneously record two channels and watch different channels on each of the media directors.

TV tuner cards can be incorporated into the core and any media directors. They are shared throughout the system regardless of where they are physically located.

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-23T04:52:57Z

Alx9r: /* Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips */

''Note: This page is currently under construction.''

The selection of the mainboard is probably the most crucial decision when building a LinuxMCE computer. An entire [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|guide is dedicated to just to mainboard selection]]. ''This'' guide is meant to help you select all the other components that go into a LinuxMCE computer.

Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

You might consider a [[:Category:Nettops|nettop]] computer for use as a [[Core|core]] or [[Media Director|media director]]. Nettop computers are usually purchased fully integrated. This means that what you buy is actually a mainboard with a power supply, hard drive, memory, case et cetera all put together and ready to use. If you are considering a nettop computer, you should still scrutinize all of its components to assess its appropriateness for your LinuxMCE installation.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally, cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components for a reason: To keep them cool. This is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|the mainboard selection article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. SATA and PATA optical drives generally work with LinuxMCE out-of-the-box. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk storage] of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the [[Core|core]] boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media. It should be connected to your mainboard using a SATA or PATA connection.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or [[Hybrid|hybrid]]) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===Case===
Most [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_case computer cases]that can physically contain all of the components of your LinuxMCE computers will work just fine. We do recommend that you select the appropriate style or form factor of case for the location where the computer will reside. There are four different styles of case that are commonly used to house LinuxMCE computers:
*'''Tower''' - A normal desktop PC case. These are typically used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight in utility rooms, closets, and basements.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19-inch_rack Rackmount]''' - Also used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight. The advantage of rackmount cases is that they can be neatly mounted in a rack alongside other computer and network equipment.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater_PC HTPC]''' - Used for hybrids and media directors where the esthetics are important and there is room for home theater components. These cases generally look like other home theater components.
*'''[[:Category:Nettops|Nettop]]''' - Small form factor used mainly as media directors where hiding or unobtrusive mounting of the media director is important. Nettops can often be mounted completely out-of-sight behind the display.

===TV Tuner Cards===
The Hauppauge PVR-150, PVR-250, and PVR-500 are the [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=6369.msg38610#msg38610 officially supported] TV tuner cards. They work out-of-the-box with LinuxMCE. These are all standard definition TV tuner cards. Some of these cards are difficult to find new, however, they are widely available used.

There are also officially-supported external TV tuners: The standard definition Hauppauge PVR-USB2, and the high definition Silicondust HDHomeRun.

Many LinuxMCE systems incorporate multiple TV tuners. This is because each tuner can only be tuned to one channel at a time. The number of tuners you need is the sum of the following:
*the maximum number of media directors you want to be able to simultaneously watch different channels
*the number of channels you want to be able to record simultaneously
If you intend to record two programs in adjacent time slots on different channels you should budget two tuners for that task. This because the beginning of the second program may start before the end of the first.

Suppose, for example, you have two media directors. Using four TV tuners would allow you to simultaneously record two channels and watch different channels on each of the media directors.

TV tuner cards can be incorporated into the core and any media directors. They are shared throughout the system regardless of where they are physically located.

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-23T04:52:35Z

Alx9r: /* Audible Noise */

''Note: This page is currently under construction.''

The selection of the mainboard is probably the most crucial decision when building a LinuxMCE computer. An entire [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|guide is dedicated to just to mainboard selection]]. ''This'' guide is meant to help you select all the other components that go into a LinuxMCE computer.

Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

You might consider a [[:Category:Nettops|nettop]] computer for use as a [[Core|core]] or [[Media Director|media director]]. Nettop computers are usually purchased fully integrated. This means that what you buy is actually a mainboard with a power supply, hard drive, memory, case et cetera all put together and ready to use. If you are considering a nettop computer, you should still scrutinize all of its components to assess its appropriateness for your LinuxMCE installation.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally, cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components for a reason: To keep them cool. This is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. SATA and PATA optical drives generally work with LinuxMCE out-of-the-box. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk storage] of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the [[Core|core]] boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media. It should be connected to your mainboard using a SATA or PATA connection.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or [[Hybrid|hybrid]]) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===Case===
Most [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_case computer cases]that can physically contain all of the components of your LinuxMCE computers will work just fine. We do recommend that you select the appropriate style or form factor of case for the location where the computer will reside. There are four different styles of case that are commonly used to house LinuxMCE computers:
*'''Tower''' - A normal desktop PC case. These are typically used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight in utility rooms, closets, and basements.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19-inch_rack Rackmount]''' - Also used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight. The advantage of rackmount cases is that they can be neatly mounted in a rack alongside other computer and network equipment.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater_PC HTPC]''' - Used for hybrids and media directors where the esthetics are important and there is room for home theater components. These cases generally look like other home theater components.
*'''[[:Category:Nettops|Nettop]]''' - Small form factor used mainly as media directors where hiding or unobtrusive mounting of the media director is important. Nettops can often be mounted completely out-of-sight behind the display.

===TV Tuner Cards===
The Hauppauge PVR-150, PVR-250, and PVR-500 are the [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=6369.msg38610#msg38610 officially supported] TV tuner cards. They work out-of-the-box with LinuxMCE. These are all standard definition TV tuner cards. Some of these cards are difficult to find new, however, they are widely available used.

There are also officially-supported external TV tuners: The standard definition Hauppauge PVR-USB2, and the high definition Silicondust HDHomeRun.

Many LinuxMCE systems incorporate multiple TV tuners. This is because each tuner can only be tuned to one channel at a time. The number of tuners you need is the sum of the following:
*the maximum number of media directors you want to be able to simultaneously watch different channels
*the number of channels you want to be able to record simultaneously
If you intend to record two programs in adjacent time slots on different channels you should budget two tuners for that task. This because the beginning of the second program may start before the end of the first.

Suppose, for example, you have two media directors. Using four TV tuners would allow you to simultaneously record two channels and watch different channels on each of the media directors.

TV tuner cards can be incorporated into the core and any media directors. They are shared throughout the system regardless of where they are physically located.

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-23T04:51:38Z

Alx9r: /* Audible Noise */

''Note: This page is currently under construction.''

The selection of the mainboard is probably the most crucial decision when building a LinuxMCE computer. An entire [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|guide is dedicated to just to mainboard selection]]. ''This'' guide is meant to help you select all the other components that go into a LinuxMCE computer.

Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

You might consider a [[:Category:Nettops|nettop]] computer for use as a [[Core|core]] or [[Media Director|media director]]. Nettop computers are usually purchased fully integrated. This means that what you buy is actually a mainboard with a power supply, hard drive, memory, case et cetera all put together and ready to use. If you are considering a nettop computer, you should still scrutinize all of its components to assess its appropriateness for your LinuxMCE installation.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally, cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep them cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. SATA and PATA optical drives generally work with LinuxMCE out-of-the-box. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk storage] of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the [[Core|core]] boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media. It should be connected to your mainboard using a SATA or PATA connection.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or [[Hybrid|hybrid]]) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===Case===
Most [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_case computer cases]that can physically contain all of the components of your LinuxMCE computers will work just fine. We do recommend that you select the appropriate style or form factor of case for the location where the computer will reside. There are four different styles of case that are commonly used to house LinuxMCE computers:
*'''Tower''' - A normal desktop PC case. These are typically used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight in utility rooms, closets, and basements.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19-inch_rack Rackmount]''' - Also used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight. The advantage of rackmount cases is that they can be neatly mounted in a rack alongside other computer and network equipment.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater_PC HTPC]''' - Used for hybrids and media directors where the esthetics are important and there is room for home theater components. These cases generally look like other home theater components.
*'''[[:Category:Nettops|Nettop]]''' - Small form factor used mainly as media directors where hiding or unobtrusive mounting of the media director is important. Nettops can often be mounted completely out-of-sight behind the display.

===TV Tuner Cards===
The Hauppauge PVR-150, PVR-250, and PVR-500 are the [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=6369.msg38610#msg38610 officially supported] TV tuner cards. They work out-of-the-box with LinuxMCE. These are all standard definition TV tuner cards. Some of these cards are difficult to find new, however, they are widely available used.

There are also officially-supported external TV tuners: The standard definition Hauppauge PVR-USB2, and the high definition Silicondust HDHomeRun.

Many LinuxMCE systems incorporate multiple TV tuners. This is because each tuner can only be tuned to one channel at a time. The number of tuners you need is the sum of the following:
*the maximum number of media directors you want to be able to simultaneously watch different channels
*the number of channels you want to be able to record simultaneously
If you intend to record two programs in adjacent time slots on different channels you should budget two tuners for that task. This because the beginning of the second program may start before the end of the first.

Suppose, for example, you have two media directors. Using four TV tuners would allow you to simultaneously record two channels and watch different channels on each of the media directors.

TV tuner cards can be incorporated into the core and any media directors. They are shared throughout the system regardless of where they are physically located.

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

Display Drivers

2009-05-23T04:47:31Z

Alx9r: /* Latest Drivers */

{| align="right"
| __TOC__
|}
[[Category: Tutorials]]
[[Category: Hardware| ]]

An incomplete HowTo on updating LinuxMCE to the latest display drivers and configuring them manually. It could use your help, so if something is different in your situation, please add it.

'''Note that this should normally not be necessary unless you have specific wishes or trouble getting your display to work properly.'''

== Installation ==
If the graphical environment cannot start you are likely to see a text screen blinking, this makes it very hard to login, if this is the case you can reboot into "recovery mode" by pressing [Esc] when GRUB tells you to during the boot process and then select it from the menu you will be presented with. Before you get started on the below, you will want to (from recovery mode) issue this command ''"cat /proc/interrupts"'' and make sure your video card is not sharing an interrupt with another device, such as a NIC (network interface card). If it is, you could run into a lot of issues. Your output should look something like this, with your Video Card not sharing an interrupt, as reflected below in line 21 where the Nvidia stands alone:

''19: 38492811 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi eth0 
''20: 2 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi ehci_hcd:usb2 ''
''21: 10938712 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi nvidia ''
''
=== ATI Chipsets ===
The two main ways to install the ATI drivers are described in the [http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Feisty_Installation_Guide Ubuntu Feisty Installation Guide].

For more information see also the [http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Main_Page Unofficial ATI Linux Driver Wiki] and you might want to have a look at [http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/AtiProprietaryDriver AtiProprietaryDriver] in the MythTV wiki as well since LinuxMCE depends on it for viewing TV. MythTV in turn relies heavily on the support of certain features by the graphics drivers. The ATI drivers turn out to be a bit "challenged" in this area to say the least.

==== Installing The ATI Driver ====

Here's the procedure I use for setting up an ATI X1250 MD. Currently the the AVwizard in 0710 does not configure ATI cards properly so you need to to do some manual steps to get things working.

'''Step 1'''

Add the MD in the normal way (ie plug it into the network and let it add itself). Let it reboot and then it should run the AVwizard. Choose the options you want - output connector, resolution, refresh.... UI2 with Overlay etc etc and complete the wizard. Now the screen will return to a console screen and will after 5-10 mins will try to run the setup Wizard... but the setup Wizard will run very slowly and the video of 'Sarah' will not play smoothly. This is because the ATI drivers are not installed yet and the X driver is set to 'vesa'.

'''Step 2'''

From another machine ssh into the partially installed MD using Konsole from the KDE Desktop or a terminal app like Putty under Windows XP. Do the following from the console;

sudo su - <return>
ssh moonNN <return> (**where the NN is the device number for the MD we're configuring**)

Alternatively do the following from the MD/Core you are configuring;

Ctrl+Alt+2

Now login using the login you created when you installed your system ie When you ran the DVD installer or CD installer. Now we're logged into the MD we are configuring as 'root' and we can install the ATI drivers and configure Xorg.conf;

Firstly make sure our sources.list is up to date:

apt-get update <return>

Now lets install the ATI driver and packages;

apt-get install linux-restricted-modules-generic restricted-manager <return>

Answer 'Y' to installing new packages then do the following steps;

apt-get install xorg-driver-fglrx <return>
depmod -a <return>

So far so good... now we have the ATI drivers installed! (the current driver in the repos is not the latest ATI release an updated driver will be packaged soon though). Now we have to configure Xorg to use it! Do the steps below;

I use the console text editor 'joe' below but you can use whichever you prefer ('nano' is installed by default for example);

joe /etc/X11/xorg.conf <return>

Now you are editing the xorg.conf of your MD and the only change you need to make is to the 'Device' section. In the 'Device' section you will see a line thats says;

Driver "vesa"
or
Driver "ati"

Change the string 'vesa' (or ati) to 'fglrx' which is the name of the ATI driver. The updated driver line should look like below;

Driver "fglrx"

Now save the changes you have made to xorg.conf.

Now reboot the MD from the console with;

reboot <return>

The MD will now reboot normally and the setup wizard will run again.... but this time the video and the Ui will run smoothly as the ATI driver is installed and confgured.

Currently the ATI driver will not support UI2 with transparency but it will support UI2 with overlay very nicely indeed. There are two small caveats to running UI2 with Overlay currently with the ATI driver in that the 'Compass Rose' on screen menu for selecting DVD chapters, Lighting levels etc etc and the 'Zoom & Aspect ratio' screen when playing Video do not draw correctly - the bit maps for the menus do not display but the menus do work.

=== NVidia Chipsets ===

==== Bugs ====
If you are here, trying to update your driver because video is not working, remember that there is a bug with some Nvidia cards that makes graphical output always appear on the DVI plug, not the VGA plug. If you have a display attached to the VGA port on your adapter, buy a DVI to VGA converter plug before putting yourself through a lot of pain!

==== Legacy Drivers ====
With legacy drivers the AVWizard might crash because it could not load the nvidia-legacy kernel module. It is unclear why kdm will start and not the AVWizard. A quick fix is to set the '''Driver''' option for the video card in the ''/etc/X11/xorg.conf'' file to '''vesa'''. Go through the AVWizard and then change it back. Another option is to edit ''/etc/modprobe.d/aliases'' and add '''alias nvidia nvidia-legacy'''. Don't forget about this line when you switch to a newer card.

==== Latest Drivers ====
There are several ways to install nVidia drivers, the way described here is meant as a guide to install the very latest drivers from the nVidia website. Note that this way will bypass the LinuxMCE (Kubuntu) packaging system, possibly removing and/or overwriting some of it's files.

1. Go to a console (text) terminal by holding [CTRL]-[ALT] and pressing the [F1] key simultaneously, log in with the user account you have created during the Kubuntu install and become root, if you haven't done so already.
'''<you>@dcerouter:~$''' sudo -s
2. Download the latest [http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html linux drivers from NVidia] (depending [http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_32667.html on your hardware], one of versions: 1XX.XX.XX, 1.0-96xx or 1.0-71XX), if you haven't done so already. When you have found the URL for downloading the package on the nvidia site you could download it like this:
'''root@dcerouter:~#''' wget <nowiki>http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/</nowiki>''<version>''<nowiki>/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-</nowiki>''<version>''<nowiki>-pkg1.run</nowiki>
3. Go to runlevel 1 to stop the currently running X-server.
'''root@dcerouter:~#''' telinit 1
4. Execute the installer and follow instructions. a) Ignore the warning about runlevel 1 and b) don't bother looking for "precompiled kernel interfaces" (drivers).
'''root@dcerouter:~#''' sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-''<version>''-pkg1.run
5. The installer will attempt to remove old legacy drivers. If it cannot, you may receive X errors (Eg. ''Error: API mismatch''). The solution is to manually remove or disable the legacy drivers.
'''nano /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common'''
Disable the NVIDIA linux-restricted kernel modules (nvidia, nvidia_legacy) by changing the DISABLED_MODULES line to read:
'''DISABLED_MODULES="nv nvidia_new"'''
6. Now it needs to be configured. The recommended and most convenient way is to use the [[AVWizard]]. For more advanced setup, or if the AVWizard for some reason is unable to set your up your screens to your liking, you can configure the ''X-server'' manually by editing the ''xorg.conf'' file directly.

''** Update - Do a "sudo cat /proc/driver/nvidia/version" and make sure it reads something similar to this, matching the newest drivers you just installed: NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module 180.29. The "nvclock" utility is useful for monitoring GPU overheating''

''Note: My media director wouldn't launch X after I completed these steps. I had to run sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-''<version>''-pkg1.run again from tty3. To get to tty3, press ctrl-alt-F3.''

=== Intel Chipsets ===
There is a renewed interest in the Intel graphics chipsets since Intel released the drivers under the GPL. Currently the Intel driver still cannot support UI2 with Alphablending but they will support UI2 with Overlay very nicely and video performance is excellent. LinuxMCE versions after Beta4 have full support for configuring the Intel driver in the AVwizard.

From LinuxMCE-0710 Beta4 onwards LinuxMCE will install the newer intel driver by default - so the instructions below are only useful if your still running LinuxMCE-0704.

==== For LinuxMCE-0704 ====

You will want to make sure you are using the newer intel drivers from http://packages.ubuntu.com/gutsy/i386/xserver-xorg-video-intel/download for i386. These replace the older i810, etc. drivers and should cover all the modern intel chipsets. The name for this driver is 'intel' and would replace the older 'i810' drivers.

If you're using i810 driver make sure you add Option "LinearAlloc" "8160" to xorg.conf or video players will crash with X11 error: BadAlloc.

From man i810:
Option "LinearAlloc" "integer"
Allows more memory for the offscreen allocator. This usually
helps in situations where HDTV movies are required to play but
not enough offscreen memory is usually available. Set this to
8160 for upto 1920x1080 HDTV support. Default 0KB (off).

==== potential problem ====

there can be a problem with some intel drivers, like the gma 3100. see [[bug/gma3100driver]] for further informations

=== Via Chipsets ===
Use the Openchrome or Via Unichrome drivers. The Via Unichrome drivers can be downloaded from [http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=2&OSID=45&CatID=3220]

The proprietary Via Unichrome driver works best with Linux MCE. Unfortunately this driver has intentionally been stripped of support for most GLX extensions. This driver does not support alpha blending which is a prerequisite of [[UI2]]. Via licenses the full featured driver to system integrators, such as [[Fiire]]. This licensed driver is not publicly available. Additionally there is a known incompatibility issue with the licensed driver and Linux MCE 0710.

On April 08, 2008 Via announced a new open source initiative to help develop open drivers for certain video chipsets [http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=via_oss&num=1]. This press release echos sour notes with many developers who have heard this tune many times before. No useful information or code has been released to date, striking yet another all to familiar chord in the open source community [http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=via_bluff&num=1].

'''HOW-TO VIA Openchrome driver for xorg:''' 
For VIA CX700M2 UniChrome PRO II Graphics (1" VIA units) or mainly via graphics: 

''shell into your box and do the following:'' 
apt-get -y install build-essential automake1.9 libtool x11proto-* libgl1-mesa-dev makedepend libxxf86vm-dev libexpat1-dev libexpat1 libxmu-dev xtrans-dev libpng12-dev libxcomposite-dev libxfixes-dev libxdamage-dev libxrandr-dev libxrender-dev libstartup-notification0-dev libgconf2-dev subversion xserver-xorg-dev libdrm-dev libxvmc-dev

cd /usr/src
svn checkout http://svn.openchrome.org/svn/trunk openchrome
cd openchrome*
./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr
make
make install

Now we have to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and change the device driver to via openchrome: 
vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Go to
Section "Device"
and change
Driver "vesa"
to
Driver "openchrome"
save and test the compiled new driver with a: 
X :1
and if your xwindow comes up, you can reboot and have fun 

=== Other Chipsets ===
Please help out by adding more if you can.

== Configuration ==
The recommended and most convenient way is to use the [[AVWizard]]. For more advanced setup, or if the X-server (and thus also the AVWizard) is unable to start, you can configure the ''X-server'' manually by editing the ''xorg.conf'' file directly.

=== Getting started ===
Start by making a backup copy of the ''/etc/X11/xorg.conf'' file (even if it doesn't work it might contain settings you could need). In this example we will start from scratch and edit the configuration file step by step to get the main display setup.

Some of these steps require that there will be no X-server active on the system, the easiest way to achieve this is to boot in ''rescue-mode'', just hit [Esc] when [[Grub]] tells you to during the startup of your machine and select the right line from the menu. Another way is to go to a text-mode console (aka. terminal) with [CTRL]-[ALT]-[F1], [[Logging In|log in]], become root and issue the command:
telinit 1
This wil stop the running X-server and drop you into rescue mode as well.

One of the advantages is that now you can start and stop the X-server by hand with an alternative configuration file and without having to reboot or even start an entire desktop environment.

=== Generating a template ===
These instructions were originally written for ATI chipsets, so they might need to be adjusted and updated a bit. Not all of the specific options may be relevant for your chipset.

'''While there is no (other) X-server running''' you can create a template configuration file by running:
X -configure
This will create a file called xorg.conf.new in your ''home'' directory, test it with the following command and hit [CTRL]-[ALT]-[Backspace] when done:
X -config ~/xorg.conf.new
Within a few seconds a gray bitpattern should show up with an 'X' shaped mouse cursor. If the screen is distorted or reports the refresh rate to be out of range then you will either have to specify the proper refreshrate limitations for your screen or insert "modelines" for the resolution(s) you want to use (see below).

When you're satisfied you can overwrite ''/etc/X11/xorg.conf'' with this file to make it the default (you did make a backup didn't you?), once you have done that you can use "startx" to test and have the use of your desktop as well. This should at least be enough to allow the use of a graphic configuration tool (like the [[AVWizard]] for instance) to set up your display further. More advanced manual configuration options can be found below.

Here is an example of such a generated file:

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "X.org Configured"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
RgbPath "/etc/X11/rgb"
ModulePath "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "extmod"
Load "record"
Load "xtrap"
Load "dri"
Load "glx"
Load "dbe"
Load "GLcore"
Load "type1"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
EndSection

Section "Device"
### Available Driver options are:-
### Values: : integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
### [arg]: arg optional
#Option "ShadowFB" # [<bool>]
#Option "DefaultRefresh" # [<bool>]
#Option "ModeSetClearScreen" # [<bool>]
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "vesa"
''VendorName "ATI Technologies Inc"''
''BoardName "ATI Radeon Xpress 1200 Series"''
''BusID '''"PCI:1:5:0"'''''
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 1
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 4
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 8
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 15
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Note that the only thing really specific to my setup in this config file is ''BusID'', if you only have one graphics adapter in your system this value can be omitted, otherwise the value(s) can be found with:
X -scanpci
Where each card will need it's own Device Section in the config file. The "VendorName" and "BoardName" settings are just labels and serve no real purpose other then being able to identify this particular device, which is usefull if you have more then one.

We'll be using this sample configuration as a starting point in the other examples below, the comments (lines starting with ''#'' can be safely removed as well as the ''"Display"'' subsections for the colordepths we don't plan on using.

=== Refresh rate / ModeLine ===
The easiest way to sort this problem is to let the X-server figure this out by not specifying the limits of your screen. However this often fails, leaving you with an unusable display. Simply look up '''your screen''''s refresh rates in the documentation and add them like this:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
''HorizSync '''27-102''' # kHz''
''VertRefresh '''50-160''' # Hz''
EndSection

Alternatively you could specify a "ModeLine" for each resolution you want to use. By using ModeLines you have much finer controll over the timings of the output signal generated by your videocard. The drawback is that the timing values can be hard to get right.

Search the web for a "modeline generator", and many of these will include instructions on how to add the modeline, but briefly, you just add it to the "Monitor" section. Read the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modeline wikipedia entry] to learn how to use modelines.
* http://koala.ilog.fr/cgi-bin/nph-colas-modelines
* http://xtiming.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/xtiming.pl
* http://www.bohne-lang.de/spec/linux/modeline/
* http://amlc.berlios.de/
* http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Working_with_Modelines
If one modeline doesn't work perfectly, try another, perhaps from another generator, because they can vary so much.

Using the wrong timings could in some (nowadays rare) occasions damage the hardware of your screen, so if it looks garbeled don't leave it like that for hours on end but hit [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[←Backspace] and readjust your settings. Most modern screens however simply report that the signal is out of range if this happens.

=== Colordepth and resolution ===
Specify the colordepth and resolution(s) you would like to use, like this:

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
''DefaultDepth '''24'''''
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
''Virtual '''1600 1200'''''
''Modes '''"1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" "512x384" "400x300" "320x240"'''''
EndSubSection
EndSection

As most people will only be using 24 bits anyway, I have removed the other redundant subsections. "Virtual" is the size of your desktop and "Modes" are physical resolutions, you can flip through these by holding [CTRL]-[ALT] and pressing the plus or minus on the numeric keypad. These are just examples, most people will only want to specify the resolution they actually use.

=== DRI device permissions ===
This section is needed to have the X-server set the proper permissions on the DRI device during startup. Simply add it to the end of the /etx/X11.xorg file if it isn't there already.

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

=== Chipset driver ===
Change "'''vesa'''" to "'''fglrx'''" (or "'''ati'''", depending on which drivers you installed earlier), as shown below, the old line is left as a comment in this example for clarity, but it's better to remove it as some scripts seem to find it confusing. For Nvidia chipsets use '''nvidia''' or '''nv''' as the driver names (instead of '''fglrx''').

Section "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
''# Driver "'''vesa'''"''
''Driver "'''fglrx'''"''
VendorName "ATI Technologies Inc"
BoardName "ATI Radeon Xpress 1200 Series"
BusID "PCI:1:5:0"
EndSection

If your X-server was running you will have to restart it completely for the changes to take effect, the easiest and most thorough way to do this is to reboot.

=== Physical display size ===
Like specifying the refresh rate his is optional but sometimes necessary, most of the time it is either detected or some sane defaults are used but sometimes it isn't, which can result in unreadable font sizes.

Section "Monitor"
...
DisplaySize '''155 95'''
EndSection

Where you have to replace the numbers with the physical '''width''' and '''height''' of your screen in millimeters (1" = 25mm), feel free to try mine, however these are for a small touchscreen.

=== Disable composite ===
Aparently the ATI '''fglrx''' driver does not ''yet'' support composite with DRI. So if you are using the fglrx driver, disable it by adding this to the end of the /etx/X11.xorg file if it isn't there already.

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Disable"
EndSection

=== Additional options ===
To be continued, I don't think this is enough to get UI2 completely (either mode) going yet. Feel free to jump in anytime...

Things still to sort out amongst others (i.e. what is it, do we need it and what are the settings if any):

Section "Module"
Load "i2c"
Load "bitmap"
Load "ddc"
Load "freetype"
Load "int10"
Load "vbe"
Load "speedo"
Load "type1"
Load "dbe"
Load "glx"
Load "v4l"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AIGLX" "off"
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Disable"
# Option "RENDER" "true"
EndSection

Option "PseudoColorVisuals" "off"
Option "OpenGLOverlay" "off"
Option "VideoOverlay" "off"
Option "DesktopSetup" "clone"

TV-out options, 2nd display, etc.

== Troubleshooting ==

=== The AVWizard crashes X-windows ===

Try setting the [[#Chipset_driver]] option to '''vesa''', run the AVWizard again and then change the driver back to what it was.

=== Black screen ===

* Screen is black, after install seemed to go okay. You may have even seen the Kubuntu splash screen. See [[AVWizard]] on how to select the proper output.

*One problem on nvidia-cards could be that it does not detect the right monitor.

::Go to Console 1 ([Ctrl]+[Alt]+1) and edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf (nano -w /etc/X11/xorg.conf). Find the section ::Device with the driver nvidia add the line <pre>Option "ConnectedMonitor" "XXX"</pre>
::where XXX is CRT, CRT-0, CRT-1, DVI-0, DVI-1, ...
::Save and exit (nano: Ctrl+x) and restart the computer. In my case it was "CRT-1".

=== X-windows won't start ===

Reboot into rescue-mode if needed (hit [Esc] when [[Grub]] tells you to), and restore a working copy of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf, or edit it by hand to fix the problem. Test it with the command "X" and press [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[←Backspace] simultaneous to quit (alternative: use "startx" and get the full desktop, if any), then reboot when it works and you're done.

=== Signal out of range ===

See ''[[#Refresh rate / ModeLine ]]'' above.

=== Microscopic fonts in KDE ===

See ''[[#Physical_display_size]]'' above.

If the above does not work, probably Xorg is calculating the DPI value in the wrong way.
This can be verified by having a look at the file /var/log/Xorg.0.log related to the MD with this issue searching for the line containing "DPI set to (x , y)",where x and y are values that apply to the specific display.

If those values are too small, fonts will be displayed accordingly (i.e, VERY small)

A workaround is to force Xorg to startup with a given DPI value.

To achieve this the following steps are required:

* edit the file /usr/pluto/bin/Start_X_Wrapper.sh on your MD where you are facing the font problem
* find the line beginning with xinit
* add "-dpi 96" (without quotes) at the end of this line
* save the file and reboot MD

Obviously it is possible to set DPI to something different than 96, according to specific needs.

Please note that after an LMCE update the startup script may be replaced by new ones, so the above workaround may have to be re-applied in order to keep fonts at the desired dimension.

=== LinuxMCE keeps reconfiguring my display settings ===

Add a line containing '''exit''' to the top of the ''/usr/pluto/bin/Xconfigure.sh'' file. After you do this you may experience difficulties running the AVWizard again, if so remove this line and add it back again after the wizard is finished.

For LinuxMCE 710 simply comment out the line that says
. /usr/pluto/bin/X-CleanupVideo.sh
This is the command that gets run that modifies the xorg.conf file on startup. This is different than above because if you put exit at the top your display will not get initialized. And as above if you want to run the AVWizard you will need to uncomment this line.

== See also ==
* [http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page MythTV wiki]
* MythTV Experience [http://brentlagesse.net/~brent/mythtv.php]
* [[X_Configuration_Scripts]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-18T02:52:19Z

Alx9r: /* TV Tuner Cards */

''Note: This page is currently under construction.''

The selection of the mainboard is probably the most crucial decision when building a LinuxMCE computer. An entire [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|guide is dedicated to just to mainboard selection]]. ''This'' guide is meant to help you select all the other components that go into a LinuxMCE computer.

Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

You might consider a [[:Category:Nettops|nettop]] computer for use as a [[Core|core]] or [[Media Director|media director]]. Nettop computers are usually purchased fully integrated. This means that what you buy is actually a mainboard with a power supply, hard drive, memory, case et cetera all put together and ready to use. If you are considering a nettop computer, you should still scrutinize all of its components to assess its appropriateness for your LinuxMCE installation.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep them cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. SATA and PATA optical drives generally work with LinuxMCE out-of-the-box. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk storage] of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the [[Core|core]] boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media. It should be connected to your mainboard using a SATA or PATA connection.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or [[Hybrid|hybrid]]) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===Case===
Most [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_case computer cases]that can physically contain all of the components of your LinuxMCE computers will work just fine. We do recommend that you select the appropriate style or form factor of case for the location where the computer will reside. There are four different styles of case that are commonly used to house LinuxMCE computers:
*'''Tower''' - A normal desktop PC case. These are typically used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight in utility rooms, closets, and basements.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19-inch_rack Rackmount]''' - Also used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight. The advantage of rackmount cases is that they can be neatly mounted in a rack alongside other computer and network equipment.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater_PC HTPC]''' - Used for hybrids and media directors where the esthetics are important and there is room for home theater components. These cases generally look like other home theater components.
*'''[[:Category:Nettops|Nettop]]''' - Small form factor used mainly as media directors where hiding or unobtrusive mounting of the media director is important. Nettops can often be mounted completely out-of-sight behind the display.

===TV Tuner Cards===
The Hauppauge PVR-150, PVR-250, and PVR-500 are the [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=6369.msg38610#msg38610 officially supported] TV tuner cards. They work out-of-the-box with LinuxMCE. These are all standard definition TV tuner cards. Some of these cards are difficult to find new, however, they are widely available used.

There are also officially-supported external TV tuners: The standard definition Hauppauge PVR-USB2, and the high definition Silicondust HDHomeRun.

Many LinuxMCE systems incorporate multiple TV tuners. This is because each tuner can only be tuned to one channel at a time. The number of tuners you need is the sum of the following:
*the maximum number of media directors you want to be able to simultaneously watch different channels
*the number of channels you want to be able to record simultaneously
If you intend to record two programs in adjacent time slots on different channels you should budget two tuners for that task. This because the beginning of the second program may start before the end of the first.

Suppose, for example, you have two media directors. Using four TV tuners would allow you to simultaneously record two channels and watch different channels on each of the media directors.

TV tuner cards can be incorporated into the core and any media directors. They are shared throughout the system regardless of where they are physically located.

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-18T02:48:55Z

Alx9r:

''Note: This page is currently under construction.''

The selection of the mainboard is probably the most crucial decision when building a LinuxMCE computer. An entire [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|guide is dedicated to just to mainboard selection]]. ''This'' guide is meant to help you select all the other components that go into a LinuxMCE computer.

Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

You might consider a [[:Category:Nettops|nettop]] computer for use as a [[Core|core]] or [[Media Director|media director]]. Nettop computers are usually purchased fully integrated. This means that what you buy is actually a mainboard with a power supply, hard drive, memory, case et cetera all put together and ready to use. If you are considering a nettop computer, you should still scrutinize all of its components to assess its appropriateness for your LinuxMCE installation.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep them cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. SATA and PATA optical drives generally work with LinuxMCE out-of-the-box. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk storage] of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the [[Core|core]] boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media. It should be connected to your mainboard using a SATA or PATA connection.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or [[Hybrid|hybrid]]) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===Case===
Most [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_case computer cases]that can physically contain all of the components of your LinuxMCE computers will work just fine. We do recommend that you select the appropriate style or form factor of case for the location where the computer will reside. There are four different styles of case that are commonly used to house LinuxMCE computers:
*'''Tower''' - A normal desktop PC case. These are typically used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight in utility rooms, closets, and basements.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19-inch_rack Rackmount]''' - Also used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight. The advantage of rackmount cases is that they can be neatly mounted in a rack alongside other computer and network equipment.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater_PC HTPC]''' - Used for hybrids and media directors where the esthetics are important and there is room for home theater components. These cases generally look like other home theater components.
*'''[[:Category:Nettops|Nettop]]''' - Small form factor used mainly as media directors where hiding or unobtrusive mounting of the media director is important. Nettops can often be mounted completely out-of-sight behind the display.

===TV Tuner Cards===
The Hauppauge PVR-150, PVR-250, and PVR-500 are the [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=6369.msg38610#msg38610 officially supported] TV tuner cards. They work out-of-the-box with LinuxMCE. These are all standard definition TV tuner cards. Some of these cards are difficult to find new, however, they are widely available used.

There are also officially-supported external TV tuners: The standard definition Hauppauge PVR-USB2, and the high definition Silicondust HDHomeRun.

Many LinuxMCE systems incorporate multiple TV tuners. This is because each tuner can only be tuned to one channel at a time. The number of tuners you need is the sum of the following:
*the maximum number of media directors you want to be able to simultaneously watch different channels
*the number of channels you want to be able to record simultaneously
It is worth noting that if you intend to record two programs in adjacent time slots on different channels you should budget two tuners for that task. This because the beginning of the second program may start before the end of the first.

TV tuner cards can be incorporated into the core and any media directors. They are shared throughout the system regardless of where they are physically located.

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-18T02:48:26Z

Alx9r: /* Case */

The selection of the mainboard is probably the most crucial decision when building a LinuxMCE computer. An entire [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|guide is dedicated to just to mainboard selection]]. ''This'' guide is meant to help you select all the other components that go into a LinuxMCE computer.

Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

You might consider a [[:Category:Nettops|nettop]] computer for use as a [[Core|core]] or [[Media Director|media director]]. Nettop computers are usually purchased fully integrated. This means that what you buy is actually a mainboard with a power supply, hard drive, memory, case et cetera all put together and ready to use. If you are considering a nettop computer, you should still scrutinize all of its components to assess its appropriateness for your LinuxMCE installation.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep them cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. SATA and PATA optical drives generally work with LinuxMCE out-of-the-box. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk storage] of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the [[Core|core]] boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media. It should be connected to your mainboard using a SATA or PATA connection.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or [[Hybrid|hybrid]]) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===Case===
Most [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_case computer cases]that can physically contain all of the components of your LinuxMCE computers will work just fine. We do recommend that you select the appropriate style or form factor of case for the location where the computer will reside. There are four different styles of case that are commonly used to house LinuxMCE computers:
*'''Tower''' - A normal desktop PC case. These are typically used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight in utility rooms, closets, and basements.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19-inch_rack Rackmount]''' - Also used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight. The advantage of rackmount cases is that they can be neatly mounted in a rack alongside other computer and network equipment.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater_PC HTPC]''' - Used for hybrids and media directors where the esthetics are important and there is room for home theater components. These cases generally look like other home theater components.
*'''[[:Category:Nettops|Nettop]]''' - Small form factor used mainly as media directors where hiding or unobtrusive mounting of the media director is important. Nettops can often be mounted completely out-of-sight behind the display.

===TV Tuner Cards===
The Hauppauge PVR-150, PVR-250, and PVR-500 are the [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=6369.msg38610#msg38610 officially supported] TV tuner cards. They work out-of-the-box with LinuxMCE. These are all standard definition TV tuner cards. Some of these cards are difficult to find new, however, they are widely available used.

There are also officially-supported external TV tuners: The standard definition Hauppauge PVR-USB2, and the high definition Silicondust HDHomeRun.

Many LinuxMCE systems incorporate multiple TV tuners. This is because each tuner can only be tuned to one channel at a time. The number of tuners you need is the sum of the following:
*the maximum number of media directors you want to be able to simultaneously watch different channels
*the number of channels you want to be able to record simultaneously
It is worth noting that if you intend to record two programs in adjacent time slots on different channels you should budget two tuners for that task. This because the beginning of the second program may start before the end of the first.

TV tuner cards can be incorporated into the core and any media directors. They are shared throughout the system regardless of where they are physically located.

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-18T02:13:13Z

Alx9r: /* Media Storage */

The selection of the mainboard is probably the most crucial decision when building a LinuxMCE computer. An entire [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|guide is dedicated to just to mainboard selection]]. ''This'' guide is meant to help you select all the other components that go into a LinuxMCE computer.

Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

You might consider a [[:Category:Nettops|nettop]] computer for use as a [[Core|core]] or [[Media Director|media director]]. Nettop computers are usually purchased fully integrated. This means that what you buy is actually a mainboard with a power supply, hard drive, memory, case et cetera all put together and ready to use. If you are considering a nettop computer, you should still scrutinize all of its components to assess its appropriateness for your LinuxMCE installation.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep them cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. SATA and PATA optical drives generally work with LinuxMCE out-of-the-box. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk storage] of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the [[Core|core]] boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media. It should be connected to your mainboard using a SATA or PATA connection.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or [[Hybrid|hybrid]]) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===Case===
Most [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_case computer cases]that can physically contain all of the components of your LinuxMCE computers will work just fine. We do recommend that you select the appropriate style or form factor of case for the location where the computer will reside. There are four different styles of case that are commonly used to house LinuxMCE computers:
*'''Tower''' - A normal desktop PC case. These are typically used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight in utility rooms, closets, and basements.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19-inch_rack Rackmount]''' - Also used for cores and centralized media directors and kept out-of-sight. The advantage of rackmount cases is that they can be neatly mounted in a rack alongside other computer and network equipment.
*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater_PC HTPC]''' - Used for hybrids and media directors where the esthetics are important and there is room for home theater components. These cases generally look like other home theater components.
*'''[[:Category:Nettops|Nettop]]''' - Small form factor used mainly as media directors where hiding or unobtrusive mounting of the media director is important. Nettops can often be mounted completely out-of-sight behind the display.

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-18T01:29:07Z

Alx9r:

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-18T01:21:44Z

Alx9r:

User:Alx9r

2009-05-18T01:15:25Z

Alx9r: /* Pages Under Construction */

=Sample User Setup=
I have moved my sample user setup to the wiki topic [[Alx9r's Sample Setup]].

=Extensions I'd Like to See Added to this Wiki=
*http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Cite/Cite.php for <ref></ref> style footnotes.
*http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ParserFunctions as needed for navboxes described at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Transwiki
*A mainstream Common.css (I suggest just copying wikipedia's).

=Stuff that ought to be in a "Newbie Portal"=

*Pointer to FAQ
*Hardware Selection
**graphics chips that work
**discrete codes, RS232 control
**general considerations
***esthetics
***noise
***slots
***storage
***com ports
**some summary of what is currently being used and pointer to sample user setups
*LinuxMCE Installation
**What to Expect
**Things to Contemplate Before the Installation
***Network Topology
***VDR vs Myth
***Audio and Video Connections
**Things you'll Probably Want to Have for the Install
***a monitor to use during some low-level operations
***another computer connected to the internet and the core
***an ssh client
***a keyboard and mouse, wireless is nice, synergy also works
*Some Common But Non-Automatic Setup Steps
**adding support for IR Remote
**controlling RS232 AV Equipment
*Organizing Media
*Getting Help
*Troubleshooting
**How to find and view logs (ie. /var/log/pluto, tail -f)

=Pages Under Construction=

[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]] - A guide dedicated to making the most crucial hardware selection decision: Selecting a Mainboard.

[[How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers]] - A guide to help you select all the other components that make up a good LinuxMCE computer.

[[How to Integrate Blu-ray Support into Your LinuxMCE System]]

[[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-18T01:08:47Z

Alx9r: /* System Hard Drive */

Some decisions about the components that you select for your LinuxMCE computers are crucial to a smooth installation. Other component selection decisions are not as important since some components always just work. This guide is intended to help you focus on the crucial decisions about hardware selection specific to LinuxMCE computers. It is also meant to provide guidance on some of the less crucial component selection decisions.

Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before at all.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep them cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. SATA and PATA optical drives generally work with LinuxMCE out-of-the-box. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk storage] of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the [[Core|core]] boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media. It should be connected to your mainboard using a SATA or PATA connection.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or [[Hybrid|hybrid]]) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-18T01:07:48Z

Alx9r: /* Optical Drives */

Some decisions about the components that you select for your LinuxMCE computers are crucial to a smooth installation. Other component selection decisions are not as important since some components always just work. This guide is intended to help you focus on the crucial decisions about hardware selection specific to LinuxMCE computers. It is also meant to provide guidance on some of the less crucial component selection decisions.

Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before at all.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep them cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. SATA and PATA optical drives generally work with LinuxMCE out-of-the-box. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk storage] of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the [[Core|core]] boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or [[Hybrid|hybrid]]) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-18T01:06:39Z

Alx9r:

Some decisions about the components that you select for your LinuxMCE computers are crucial to a smooth installation. Other component selection decisions are not as important since some components always just work. This guide is intended to help you focus on the crucial decisions about hardware selection specific to LinuxMCE computers. It is also meant to provide guidance on some of the less crucial component selection decisions.

Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before at all.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep them cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk storage] of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the [[Core|core]] boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or [[Hybrid|hybrid]]) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-18T01:06:16Z

Alx9r:

Some decisions about the components that you select for your LinuxMCE computers are crucial to a smooth installation. Other component selection decisions are not as important since some components always just work. This guide is intended to help you focus on the crucial decisions about hardware selection specific to LinuxMCE computers. It is also meant to provide guidance on some of the less crucial component selection decisions.

Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before at all.

In addition to the specific recommendations in this wiki, make sure that you research your components with the following in mind:
*'''Cooling''' - All components need some heat removed from them. Power supplies, GPUs, hard drives, and CPUs generally produce enough heat that you should consider how you will keep them cool.
*'''Power Consumption''' - Make sure you select a power supply whose capacity is high enough to power everything in the computer you are building.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep them cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk storage] of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the [[Core|core]] boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or [[Hybrid|hybrid]]) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-18T01:04:35Z

Alx9r: /* System Hard Drive */

Some decisions about the components that you select for your LinuxMCE computers are crucial to a smooth installation. Other component selection decisions are not as important since some components always just work. This guide is intended to help you focus on the crucial decisions about hardware selection specific to LinuxMCE computers. It is also meant to provide guidance on some of the less crucial component selection decisions.

===Normal Rules of Computer-Building Engagement Apply===
Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before at all.

In addition to the specific recommendations in this wiki, make sure that you research your components with the following in mind:
*'''Cooling''' - All components need some heat removed from them. Power supplies, GPUs, hard drives, and CPUs generally produce enough heat that you should consider how you will keep them cool.
*'''Power Consumption''' - Make sure you select a power supply whose capacity is high enough to power everything in the computer you are building.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep them cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk storage] of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the [[Core|core]] boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or [[Hybrid|hybrid]]) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-18T01:03:53Z

Alx9r: /* Storage */

Some decisions about the components that you select for your LinuxMCE computers are crucial to a smooth installation. Other component selection decisions are not as important since some components always just work. This guide is intended to help you focus on the crucial decisions about hardware selection specific to LinuxMCE computers. It is also meant to provide guidance on some of the less crucial component selection decisions.

===Normal Rules of Computer-Building Engagement Apply===
Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before at all.

In addition to the specific recommendations in this wiki, make sure that you research your components with the following in mind:
*'''Cooling''' - All components need some heat removed from them. Power supplies, GPUs, hard drives, and CPUs generally produce enough heat that you should consider how you will keep them cool.
*'''Power Consumption''' - Make sure you select a power supply whose capacity is high enough to power everything in the computer you are building.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep them cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk storage] of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the [[Core|core]] boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or core/hybrid) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-18T01:03:19Z

Alx9r: /* Storage */

Some decisions about the components that you select for your LinuxMCE computers are crucial to a smooth installation. Other component selection decisions are not as important since some components always just work. This guide is intended to help you focus on the crucial decisions about hardware selection specific to LinuxMCE computers. It is also meant to provide guidance on some of the less crucial component selection decisions.

===Normal Rules of Computer-Building Engagement Apply===
Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before at all.

In addition to the specific recommendations in this wiki, make sure that you research your components with the following in mind:
*'''Cooling''' - All components need some heat removed from them. Power supplies, GPUs, hard drives, and CPUs generally produce enough heat that you should consider how you will keep them cool.
*'''Power Consumption''' - Make sure you select a power supply whose capacity is high enough to power everything in the computer you are building.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep them cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk storage] of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the core boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or core/hybrid) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-18T01:00:15Z

Alx9r: /* Optical Drives */

Some decisions about the components that you select for your LinuxMCE computers are crucial to a smooth installation. Other component selection decisions are not as important since some components always just work. This guide is intended to help you focus on the crucial decisions about hardware selection specific to LinuxMCE computers. It is also meant to provide guidance on some of the less crucial component selection decisions.

===Normal Rules of Computer-Building Engagement Apply===
Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before at all.

In addition to the specific recommendations in this wiki, make sure that you research your components with the following in mind:
*'''Cooling''' - All components need some heat removed from them. Power supplies, GPUs, hard drives, and CPUs generally produce enough heat that you should consider how you will keep them cool.
*'''Power Consumption''' - Make sure you select a power supply whose capacity is high enough to power everything in the computer you are building.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep them cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways. The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the storage of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the core boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or core/hybrid) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-18T00:58:20Z

Alx9r: /* Audible Noise */

Some decisions about the components that you select for your LinuxMCE computers are crucial to a smooth installation. Other component selection decisions are not as important since some components always just work. This guide is intended to help you focus on the crucial decisions about hardware selection specific to LinuxMCE computers. It is also meant to provide guidance on some of the less crucial component selection decisions.

===Normal Rules of Computer-Building Engagement Apply===
Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before at all.

In addition to the specific recommendations in this wiki, make sure that you research your components with the following in mind:
*'''Cooling''' - All components need some heat removed from them. Power supplies, GPUs, hard drives, and CPUs generally produce enough heat that you should consider how you will keep them cool.
*'''Power Consumption''' - Make sure you select a power supply whose capacity is high enough to power everything in the computer you are building.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep them cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an optical drive that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways.

The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the storage of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the core boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or core/hybrid) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-18T00:57:38Z

Alx9r: /* Audible Noise */

Some decisions about the components that you select for your LinuxMCE computers are crucial to a smooth installation. Other component selection decisions are not as important since some components always just work. This guide is intended to help you focus on the crucial decisions about hardware selection specific to LinuxMCE computers. It is also meant to provide guidance on some of the less crucial component selection decisions.

===Normal Rules of Computer-Building Engagement Apply===
Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before at all.

In addition to the specific recommendations in this wiki, make sure that you research your components with the following in mind:
*'''Cooling''' - All components need some heat removed from them. Power supplies, GPUs, hard drives, and CPUs generally produce enough heat that you should consider how you will keep them cool.
*'''Power Consumption''' - Make sure you select a power supply whose capacity is high enough to power everything in the computer you are building.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally cooling fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep components cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an optical drive that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways.

The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the storage of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the core boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or core/hybrid) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-18T00:57:06Z

Alx9r: /* Audible Noise */

Some decisions about the components that you select for your LinuxMCE computers are crucial to a smooth installation. Other component selection decisions are not as important since some components always just work. This guide is intended to help you focus on the crucial decisions about hardware selection specific to LinuxMCE computers. It is also meant to provide guidance on some of the less crucial component selection decisions.

===Normal Rules of Computer-Building Engagement Apply===
Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before at all.

In addition to the specific recommendations in this wiki, make sure that you research your components with the following in mind:
*'''Cooling''' - All components need some heat removed from them. Power supplies, GPUs, hard drives, and CPUs generally produce enough heat that you should consider how you will keep them cool.
*'''Power Consumption''' - Make sure you select a power supply whose capacity is high enough to power everything in the computer you are building.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

[[Media Director|Media directors]] will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep components cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an optical drive that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways.

The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the storage of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the core boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or core/hybrid) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-18T00:44:16Z

Alx9r: /* Audible Noise */

Some decisions about the components that you select for your LinuxMCE computers are crucial to a smooth installation. Other component selection decisions are not as important since some components always just work. This guide is intended to help you focus on the crucial decisions about hardware selection specific to LinuxMCE computers. It is also meant to provide guidance on some of the less crucial component selection decisions.

===Normal Rules of Computer-Building Engagement Apply===
Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before at all.

In addition to the specific recommendations in this wiki, make sure that you research your components with the following in mind:
*'''Cooling''' - All components need some heat removed from them. Power supplies, GPUs, hard drives, and CPUs generally produce enough heat that you should consider how you will keep them cool.
*'''Power Consumption''' - Make sure you select a power supply whose capacity is high enough to power everything in the computer you are building.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

Media directors will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, graphics cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep components cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an optical drive that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways.

The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the storage of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the core boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or core/hybrid) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-18T00:42:46Z

Alx9r: /* Storage */

Some decisions about the components that you select for your LinuxMCE computers are crucial to a smooth installation. Other component selection decisions are not as important since some components always just work. This guide is intended to help you focus on the crucial decisions about hardware selection specific to LinuxMCE computers. It is also meant to provide guidance on some of the less crucial component selection decisions.

===Normal Rules of Computer-Building Engagement Apply===
Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before at all.

In addition to the specific recommendations in this wiki, make sure that you research your components with the following in mind:
*'''Cooling''' - All components need some heat removed from them. Power supplies, GPUs, hard drives, and CPUs generally produce enough heat that you should consider how you will keep them cool.
*'''Power Consumption''' - Make sure you select a power supply whose capacity is high enough to power everything in the computer you are building.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

Media directors will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, GPU cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep components cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an optical drive that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways.

The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===
For purposes of hardware selection, it is helpful to divide the storage of a LinuxMCE system into two categories:
*'''System Hard Drive''' - This is the hard drive that the core boots from. All system files in the entire LinuxMCE system are stored on the system hard drive.
*'''Media Storage''' - These are hard drives used to store media like videos and music.

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

An [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or core/hybrid) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-17T23:35:44Z

Alx9r: /* System Hard Drive */

Some decisions about the components that you select for your LinuxMCE computers are crucial to a smooth installation. Other component selection decisions are not as important since some components always just work. This guide is intended to help you focus on the crucial decisions about hardware selection specific to LinuxMCE computers. It is also meant to provide guidance on some of the less crucial component selection decisions.

===Normal Rules of Computer-Building Engagement Apply===
Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before at all.

In addition to the specific recommendations in this wiki, make sure that you research your components with the following in mind:
*'''Cooling''' - All components need some heat removed from them. Power supplies, GPUs, hard drives, and CPUs generally produce enough heat that you should consider how you will keep them cool.
*'''Power Consumption''' - Make sure you select a power supply whose capacity is high enough to power everything in the computer you are building.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

Media directors will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, GPU cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep components cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an optical drive that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways.

The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

A [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 accepted rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or core/hybrid) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-17T23:34:52Z

Alx9r: /* Optical Drives */

Some decisions about the components that you select for your LinuxMCE computers are crucial to a smooth installation. Other component selection decisions are not as important since some components always just work. This guide is intended to help you focus on the crucial decisions about hardware selection specific to LinuxMCE computers. It is also meant to provide guidance on some of the less crucial component selection decisions.

===Normal Rules of Computer-Building Engagement Apply===
Many aspects of building LinuxMCE computers are no different from building any other PC. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you select, purchase, and assemble the components of your LinuxMCE computers. There are even guides [http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm on how to build a computer] if you have never done that before at all.

In addition to the specific recommendations in this wiki, make sure that you research your components with the following in mind:
*'''Cooling''' - All components need some heat removed from them. Power supplies, GPUs, hard drives, and CPUs generally produce enough heat that you should consider how you will keep them cool.
*'''Power Consumption''' - Make sure you select a power supply whose capacity is high enough to power everything in the computer you are building.

For any component you are contemplating, read as much information as you can about it. Oftentimes the most useful information about a component is posted in the form of a review -- either by another purchaser of the same component (like the reviews on product pages at [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337 newegg], [http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-Cache-ST31500341AS/product-reviews/B00066IJPQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 amazon], or [http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=33167&vpn=ST31500341AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1046#CustomerReviews NCIX]), or by a web site ([http://www.silentpcreview.com/article772-page1.html like this]) or blogger that has candidly reviewed the component.

Google is your friend when researching components.

===Audible Noise===
''Note: Cores and centralized media directors are often kept in a closet, utility room, or basement where their noise emission does not matter. If that is the case for the computer you are building, we recommend selecting components for better cooling rather than low noise.''

Media directors will be in your living space unless they are centralized, so it is important that they are not so loud that they are distracting or disturbing. Generally fans are the biggest noise makers. Fans can be found on CPU coolers, power supplies, GPU cards, and integrated into cases. We recommend that you find reviews that comment on the noise generated by any components with fans that you are considering.

Note that fans are designed into components to keep components cool. Cooling is also an important aspect of component selection. Expect to compromise between cooling capability and low audible noise when selecting components.

===Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips===
The selection of mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, network adapters, and audio chips are closely related to one another and crucial to a successful LinuxMCE installation. Their selection is covered in detail in [[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System|this article]].

===Optical Drives===
We recommend an optical drive that is connected to your mainboard using either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA SATA] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA PATA]. If you are considering an optical drive connected over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB USB] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire firewire] be sure to verify that other linux users have had success with the model you are considering.

The optical drive that you select should at least support reading [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc compact discs] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD DVDs]. Optical disc writing capabilities are not used by LinuxMCE so an optical drive capable of burning discs offers little advantage over read-only drives under normal use. You might, however, want to include an optical drive capable of writing on your core computer in case you want to copy data for maintenance or backup purposes.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc Blu-ray] playback is [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7346.msg46555#msg46555 not supported from optical drives built-in to media directors]. Blu-ray support can still be integrated into your LinuxMCE system in other ways.

The blu-ray playback limitation is inherited from linux itself. That is, once linux supports blu-ray playback, LinuxMCE will likely support it soon after.

===Storage===

====System Hard Drive====
We recommend that you include a hard drive in your core that will be used only for storing the LinuxMCE system and the operating system it is running on. This drive should be a physically separate drive from any drive that is used to store your media.

When you install or upgrade LinuxMCE, the process will normally require overwriting the entire partition where LinuxMCE is installed. If you keep media on that drive it will be deleted. Using a separate system drive allows your media to survive upgrading and reinstallation of LinuxMCE.

The system hard drive on the core will store the operating system and LinuxMCE software for both the core itself and each of the media directors. This has two effects worth noting:
*No hard drive is needed in media directors. Hard drives can be connected to media directors to store media but will not be used to host LinuxMCE system files.
*Each media director you include in your LinuxMCE system will require its own space on the core's system hard drive.

A [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4684.msg27410#msg27410 rule of thumb] for calculating the size of the system drive required for your LinuxMCE core (or core/hybrid) is 20 GB plus 7 GB for each additional media director.

====Media Storage====
Any hard drive connected to either the core or any of the media directors can be used by LinuxMCE to store media. In addition, any network attached storage on the INTERNAL network can also be used by LinuxMCE for media storage. The best way to store your media depends on a variety of factors. An entire topic is dedicated to the selection of media storage hardware. You can find it [[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System|here]].

===See Also===
[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

User:Alx9r

2009-05-17T23:28:13Z

Alx9r: /* Pages Under Construction */

=Sample User Setup=
I have moved my sample user setup to the wiki topic [[Alx9r's Sample Setup]].

=Extensions I'd Like to See Added to this Wiki=
*http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Cite/Cite.php for <ref></ref> style footnotes.
*http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ParserFunctions as needed for navboxes described at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Transwiki
*A mainstream Common.css (I suggest just copying wikipedia's).

=Stuff that ought to be in a "Newbie Portal"=

*Pointer to FAQ
*Hardware Selection
**graphics chips that work
**discrete codes, RS232 control
**general considerations
***esthetics
***noise
***slots
***storage
***com ports
**some summary of what is currently being used and pointer to sample user setups
*LinuxMCE Installation
**What to Expect
**Things to Contemplate Before the Installation
***Network Topology
***VDR vs Myth
***Audio and Video Connections
**Things you'll Probably Want to Have for the Install
***a monitor to use during some low-level operations
***another computer connected to the internet and the core
***an ssh client
***a keyboard and mouse, wireless is nice, synergy also works
*Some Common But Non-Automatic Setup Steps
**adding support for IR Remote
**controlling RS232 AV Equipment
*Organizing Media
*Getting Help
*Troubleshooting
**How to find and view logs (ie. /var/log/pluto, tail -f)

=Pages Under Construction=

[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

[[How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers]]

[[How to Integrate Blu-ray Support into Your LinuxMCE System]]

[[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for Your LinuxMCE System]]

User:Alx9r

2009-05-17T22:55:45Z

Alx9r: /* Pages Under Construction */

=Sample User Setup=
I have moved my sample user setup to the wiki topic [[Alx9r's Sample Setup]].

=Extensions I'd Like to See Added to this Wiki=
*http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Cite/Cite.php for <ref></ref> style footnotes.
*http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ParserFunctions as needed for navboxes described at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Transwiki
*A mainstream Common.css (I suggest just copying wikipedia's).

=Stuff that ought to be in a "Newbie Portal"=

*Pointer to FAQ
*Hardware Selection
**graphics chips that work
**discrete codes, RS232 control
**general considerations
***esthetics
***noise
***slots
***storage
***com ports
**some summary of what is currently being used and pointer to sample user setups
*LinuxMCE Installation
**What to Expect
**Things to Contemplate Before the Installation
***Network Topology
***VDR vs Myth
***Audio and Video Connections
**Things you'll Probably Want to Have for the Install
***a monitor to use during some low-level operations
***another computer connected to the internet and the core
***an ssh client
***a keyboard and mouse, wireless is nice, synergy also works
*Some Common But Non-Automatic Setup Steps
**adding support for IR Remote
**controlling RS232 AV Equipment
*Organizing Media
*Getting Help
*Troubleshooting
**How to find and view logs (ie. /var/log/pluto, tail -f)

=Pages Under Construction=

[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

[[How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers]]

[[How to Integrate Blu-ray Support into Your LinuxMCE System]]

[[How to Select Media Storage Hardware for You LinuxMCE Computers]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-17T22:53:45Z

Alx9r: /* Mainboards, RAM, CPUs, GPUs, Network Adapters, and Audio Chips */

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-17T22:53:17Z

Alx9r: /* Optical Drives */

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-17T22:52:50Z

Alx9r: /* Audible Noise */

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-17T22:49:18Z

Alx9r: /* Optical Drives */

User:Alx9r

2009-05-17T22:46:16Z

Alx9r: /* Pages Under Construction */

=Sample User Setup=
I have moved my sample user setup to the wiki topic [[Alx9r's Sample Setup]].

=Extensions I'd Like to See Added to this Wiki=
*http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Cite/Cite.php for <ref></ref> style footnotes.
*http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ParserFunctions as needed for navboxes described at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Transwiki
*A mainstream Common.css (I suggest just copying wikipedia's).

=Stuff that ought to be in a "Newbie Portal"=

*Pointer to FAQ
*Hardware Selection
**graphics chips that work
**discrete codes, RS232 control
**general considerations
***esthetics
***noise
***slots
***storage
***com ports
**some summary of what is currently being used and pointer to sample user setups
*LinuxMCE Installation
**What to Expect
**Things to Contemplate Before the Installation
***Network Topology
***VDR vs Myth
***Audio and Video Connections
**Things you'll Probably Want to Have for the Install
***a monitor to use during some low-level operations
***another computer connected to the internet and the core
***an ssh client
***a keyboard and mouse, wireless is nice, synergy also works
*Some Common But Non-Automatic Setup Steps
**adding support for IR Remote
**controlling RS232 AV Equipment
*Organizing Media
*Getting Help
*Troubleshooting
**How to find and view logs (ie. /var/log/pluto, tail -f)

=Pages Under Construction=

[[How to Select Mainboards for Your LinuxMCE System]]

[[How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers]]

[[How to Integrate Blu-ray Support into Your LinuxMCE System]]

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-17T22:02:30Z

Alx9r:

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-17T22:01:40Z

Alx9r: /* Audible Noise */

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-17T17:13:23Z

Alx9r: /* Normal Rules of Computer-Building Engagement Apply */

How to Select Components for Your LinuxMCE Computers

2009-05-17T17:04:10Z

Alx9r: /* Normal Rules of Computer-Building Engagement Apply */