Difference between revisions of "User:Jondecker76"

Revision as of 15:55, 26 June 2008

Hello. My name is Jon Decker, and I live in north-eastern Ohio, USA.

I first got started with LinuxMCE in January of 2008 by installing it on an old junked computer. At first, I couldn't get much of anything to work, and finding answers wasn't all that easy. As I started reading more and learned more, I decided to do a full setup and so I purchased some new equipment.

My current Setup is as follows:

General

1 Core/Hybrid with internal software RAID 3 "Generic PC" MD's 4x Datalux iPix 15" industrial touchscreen computers as orbiters

My installation servers my Living Room/Theatre Room (Core/Hybrid), my bedroom, and 2 children's bedrooms. There is a 15" touchscreen orbiter mounted in each of the rooms.

I have an extensive X10 setup in my house that was in place before LMCE. Every light switch in my home is X10 compatible along with almost every outlet, and many of my apploances have internal "hard-wired" x-10 modules in them. Although X10 isn't the best automation solution around (though they are reliable and cheap), I decided to integrate them with my LMCE installation. X10 integration was broken at the time, and with me having so much riding on my X10 setup, that is where I decided to get into developing. Within 3 weeks and with some help from some great people, all of my X10 devices were working and much of the CM11A (X10) source code was rewritten.

Core

4U Rackmount server case with 11 drive bays 650W Logisys 82Plus certified power supply Asus M2NPV-VM motherboard 2GB RAM 2x DVD drives Integrated NVidia 6150 graphics card AMD BE2400 low wattage dual-core processor 1x500GB system drive for LMCE OS and LiveTV recording 3x1TB software RAID media storage drives Hauppauge PVR-500 dual capture card CM11A x10 interface USBUIRT W800RF32 X10 wireless receiver with external antenna Bluetoot Dongle

My core is hidden away in a closet, and serves the TV in the livingroom as a Hybrid MD. I've had very few problems with this core regarding compatibility. It normally runs right along for weeks at a time between reboots. This core is big and heavy and loud (I keep all of the case fans on all of the time to keep all of those drives nice and cool) - however, with the closet door closed you can't hear it and wouldn't even know it is there.

The USBUIRT is mounted in my livingroom (which is just on the other side of the closet)and controls my Vizio VW37L LCD tv, a Panasonic Receiver, a Screenplay 4805 DLP Projector, a motorized ceiling-mount projector screen and an NFusion Nova F2A receiver. IR transmission has always been extremely reliable, but a lot of that has to do with good placement of the USBUIRT.

Every one of my systems hooks to a TV over a standard VGA port. I found that using component ports produced horrible overscans on every different TV I tried, and using regular SVideo and Composite didn't give me the fidelity I needed. I am very happy with the choice, and prefer to use VGA as my connection method for video devices.

Master Bedroom

MD is an old nasty computer I got for free P4 1.5ghz 512MB RAM Nvidia 5200 graphics card (PCI) DVD drive No hard drive (diskless) Motherboard: ???? (i'll check and add it late) USBUIRT Esoniq 16 bit sound card (model #?) Very loud sound card! Bluetooth Dongle

This has ben a GREAT performing MD. It never crashes, has no trouble handling HD video (tested to 720p). It is pretty quiet, and can be turned on and off at the command of LMCE with no problem.

This MD is hooked to a Magnavox 32" LCD tv. I would not recommend this TV to anybody!!! It is coming down next month and being replaced with either a 32" or a 37" vizio. This TV has a horrible problem of resetting the screen settings every time the power is cycled, so each time it turns on I have to dial it in. This TV is the only device in this room at this time that is controlled via the USBUIRT.

Child's bedroom #1

MD was the existing old computer in that room Dell Dimension B2400?? (the cheapest computer Dell sold at that time ($299 with monitor)) P4 2.4 ghz 512 MB RAM 80 GB HD (used for media storage) DVD drive NVidia geforce 5600

Call my kids spoiled, but I have always let them go to bed with a movie. It used to take half an hour to get them to bed because of picking out a DVD etc... Now, when it is time to go to bed, they just use their touch screen, pick out a movie, and hit a "Bed Time" scenario button that turns their light off, turns a night light on and sets the sleep timer on the TV for 90 minutes. Now, getting them to bed is easy as ever!

This MD is hooked up to a 32" Vizio. There is no USBUIRT in this room yet, but will be soon.

This MD has also been a very solid performer. I haven't looked into it yet, but the core can't power this MD On remotely (which isn't a huge problem really).

In both children's rooms, i bought computer desks that sat a little higher than normal, and mounted the TV's on the wall just above the desks. This setup allows the TV to be used for watching movies from their bed, or as 32" monitors for their computing needs. This was another factor for deciding to go with VGA connections to the TV.

Child's Bedroom #2

MD was an existing old computer that we had gotten for free Gateway (model#?) 256 MB RAM P4 1.7 Ghz 80GB internal HDD for media storage NVidia Gaforce 5200 (128MB) DVD drive

Again, an old computer that someone was going to junk, so I took it. This one, even though it has very little RAM, still runs amazingly well. It never stutters or glitches or crashes. This one also will power on remotely from the core. This MD is also hooked to a 32" Vizio. There is no USBUIRT on this MD yet either, but I will be adding one soon.