User:Pnuts
Contents
Pnuts Introduction to LMCE
Prior to ever hearing about LMCE I had an extensive network that was based around Windows systems with a Windows XP MCE in the living room and an xbox 360 acting as an extender on my media\office room. Other than briefly touching Linux here or there, I know very little about it but have always wanted to learn more.
A coworker of mine heard about my setup at home and was looking into doing something similar himself. He had read\heard a lot about LMCE and mentioned it to me. Hearing Linux and being a fairly complete Windows user, I did no bother to look into it at all. Several months later, I was talking to the same coworker about possibly setting up webcams in a home i recently purchased to make my own low budget security system and was looking for software to do it with. He again mentioned LMCE and quickly shot over a link to this LinuxMCE Video.
After watching a minute of the video, I was hooked. I went about researching what i would need to do and planning out how to do it. Now here I am starting a Wiki page of my experiances from start to finish, or rather where i currently am in the setup, who really is ever finished. So here I am. I will update this page as I build out the network so check back for updates.
The Complete Home System
Here I will break out each system that is on my network and touch on any issues or problems i have or have had while getting everything up and running.
The Core
A Dell Optiplex 755
Specs
CPU: E6550 - Dual Core @ 2.33
RAM: 4gb RAM
PCI-E 16x: empty
PCI-1: 3com Fast EtherLink XL
PCI-2: Empty
PCI-E 1x: Empty
Sata0: Western Digital 74gb Raptor drive
Sata1: Western Digita 320gb Caviar drive
Sata2: Western Digita 320gb Caviar drive
Sata3: Optiarc DVD+-RW AD-7200S
The Failed attempt at a Core
I will remove this section once i get a Core and MD operational
The system I used for my Core already had a larger case and after talking it over on the forums, seemed to be a great fit for the job.
Specs
Mother Board: A8V Deluxe
CPU: AMD64 3800+
RAM: 4x512mb Kingston HyperX DDR. 2gb Total
AGP Slot: empty
PCI-1: ATI Radeon 7000 64mb DDR with VGP\DVI\S-Video Out
PCI-2: 3com Fast EtherLink XL
PCI-3: Empty
PCI-4: Empty
PCI-5: Empty
Onboard raid1: 2x Western Digital 74gb Raptor drives in Raid0 (Stripe) 148gb Total
Onboard raid2: 2x Western Digita 320gb Caviar drives in Raid1 (Mirror) 320gb Total
IDE: Generic DVD-RW high speed drive
Installation Issues
I will break out any issues I encountered with the above system here
A8V Deluxe Motherboard
I went with a PCI video card after reading about an issue when using the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500 MCE card together with an AGP card. I knew from a past experiance that i could not use a PCI raid card with an AGP video card on this system due to both having a PCI bridge, so i figured it to be true and didnt even bother to test it with an AGP card.
Dual Layer DVD not bootable
I believe this is an issue with the DVD drive itself as the laptop I burned the disk with is able to boot the DVD. Not going to bother with figuring out why and will use the single layer DVD instead.
Onboard Raid Controllers
Instead of the Raid controllers using the settings I choose in their respective setups, LMCE is detecting each drive independantly and not in a Raid. I will attempt to use software Raid on these drives after setup to see if i can get them to act how I want.
It looks like I will be unable to configure the raid prior to installation without some major work (well major since im a linux newbie). if anyone is interested, here is the information you need to get it working on a similair system: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FakeRaidHowto
During the installation, after the initial reboot asking me to remove the disk, i recieve Error 2 right after it attempts to load GRUB during startup. I decided to revert to my original choice and use an Optiplex 755 as the Core. I may eventually upgrade it to a different machine once i get more comfortable with Linux
