Revision as of 03:48, 2 May 2008

My First System

In May 2008, I began building a LinuxMCE test system. I wanted to see if I could replicate at least part of what I saw in the Video. The test system system will hopefully become my main working home theatre system.

AV gear-wise, I started with a completely clean slate here as I was not invested in any home theatre gear.

The Hybrid Box

I decided to build a hybrid first to do a sanity check. My criteria for this machine was as follows:

Wherever possible use known-working components.
Wherever possible follow recommendations from forums, reviews, and wiki.
Use components in the price/performance sweet spot.
Aesthetics should be living-room friendly.

Bill of Materials

Component	Model	Price	Notes
Motherboard	ASUS M2NPV-VM	$94.01	used in Video
breakout	ASUS SPDIF-OUT/OPT	$9.02	SPDIF breakout board
breakout	ASUS 9PIN Serial Port Header	$6.60	two of these to breakout COM ports
CPU
heatsink	Scythe Mini Ninja Heatpipe Fanless Heatsink AM2	$38.98	should be good enough to cool w/o CPU fan
second ethernet adapter	ENCORE ENL832-TX-RENT	$8.68	based on Realtek_8139
HDD	Hitachi Deskstar P7K500 500GB	$87.20
case	Silverstone Lascala LC17B	$129.99	HTPC form factor, big enough to accomodate conversion to core

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-=My System=
+=My First System=
+In May 2008, I began building a LinuxMCE test system.  I wanted to see if I could replicate at least part of what I saw in the [[Video]].  The test system system will hopefully become my main working home theatre system.
-==Hybrid==
-===Hardware===
+AV gear-wise, I started with a completely clean slate here as I was not invested in any home theatre gear.
+===The Hybrid Box===
+I decided to build a '''hybrid''' first to do a sanity check.  My criteria for this machine was as follows:
+#Wherever possible use known-working components.
+#Wherever possible follow recommendations from forums, reviews, and wiki.
+#Use components in the price/performance sweet spot.
+#Aesthetics should be living-room friendly.
+====Bill of Materials====
 {| border="1"
-|+ Bill of Materials
 ! Component !! Model !! Price !! Notes
 |-
@@ Line 20: / Line 25: @@
 | SPDIF breakout board
 |-
+| breakout
+| ASUS [http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=23285&vpn=14%2D000000094&manufacture=ASUS 9PIN Serial Port Header]
+| $6.60
+| two of these to breakout COM ports
+|-
+| CPU
+|
+|
+|
+|-
+| heatsink
+| Scythe Mini Ninja Heatpipe Fanless Heatsink AM2
+| $38.98
+| should be good enough to cool w/o CPU fan
+|-
+| second ethernet adapter
+| ENCORE ENL832-TX-RENT
+| $8.68
+| based on [[Realtek_8139]]
+|-
+| HDD
+| Hitachi Deskstar P7K500 500GB
+| $87.20
+|
+|-
+| case
+| Silverstone Lascala LC17B
+| $129.99
+| HTPC form factor, big enough to accomodate conversion to core
+|}
-|}
+===The TV===
+===The Speakers===
+===The Orbiter===