New computer up and running
It’s actually for HTPC usage — so i’ll still be gaming on the trusty thinkpad. I finished putting it all together and tweaking tonight.
Zotac IONITX D-E Motherboard … basically a nvidia 9400 with a dual core Atom CPU stuck on it
Atom Dual-Core 330 (stuck permanently to mentioned motherboard), fanless
2GB of OCZ RAM (DDR2-800)
30GB OCZ Vertex SSD
Antec ISK 300-65 Case
Hauppage remote control (soon to be replaced by a Logitech Harmony)
Running Ubuntu Linux 9.04 (minimal install – no desktop) with XBMC providing the pretty stuff on the 42” TV. Media storage is provided by a couple of external 1TB HDDs hidden behind everything.
Whilst playing a 1080p movie (smoothly) and ripping a DVD in the background it runs silently and draws 35W whilst hitting a max temp of around 60 degrees. At idle it draws only 10W, so I leave it on all the time. It does, however, boot up in about 15s if need be.
I haven’t bothered with TV tuning or recording yet, as I don’t really find much on TV to interest me. Maybe sometime later.
All in all a successful build for about $700 in bits, not including the external drives which I already had.
Comments
owwwww
new shiny shiny
dule core atom is it really quite LT
what case did you end up getting
ta
Robag
as they say...
pics or it didnt happen!
yes
I want to see it! :)
.
Nice setup Lt. Did you put an optical drive in that? They only take the laptop style optical drives right?
Answers...
@Robag: The case is the Antec ISK 300-65
@Shad/Kraizen: Pics soon
@Fuzz: I'm waiting on delivery of a slim-line DVD R/W that will fit in the case, it should arrive Monday
Photos
http://picasaweb.google.com/lukemonahan/MediaCenter#
wooo lt!
that looks funkier then i was expecting!
am very interested to know more…
also, love the inter-fase, would love to know more about that aye!
but, dark city? ltmon: /me Forehead Slap!
.
Cool. So you installed the OS from a USB stick?
Your removable HD’s, they’re connected via USB / Esata at the back? If esata, do you notice the difference between watching media on USB vs esata?
looks sweet :) *waves to
looks sweet :)
*waves to patch
Self made speakers, did you make yourself a sand thumper amplifier?
I installed from a USB
I installed from a USB external DVD drive I borrowed from work.
The HDD is connected via USB, it doesn’t have esata. I doubt I would notice the difference, as the bandwidth of USB2 is enough to keep up with high def media — and most of my stuff is standard def anyway.
All the thumbnails, covers and fanart are cached on the solid state drive so there is little to no seek time when browsing the interface. I also put my photos on the solid state drive, as that makes them faster to flick through.
Interace
XBMC is pretty funky, and has a number of very high quality interfaces.
This video gives a pretty good idea of how the one I have works — although I use a more recent and modified version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImwHHdI8s0A
> but, dark city? ltmon: /me Forehead Slap!
You are dead to me.
;)
Speakers etc.
The speakers use a single driver full range cone made by Tang Band. The enclosure they are in is a design called a TABAQ (Tang-Band Quarter wave). Due to there only being one quite sensitive driver per speaker, and it being 4 ohm impedance (instead of the normal 8, so you get up to to double effectiveness from the right amp) it doesn’t need much power to get going very loudly.
I built for that a 25W per channel amp, centered around an AMP6 deisgn from 41hz.com. Here’s some photos
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/1783/p1000265.jpg
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/5866/p1000266s.jpg
The sound output from the HTPC is a home build external DAC (digital-to-analogue converter) which is essentially a sound card cut down to it’s most basic function. It is very high quality: the parts cost me $300, so a fully assembled commercial equivalent would be pretty damn expensive. Here’s the site for it’s design: http://www.amb.org/audio/gamma1/
The amp and speakers will get replaced when I have the time and money (with these speakers if my wife lets me: http://www.visaton.com/en/bauvorschlaege/breitband/noboxbb/index.html :)
owwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
so sweet Ltmon
love your work
i have been messing arouud with Mythbuntu,but XBMC looks like the go for me.
ps “w00f w00ff (hi patch)”
ta
Robag
lol
love the little boom box amp .
One person that I know who made his own speakers filled the stand with good sand to transmit the airwave boom into the floor, those towers look like a perfect project ;)
It's common...
Sand in the base cavity is a pretty common feature. It’s more for steadiness, and preventing extra vibrations I think, rather than coupling the speaker to the floor — the sand tends to deaden soundwaves rather than transmit them.
I would have to make these taller to do that (speaker volume is quite specifically calculated… not just a random box size), which in hindsight probably would have been the thing to do.
Myth versus XBMC
XBMC = best for fixed media on a hard drive or network share.
MythTV = best for live tv and recordings
A common setup is to have a MythTV “server” recording shows to a hard drive, that is then accessed by XBMC for a frontend.
I don’t find anything good on tv these days anyway, so I haven’t bothered. Buying the DVD is so much less painful than dealing with recording, time shifting, ad skipping etc. If I can’t buy the DVD… that’s what torrents are for.
Dream Setup
You pretty much have the base for what I hope to achieve one day.
Definitely a PC to control the set up.
You have ethernet /me Slap Forehead, duh!
I think I would get a palm computer to do the remote work, with either a custom OS or custom software. Bluetooth would be a nice way to hide the little IR receiver.
Remotes
You can easily buy a case with inbuilt IR receiver. Or (with a bigger case) you could use one of these: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=408&pro...
I considered bluetooth (control with phone, PS3 remote, Wiimote), but decided against it as I want to use a universal remote one day, and I don’t know of any with bluetooth.
XMBC is also controllable over the network with an iPhone app, a J2ME (java phone) app and a web app.
Nice Interface
Great Setup, g00d 2 C it up and running……
I g0t given the Logitech Harm0ny 1100 and I must say it’s the w0rst Rem0te I have every used, DO NOT GET 1
m0st 0f the Logitech Harm0ny’s use the web interface system and it sucks badly…
I w0uld rec0mmend the Philips Prestigo SRU8015
This 1 w0rks well with n0 web interfaces……
Oh and if y0u want Mega Butt0ns with n0 screen and easy t0 setup check 0ut the Sony Remote Commander AX1400..
l00k f0rward 2 hearing what Rem0te U ch00se….
n0mad
Options...
Great to know there are options out there!
You have done a great job there mate.
true, not my area :)
I always try to visualise :)
Its actually a pity i’m not qualified to do full smart wiring or I’d come over and install a few new wall panel switches for you :)
Congratulations
There is nothing like having a new PC, may it serve you well. Treat it like your offspring :)
Post new comment