Difference between revisions of "User:Sambuca"

Revision as of 01:07, 19 January 2008

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About me

I am educated as a computer programmer, having done some C++ programming and doing Java (J2EE) programming as a living. This is the first open source project that I have tried to involve myself in.

As I have a wife and a house besides my work, I don't have much time to do LinuxMCE related stuff (although I definitely would like to). Because of that, so far, my contribution has been mostly forum posts and some wiki article edits.

My interest in LinuxMCE

I started using Linux in 2002, and after a few years, I saw the great potential that is in the Linux system. So when I was searching for a media centre system for my apartment, I was no stranger to Linux, and in fact, I tried to find a Linux system, to avoid paying for licenses for other systems. My first Media system was Freevo, which looks somewhat like the standard media centre systems, with a menu with the main TV, movies, music, and pictures options.

When I was building a new house in 2005, I made sure I could reach every room with cables. I installed plastic tubes going to every room (even the bathroom), to be able to install network cables there later on.

My idea is to add home automation devices when the economy and time allows for it. If you know some cheap devices that can be used in Norway, let me know. I'm not sure I like the X10 stuff, since people say they are pretty old and limited.

What I miss in LinuxMCE

While I like the interface of LinuxMCE and the possibility of controlling the whole house with it, I think I lacks severely in the area of a media centre. I know other users think this also, from the forum posts. What I personally think lacks, is this (with my 1. priority first):

• Internet radio (I usually start a stream from some internet radio when I have a party, so I don't have to think any more of the music playing)
• Usefull playlist editing (the current playlist editing (excuse the language) SUCKS!! Plain and simple. Several people have pointed this out on the forum already.)
• Long boot times for PXE booted MDs (this I have partially worked around. I figured out how to suspend and resume my MD, but it currently requires suspending the MD from a console window).

My current setup

I currently have one core (Intel Core2 CPU 4400, RAID5 - 3x320GB disk, 2GB RAM), and primarily one MD in my main livingroom (Celeron 1.7GHz, 512MB ram). I also have two other MDs, one to get music in my bathroom (an old Celeron 300Mhz, with very little memory, 32-64MB), and one which really is my desktop computer, which I only use for testing.

The old Celeron barely copes with playing audio in its current setup. This is because the system running on a MD requires quite a bit of memory to just start up, and when starting the Xine player, it actually goes out of memory. I solved this by deactivating some of the services that normally run on a MD. Can't remember them at this moment.

I'll probably add more to this page when I have the time.