Linux Element media center

[Brackish]

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone could help me with this:

I am currently building a media center (3.2ghz cpu, 2gb ram, nvidia fx5200, 1tb hdd). Very basic. Now I don't want to use windowz, I came across the linux element HTPC OS, installed on a virtual machine and I like it especially cause it comes with XBMC but... will it be a good match? I am new to linux.

Do I need to get linux drivers for the graphics card, and where? How do I setup wine to autostart upon startup. (wine will be used for a wireless controller program that I love).

All this said... should I go linux or stay microsoft?

Thanx for all replies.

 

[Happy Camper]

I'm a linux fanboi so my opinion is somewhat biased. But I recommend a linux install, it will be stable and solid once you have it set up correctly. I recommend an Ubuntu install and then XBMC on top of that, there are countless walkthroughs on the web on how to install xbmc over ubuntu, just google. And if you get stuck are more than welcome to ask questions here. And besides, it will be good for you to wet your toes with linux in this way, good fun

GPU drivers can be downloaded off nvidias website, their support for linux is pretty damn good, you may be able to get away with using ndiswrapper which is a wireless sorta driver for linux rather than a full wine install, google it and see what other folks have done with that controller in Ubuntu.

 

[Hemps]

The XBMC Live install is that not based on uBuntu.

Would the xbmc live edition not be the best to install if you just want to use it as HTPC or are there drawbacks?

 

[Brackish]

Thans for the quick reply guys.

Hemps "Would the xbmc live edition not be the best to install if you just want to use it as HTPC or are there drawbacks? ". I have absolutely no idea about the xbmc live edition, where to get it, or anything...yet. I would like a OS underneath XBMC so I can still setup things if I need to.


Happy camper. I agree with you on the xbmc over ubuntu. But I see there is another os called Zorin OS. An Linux OS based on ubuntu, faster than window$ and more stable. I will download Zorin tonight and run a test on a virtual machine.
Thanks for the info in the GPU driver downloads on nvidia web page, that was a big concern.

OS's that are on the list for the media center is: Element HTPC, Zorin, Ubuntu, opensuze and fedora.

Camper, what are your thoughts on Crunchbang?

Any other thoughts on this matter?

 

[Happy Camper]

The reason i recommend Ubuntu is that its quite an easy system to adapt to coming straight from windows. When you are more familiar with the workings and little quirks of linux then i suggest trying one of the other flavours. Ubuntu is well supported and many problems you run into have already been solved by other users, so it's quite easy to get going if you have a web connection and some search skills Get the latest Ubuntu downloaded, for you a would recommend the LTS version of Natty Narwahl, 32bit prolly being the most stable. Once you have it installed just follow a walkthrough to install xbmc (which I think you can just install straight from synaptic package manager)...easy

I've never heard of crunchbang but will check it out now

 

[nic777]

I have XBMC running on an old PC and its very good, especially because it has been tweaking to run XBMC so boot up is super fast and when you choose shutdown, it powers off. Same with suspend, etc.

You wouldn't know it run Linux and all seems to be like an embedded media center.

Not sure what drivers they have for your card but probably if it works with Ubuntu, the live cd should have it.

In summary, try it!

 

[Brackish]

@Happy Camper.

I have the latest 32bit of ubuntu installed on a virtual machine. Quite like it and yes very user friendly for us window$ users. Just to get back to the wireless controller. I have a xgear wireless controller and I am using it with pinnacle gaming profiler, since there is no win7 driver for this device. With PGP I can program buttons to the keyboard and have the controller fully functional with XBMC.

I will still checkout ndiswrapper but it seems like a wireless network like driver.