Debian :: Which Distro To Setup Temporary Media Center
Dec 10, 2010
I am trying to setup a temporary media center because the one I was using died. The computer I have to work with is a crappy old computer and its only purpose is going to be a middle man between a server I have for movie storage, and my TV. I don't want to spend any money right now because I'm working on building a MythTV system at home, so until then I'm trying to setup this temporary solution. The computer I have to work with is a Dell Optiplex GX150, everything stock.
I'm looking for a distro that is light enough to run on this machine without any problems (about a 1 gighz processor and a 1/2 a gig of ram), can display movies just fine, and must be able to support 1080 resolution. I've tried Mint 10, but that's way too top heavy, as is Ubuntu 10.10 and 10.04. I also tried gOS which displayed the resolution just fine, but was WAY too resource intense for this machine... Just clicking on the menu took 5-10 seconds same as with Mint.
View 4 Replies
ADVERTISEMENT
Sep 6, 2010
I have a linux box set up as a multi-purpose server for my home with three Windows client PC's. The linux box is based on a slightly modified Slackware 9.0 distribution using Linux 2.4.20 and an unfortinately old, slow AMD processor with a miserable 512Kb RAM. The linux box serves the CIFS file system to the Windows boxes, runs the SQUID HTTP proxy, the Apache web server, a print server, does masquerading, mail serving and a very effective firewall using iptables.
This system, although slow, has run perfectly for several years.Let me say that again - This system works perfectly.I had decided that now is the time to upgrade the hardware, so I bought a Gigabyte LGA775 motherboard which has two 1Gb network interfaces on it, an ASUS 256Mb PCI-E display card, 2Gb of DDR3 RAM, an Intel Core2-Quad processor and a bunch of 500Gb SATA drives to set up a RAID5 array (but I intend that the system boot off one of several 40Gb PATA drives I have).I set up the processor, motherboard, display card, RAM, a SATA DVD Drive and a 40Gb PATA hard disk in a "breadboard" layout and installed distro 13.1, being careful to set up the static IP for the local network, dhcpcd to get an IP address from the cable modem (my internet connection) and to enable ip_forward in the network configuration.
Then I installed a script invoked by /etc/rc.d/rc.local which installed all the SAME iptables rules as my old Linux box. There was one minor glitch when I had to change 8 occurrences of "-d ! $LOCAL_NET to" "! --destination $LOCAL_NET" but that was no problem. I also set up /etc/resolv.conf, /etc/hosts , the BIND server files etc. etc. exactly as in the old box.
I am able to ping mirror.aarnet.edu.au (this is at the heart of Australia's internet hub network - if it's down the whole bloody thing is down) and have the system find the correct IP from the designated nameservers and contact that server with a return trip time of 35ms. I am able to run a telnet session from one of the Windows boxes and edit files on the Linux server. So both network interfaces work and I've got them the right way around.I am able to run FTP on one of the Windows boxes and connect through to mirror.aarnet.edu.au, although it seems to hang when I try a DIR (but then so does the old linux system).
View 83 Replies
View Related
Jan 31, 2010
So I've got old components from my previous computer I'd like to use to build a media center. Here's what I have:
Case
550W PSU
MSI K8NEO 4 Platinum MOBO
[code]...
View 3 Replies
View Related
Jun 9, 2010
I've been thinking of turning my old computer into a media center for a while now (it was running Ubuntu Server 9.10). I recently bought a new 23inch screen so.. out with the server, in with the media center! (currently Xubuntu but running on LXDE as it's a lot lighter) My problem: The computer barely manages to play 720p videos on XBMC (on ..... or totem/vlc it's just impossible with breaks, lag and constant freezes).. I used the debug function of XBMC and guess what.. a 720p movie takes my cpu to a constant 100% usage!! =X
So here's my question.. what distro or 'buntu flavor would you advise me to use?? I thought about a minimal install but don't want to try it just yet..
[Code]....
View 6 Replies
View Related
Apr 20, 2011
I'm looking for some advice for setting up a media center, which will be hooked up to my flat screen TV. I think I've got most of the technical bits figured out with an Acer with 4 gigs of memory. What I need are some words of wisdom about choices for software and the like:
Is it worth the trouble to install Boxee or XMBC, or to play music and videos using VLC, etc.? I realize I won't be able to stream Netflicks without Boxee, but I haven't decided if that's a breaking point or not. Do I want to connect the computer to the TV screen directly through HDMI, or connect the computer to my receiver, which is already hooked up to the TV? I'm cheap enough to want to take advantage of the receiver, but I'm also wondering if sound quality will be better, since it's connected to my speakers and the TV just has internal speakers. Remote. Do I want to try and figure out how to use one of the several remotes that I currently own, or is it just easier to buy a computer-compatible remote?
View 1 Replies
View Related
Apr 19, 2011
I have a pretty powerful computer and GPU that I'd like to fully utilize.I've been using Linux for the better part of 10 years and I'd like to know (as I can't think of a way) how I can use a single PC as a desktop AND a media center.My vision would be to essentially have to separate workstations on one PC. My desk monitor will be station one (desktop) and my TV will be station two (media center)... both should work independently of each other as if neither knows the other exists.
View 2 Replies
View Related
Jan 1, 2010
I'm trying to put together a home media center from some old hardware I have. I'm looking at running something like Mythbuntu, Freevo, or Boxee. The computers accessing it would be a couple Ubuntu PCs and a Mac. I'm also wondering if there are good class-compliant (that is the term, right?) audio interfaces for multiple outputs.
What I am trying to set up is a media server to store media (mostly mp3s, some movies) that I will access over the network, which is a combination of wireless and wired. I'd like to have controls in each room for what's playing on separate speakers in different rooms, and the volume. It'd be nice to be able to output from my main desktop, also. This will take some time to put together, so I'd like to start with a good foundation. I found this comparison pretty helpful, by the way:[URL]..
View 1 Replies
View Related
Feb 11, 2010
i am using ubuntu media on a desktop for all of my multimedia needs and i just installed jaunty (alt install) on an old gateway solo laptop(266 mhz and 186mb ram) to use as my controller/remote using desktop sharing, the problem is the laptop can't keep up with the desktop and everything is all jerky (especially watching dvds). So here are the questions, what can i uninstall from the laptop to make performance better and/or is there another option short of buying a wireless keyboard/mouse (I'm poor and use what I have(besides i like having an up-close display for text and stuff)).
View 9 Replies
View Related
Feb 12, 2010
I'm trying to set up Ubuntu with Boxee and MythTV as a media centre. I'm currently stuck at displaying a picture on my TV screen. I only have an Intel onboard graphics chip, and so I bought a VGA-to-TV box to convert the signal. This is USB powered and has VGA in, S-Video, Component and VGA out. I have it connected to an external monitor by VGA and to the TV by component cable into a SCART adapter (along with a mini-jack to phono cable from the sound card).
I was hoping that the box would handle the settings for the TV screen, but all I'm seeing are flashing lines of colour, so I'm guessing I have to change the settings. Eventually, I want to get the TV to be widescreen, but I'd like it to work first! I have created an xorg.conf file and put in three extra modes.
- first, an 800x600 VGA to PAL TV converter from [URL]... - second and third, two resolutions generated by the calculator, based on the SwitchResX settings for my MacBook to connect to the same TV. Now I'm sure you want to see a whole load of settings from my machine, but sadly I don't know what settings you'll need to see.
View 1 Replies
View Related
Aug 27, 2010
I am trying to build a media center for music for me and my roommates to use. Basically I want to build a system just for playing music. Idealy (dare i mention itunes in here) I would love a computer just just booted into itunes(orsomething like it (or better) that just was for playing music.
I plan on buying a computer, like a tiny desktop (i dont want to take up a lot of room) with a huge hard drive just for holding music, and needs usb drives/cd drive for loading music onto it (or just a usb drive). Then get a small screen, not huge with a remote that does not run on wife. Also would like a keyboard on the remote if possible.
Anywho whats a good media center, and can I boot just straight into the media center? I would like support for; browse by artist, album and just song name. Also I would like to be able to make playlist within it, and it needs to be able to support a massive amount of songs.
desktop computers to use for this project and remotes that I could use? Also how would you suggest the best way to go about doing this? I would love if it booted straight into the media player. Internet is not a huge deal to me, might connect to internet once just to grab album artwork. So a media player that auto fetches artwork too would also be nice.
View 2 Replies
View Related
Apr 18, 2011
I have a ViewSonic Windows Media PC. Would it be possible to get Ubuntu on it and get all of the information I need for the drivers that I'll have to somehow install to make it work on Ubuntu? I was going to work on an ancient POS but I can't get it to boot from USB and I have no CD-ROM for it.
View 5 Replies
View Related
Jun 6, 2011
I want to measure the system load on my Ubuntu media center computer. What commands and utilities are available? I've explored the w, top, iostat, and uptime commands. Anything else I could use?
View 5 Replies
View Related
Oct 11, 2010
I've been looking around for the past week, but I have yet to find anything yet that provides a media center solution using Ubuntu + Xbox 360, comparable to Windows 7 + Xbox 360.
I want to drop Windows 7 completely on my media PC, and just use Ubuntu (or Linux Mint). I've tried ushare, XBMC, Moovida, and a few other apps. Either they don't support sharing, or it's difficult to configure, or it is a cheap looking solution.
Is there no way to use my Xbox 360 for a smooth media center experience, similar to how it functions as a Media Center Extender for Win7, while replacing Win7 w/ Ubuntu?
I'm even open to commercial Linux solutions, I'm just hoping to be able to drop Win7 if possible..
View 4 Replies
View Related
Jan 6, 2011
I got it into my head to change the graphics card in my Ubuntu 10.04 media center. I removed my old ATI card and installed a new ASUS ENGT 430. I tried to uninstall the ATI drivers and associated software prior to this but obviously I didn't get it all. When I boot into X it takes me in under low graphics mode. I've tried rebuilding my xorg.conf. I've installed the driver from the ASUS site and nothing.
I decided to swap in my old ATI card and obviously I've not cleared all the ATI artifacts as the low graphics mode that machine first booted into was at the high resolution that I was running previously. I uninstalled all Nvidia software but now I'm not even able to get the old ATI software to work. Jockey sees the drivers after I install them through the Software Center but they're not really working. XBMC won't start for GL reasons.
What do I need to purge all graphics drivers and install the nVidia driver? I've got a feeling if I started from scratch I could get it to work but I seriously don't want to reinstall everything. I've worked hard to get my XBMC config just so and I don't want to lose everything
View 2 Replies
View Related
Jan 17, 2010
I'm about at wit's end trying to figure out how to get Fedora 10 (can't go upgrade past that version, due to no more support for the integrated Radeon S300 graphics) on my HP Media Center desktop to resume after suspend- or to disable suspend, or anything that will prevent the computer from hanging after a period of inactivity. I have tried various combinations of noapm, noacpi, s4_nohwsig, etc., etc.; nothing helped. Actually, noacpi might have helped, I don't know, because disabling ACPI somehow disables internet as well, and I'm not willing to pay that price.I went into the CMOS RAM setup (both before and after updating the BIOS to the latest version), and the only Power options available were "After AC Power Failure," "WOL in S4," and "XD (Execute Disable)."Does anyone perchance know the magical solution to make the problem go away, aside from reverting to Windows?
P.S. The specs:
Dual-Boot XP / Fedora10 with GRUB bootloader
PentiumD 820(S) DC 2.8 GHz (800 MHz FSB, Socket 775)
[code]...
View 2 Replies
View Related
Feb 6, 2010
I have recently put Ubuntu on a friend's computer. I can access the windows partition and everything through Ubuntu. When I go to restart, his Windows XP Media Center Edition is in the boot loader's list but when I go to boot into it all I get is a black screen with a flash _ at the top left. It then just continues to sit there. I was wondering if maybe GRUB was looking in the wrong spot for the OS.
Before I installed Linux he was having problems with Windows XP, which is one reason why I switched him to Ubuntu. For some reason his computer was booting his HP Recovery partition instead of his Windows partition on start up. I was hoping by putting Ubuntu on and using GRUB as a boot loader I would be able to load Windows and Ubuntu side by side as it is on my machine. Windows still doesn't work though I hope people can help me out. I know this isn't really an Ubuntu question but I was unsure where to post boot loader questions.
View 3 Replies
View Related
Jul 19, 2010
Has anyone had experience building a dedicated multimedia center? I know Its going to be ubuntu based and probably run xbmc. I've seen a pc case to use but I dont know if the remote control for it can work under ubuntu or any other distro. Has anyone had success making a remote control for an ubuntu based media center work?
View 3 Replies
View Related
Jul 27, 2010
I've just finished installing the software on the box. I've made it a dual-boot but want to set the default to Windows XP Media Center so my grandson can work with it. I want to change the boot configuration file but the documentation show working with menu.lst file but I can't find it. How do I make the changes without blowing grub out of the water?
View 2 Replies
View Related
May 23, 2010
i have geforce 8800 gts, ubuntu 10.04 when i don't install nvidia drivers movies plays great ( including HD) but programs (games,media center) does not play well at all choppy when i do install the opposite is correct movies plays choppy but all other progs plays great.
View 1 Replies
View Related
Aug 12, 2009
I am attempting to setup a network to network VPN tunnel between our main office and a temporary location. This location need full VPN access back to the main office's network.Anyhow we have spent about 3 solid days attempting to make this work without any great success. Here is our network scheme for these two devices.
Network A (Main Office) (OpenBSD using isakmpd)
Network: 172.16.8.0/24
External IP: 1.1.1.1 (obviously not the real IP)[code].....
View 2 Replies
View Related
Feb 24, 2010
When i try to copy files from my samba server (Ubuntu 9.10) to my windows seven media center, the speed is extremely slow. So slow that is better to download 100mb file from the internet, than from my lan. And on my lan, every card and switch is at 1000 mbps speeds on cat5 cables. And from XP or other linux machine
View 1 Replies
View Related
Mar 2, 2011
While browsing forums.debian.net, sometimes, I experience temporary freezes (a few seconds) while scrolling. This, obviously happens while browsing other sites.I am using Iceweasel (3.5.16) in Squeeze. Squeeze is fully updated. Does anyone know why this is happening because I have only I page and one tab at the moment?
edbarx@edbarx-pc2:~$ free -m
total used freehared buffers cached
Mem: 2972 546 2426018 315
[code]....
View 12 Replies
View Related
May 3, 2010
Is there a way to update my distro with a newer version and not disturb saved media files? Music and pictures etc. Can I move them to another partition. Its there a better way than to save it to disk?
View 13 Replies
View Related
Mar 27, 2010
Got an old computer running XP like a snail Would like to use as a childs first computer Specs Pentium 3 799Mhz 128 RAM 20GB HDD Looking for an appropriate version of Linux Distro if any to set up and run.
View 14 Replies
View Related
Jan 5, 2015
My printer has stopped working.
1. I am unsure if any system changes have occured. I am sure I must have changed something, but apparently did not document it.
2. Printer does work from other computers
3 Computer was originally wireless connected, but switched to USB. This had no affect. Well I can scan now so great.
4, Printer is HP 6500a.
5. Printer has worked from this computer before
6 This is from cups error log:
D [05/Jan/2015:11:47:48 -0500] [Job 147] Set job-printer-state-message to "Can't copy stdin to temporary file", current level=ERROR
D [05/Jan/2015:11:47:48 -0500] [Job 147] prnt/hpcups/HPCupsFilter.cpp 536: cupsRasterOpen failed, fd = 0
View 7 Replies
View Related
Feb 28, 2010
I have this ancient Dell Dimension V333 with a Pentium II 333 MHz and 320MB RAM that my family needs for web browsing, word processing, etc. What I need is a distro that is easy to setup and install and easy to use because they have only ever used windows (and a little ubuntu).
View 10 Replies
View Related
Aug 11, 2010
I'm trying to set up a machine to "drive" a piece of equipment (a metal plate embosser [kind of like a daisywheel printer for credit card sized pieces of metal], FWIW). What I ideally want is a linux distro that I can boot from CD (I think the term is Live CD?), log itself in as a user and display only a console. It needs to be able to support windows fileshares and python.
Essentially it needs to boot, connect to a single fileshare on a Win2k8 machine, and be able to execute a couple of scripts that will output to a serial port. One of them will be more or less the following:
wget http://WEBSITE/?<parameter passed to script> --quiet --output-document=<name of serial port>
The other is a somewhat more complicated Python script that processes a CSV spreadsheet and produces data for the machine.
View 3 Replies
View Related
Mar 15, 2011
Situation- Laptop (2003 made Toshiba 2410) with dead secondary controller, so no CDDVD drive, BIOS does not support any form of booting from USB. Laptop has working floppy (had to repair it) distros that are good for older units like that that also support booting from diskettes, and then can mount and install from a USB CDDVD rom drive.
View 7 Replies
View Related
Dec 4, 2010
I am runing debian-5 (lenny), the default kernel 2.6.26 was unable to start the x so i installed the new kernel linux-image-2.6.32-5-686_2.6.32-28_i386.deb, now x works, but there is problem building modules for the intel soft modem linux driver hsfmodem-7.60.00.00oem which is supplied in the modem cd by the intel company.
I installed these kernel packages for this purpose:
linux-base_2.6.32-28_all.deb
linux-image-2.6.32-5-686_2.6.32-28_i386.deb
linux-headers-2.6.32-5-486_2.6.32-28_i386.deb
[code]....
in all these cases hsfconfig failed with the above error,
View 2 Replies
View Related
Aug 8, 2011
How to setup/install a vividwireless USB broadband 4g modem on Ubuntu 11.04 distro?
# lsusb... yes, the modem type is an Huawei bm358 Wimax USB stick from vividwireless vendor,it shows mac address as follows: 641f03d903e...
cottoned on to the blah about bogus 4g... why the lies I wonder, apparently there is no 4g in Australia!
View 6 Replies
View Related
