Hi
The last few weeks waiting for projector parts I have been working on the pc to run this thing.
Decided against the N6 for a couple reasons but the decisions been made. HTPC ...
New Motherboard from Fry's AMD 2500 cpu
512 DDR stays
Antec SOHO Dragon Case, 4 fans stays.
New DVD Rom 16X , Frys
New Video card, Radeon 9600se 128mb pci , Frys
New Sound card, Turtle Creek w/ optical output, going to Yamaha Reciever for surround processing.
New TV Tuner card, Winfast PVR, Frys
New Hard Drive 160 Gb,Frys
All together around $450.
Installed everything and got it up and running on the BenQ monitor BEFORE I took it apart to build projector.
Everything works perfect.
DVD's play full screen at the highest settings, Resolution and quality.
TV tuner comes with remote control and an "Eye" on about a 6 ft cable so you can place it where you want.
PVR Works without being hooked into TIVO !!!
Upgraded DVD software to Power DVD5 and what they call an
Audio Enthusiast Pack for PowerDVD 5
Its a delight to push something as hard as it will go and it just does it . Not even breathing hard.
Patiently waiting for parts Steve
Full Version: HTPC
This part sux when in the middle of a movie:
Well in a related story to the windows proection error I was speaking to an owner at a computer shop in my town, He was telling me of a HTPC box which is Linux based that is been released soon.
He told me it had a retail price of $1800AUD
Well, my jaw dropped. That's absolutely ludicrious, you can build one for EASILY half that amount.
I've looked a little into Linux based systems, but not much. My gripe with linux, is that a) I've have very little experience with it
Compatibility with most audio, video and digital tuner cards is limited at best. On the other hand linux is more reliable than windows.
I was thinking, I saw not long ago something called WindowsLite which was windows 98 but streamlimed, removing internet explorer and all that other junk.
I was thinking possibly trying to get something like a streamlimed win2k or winxp setup with all the s*hit removed. There's no need for windows explorer or any of that, really all that's needed is a good front end to control access to your dvd playback, music, tv, recording, etc.
He told me it had a retail price of $1800AUD
Well, my jaw dropped. That's absolutely ludicrious, you can build one for EASILY half that amount.
I've looked a little into Linux based systems, but not much. My gripe with linux, is that a) I've have very little experience with it
Compatibility with most audio, video and digital tuner cards is limited at best. On the other hand linux is more reliable than windows.I was thinking, I saw not long ago something called WindowsLite which was windows 98 but streamlimed, removing internet explorer and all that other junk.
I was thinking possibly trying to get something like a streamlimed win2k or winxp setup with all the s*hit removed. There's no need for windows explorer or any of that, really all that's needed is a good front end to control access to your dvd playback, music, tv, recording, etc.
QUOTE (LumensDownUnder @ Jun 29 2004, 09:00 AM)
Well in a related story to the windows proection error I was speaking to an owner at a computer shop in my town, He was telling me of a HTPC box which is Linux based that is been released soon.
He told me it had a retail price of $1800AUD
Well, my jaw dropped. That's absolutely ludicrious, you can build one for EASILY half that amount.
I've looked a little into Linux based systems, but not much. My gripe with linux, is that a) I've have very little experience with it Compatibility with most audio, video and digital tuner cards is limited at best. On the other hand linux is more reliable than windows.
I was thinking, I saw not long ago something called WindowsLite which was windows 98 but streamlimed, removing internet explorer and all that other junk.
I was thinking possibly trying to get something like a streamlimed win2k or winxp setup with all the s*hit removed. There's no need for windows explorer or any of that, really all that's needed is a good front end to control access to your dvd playback, music, tv, recording, etc.
He told me it had a retail price of $1800AUD
Well, my jaw dropped. That's absolutely ludicrious, you can build one for EASILY half that amount.
I've looked a little into Linux based systems, but not much. My gripe with linux, is that a) I've have very little experience with it
Compatibility with most audio, video and digital tuner cards is limited at best. On the other hand linux is more reliable than windows.I was thinking, I saw not long ago something called WindowsLite which was windows 98 but streamlimed, removing internet explorer and all that other junk.
I was thinking possibly trying to get something like a streamlimed win2k or winxp setup with all the s*hit removed. There's no need for windows explorer or any of that, really all that's needed is a good front end to control access to your dvd playback, music, tv, recording, etc.
for windows try...
http://www.litepc.com/xplite.html
and for linux try....
Knopix, flonix, or mandrake
I looked into a similar version of windows at one time but came up with a different solution.
I built a Multi-media PC for my car a couple years ago. 750 Duron, 256mb ram, 30gig hard drive, ATI all in wonder 32mb.
I designed the program that ran everything myself. First it ran off of a character display, then off of a small lcd similar to the one people are using for their 7" projectors (excepts mine was 5.6"). This thing played mp3's (13 gigs worth), movies, displayed maps, and even had a game in it. All controlled by a remote control (using a product called IRMan).
Anyways. All that ran on the computer was my program; nothing else was running in the background. And if your going to be running win98 (any subversion of) you can just have it boot into one program, and one program only. Just change the system.ini file to (i think that was the file name) open your program instead of explorer.exe.
But what if you want more then one program? Just get a program that can launch multiple programs. Have it boot into that, and load the ones you want from it. Everything will run super fast because it is no longer running explorer.
You should be able to do this to XP as well (and I am 90% sure on 2k or NT). Will just take a slightly different modification to the boot up.
Another alternative would be to run a different shell on a winXP machine. I was watching some stuff on TechTV about it, on the screensavers. You can run something other then explorer and they are customizable, free, and they take up 50% of the memory.
Do a search for it at www.screensavers.com if you are interested.
The PC will now be controlling my projector (once completed, just waiting for my bulb... got lost in the mail or something....) and will be built into my coffee table along with the projector. This will be one expensive/hi-tech coffee table.
If you’re interested in using a remote receiver that works with any remote control, check out www.evation.com. They have tons of plug-ins for various software, or you can program your own like I did.
I built a Multi-media PC for my car a couple years ago. 750 Duron, 256mb ram, 30gig hard drive, ATI all in wonder 32mb.
I designed the program that ran everything myself. First it ran off of a character display, then off of a small lcd similar to the one people are using for their 7" projectors (excepts mine was 5.6"). This thing played mp3's (13 gigs worth), movies, displayed maps, and even had a game in it. All controlled by a remote control (using a product called IRMan).
Anyways. All that ran on the computer was my program; nothing else was running in the background. And if your going to be running win98 (any subversion of) you can just have it boot into one program, and one program only. Just change the system.ini file to (i think that was the file name) open your program instead of explorer.exe.
But what if you want more then one program? Just get a program that can launch multiple programs. Have it boot into that, and load the ones you want from it. Everything will run super fast because it is no longer running explorer.
You should be able to do this to XP as well (and I am 90% sure on 2k or NT). Will just take a slightly different modification to the boot up.
Another alternative would be to run a different shell on a winXP machine. I was watching some stuff on TechTV about it, on the screensavers. You can run something other then explorer and they are customizable, free, and they take up 50% of the memory.
Do a search for it at www.screensavers.com if you are interested.
The PC will now be controlling my projector (once completed, just waiting for my bulb... got lost in the mail or something....) and will be built into my coffee table along with the projector. This will be one expensive/hi-tech coffee table.
If you’re interested in using a remote receiver that works with any remote control, check out www.evation.com. They have tons of plug-ins for various software, or you can program your own like I did.
One option for the Win XP is a version that is called WindowsXP "embedded". I have only seen it once, and it was on a computer built into a $300,000 ultrasound machine that my hospital jsut purchased. It is a very stripped-down version of XP.
This looks good, definately must research this more later on.
I was reading the Xbox uses a win2k kernal which is only like 30kb or something like that.
The Xbox COULD make a decent HTPC platform, but I feel that' it requires too much mucking around, and has too many limitation, plus next to no upgradibility. Aside from the HDD.
With the frontend then you won't need to worry about windows explorer, so your frontend becomes your GUI. If done right it should be pretty stable and all that.
What'd be a really really good idea, is if we could have the PC interface with the LCD panel and use the PC to adjust projector contrast, colour, etc.
Not too sure about implementation of that with a normal LCD, but with an LCD TV with remote control it should be a bit easier since you'd have to devise some sort of serial or parallel port connection, or probably just use a IR transmitter on the PC which talks to the LCD's IR.
I was reading the Xbox uses a win2k kernal which is only like 30kb or something like that.
The Xbox COULD make a decent HTPC platform, but I feel that' it requires too much mucking around, and has too many limitation, plus next to no upgradibility. Aside from the HDD.
With the frontend then you won't need to worry about windows explorer, so your frontend becomes your GUI. If done right it should be pretty stable and all that.
What'd be a really really good idea, is if we could have the PC interface with the LCD panel and use the PC to adjust projector contrast, colour, etc.
Not too sure about implementation of that with a normal LCD, but with an LCD TV with remote control it should be a bit easier since you'd have to devise some sort of serial or parallel port connection, or probably just use a IR transmitter on the PC which talks to the LCD's IR.
QUOTE (LumensDownUnder @ Jun 30 2004, 12:34 AM)
This looks good, definately must research this more later on.
I was reading the Xbox uses a win2k kernal which is only like 30kb or something like that.
The Xbox COULD make a decent HTPC platform, but I feel that' it requires too much mucking around, and has too many limitation, plus next to no upgradibility. Aside from the HDD.
With the frontend then you won't need to worry about windows explorer, so your frontend becomes your GUI. If done right it should be pretty stable and all that.
What'd be a really really good idea, is if we could have the PC interface with the LCD panel and use the PC to adjust projector contrast, colour, etc.
Not too sure about implementation of that with a normal LCD, but with an LCD TV with remote control it should be a bit easier since you'd have to devise some sort of serial or parallel port connection, or probably just use a IR transmitter on the PC which talks to the LCD's IR.
I was reading the Xbox uses a win2k kernal which is only like 30kb or something like that.
The Xbox COULD make a decent HTPC platform, but I feel that' it requires too much mucking around, and has too many limitation, plus next to no upgradibility. Aside from the HDD.
With the frontend then you won't need to worry about windows explorer, so your frontend becomes your GUI. If done right it should be pretty stable and all that.
What'd be a really really good idea, is if we could have the PC interface with the LCD panel and use the PC to adjust projector contrast, colour, etc.
Not too sure about implementation of that with a normal LCD, but with an LCD TV with remote control it should be a bit easier since you'd have to devise some sort of serial or parallel port connection, or probably just use a IR transmitter on the PC which talks to the LCD's IR.
Why would you need an LCD IR? If the LCD plugs directly into the PC via VGA?
Sorry I wasn't very clear there.
With LCD's they also have their on OSD which is controlled by buttons on the front. What would be good is if you could do that straight from the computer itself.
LCD TV's have and I/R remote control to handle that function, so we'd just use a IR from a PC to talk to that I/R On the lCDTV.
With Computer LCD's they don't have an I/R remote, so you'd need to modify that control board with the buttons so that it would interface with a pc.
With LCD's they also have their on OSD which is controlled by buttons on the front. What would be good is if you could do that straight from the computer itself.
LCD TV's have and I/R remote control to handle that function, so we'd just use a IR from a PC to talk to that I/R On the lCDTV.
With Computer LCD's they don't have an I/R remote, so you'd need to modify that control board with the buttons so that it would interface with a pc.
http://www.litepc.com/eos.html <== this looks extremly interesting
I had an embedded linux OS that I used for setting up servers. The whole OS fit on a floppy and booted up in a 4-8mb ram disk. It's literally the fastest computer I've ever seen. And if you turn on the write protect on the floppy you have a bullet proof machine. Hackers can come in and wreck the box. All you have to do is kick the reset and reload the floppy into ramdisk. Having the whole OS and all applications in ram made the machine scary fast.
Something like this would be ideal for an HTPC box. You'd just have to figure out how to put an X-win GUI on it and all the other amenities.
Mouse
Something like this would be ideal for an HTPC box. You'd just have to figure out how to put an X-win GUI on it and all the other amenities.
Mouse
Try this:
Geexbox
Based on Linux, it is very fast to load, and plays anything you shove in the drive!
Also, it has a nice GUI and can be used with a purchased or DIY remote:)
Geexbox
Based on Linux, it is very fast to load, and plays anything you shove in the drive!
Also, it has a nice GUI and can be used with a purchased or DIY remote:)
This looks very interesting, methinks.
QUOTE (pez209 @ Jul 7 2004, 05:50 PM)
Try this:
Geexbox
Based on Linux, it is very fast to load, and plays anything you shove in the drive!
Also, it has a nice GUI and can be used with a purchased or DIY remote:)
Geexbox
Based on Linux, it is very fast to load, and plays anything you shove in the drive!
Also, it has a nice GUI and can be used with a purchased or DIY remote:)
Unfortunately Geexbox is not compatible with all PC BIOS, and there is no tv tuner option. I use it too and like it, but it does have its limitations. This should change soon. According to the developers the last Geexbox update has been released, they are now working on a totally new project which they promise added features for, hopefully something that allows TV viewing will make it in.
On the flip side, for those of you who are scared off by Linux, don't let this frighten you away, it runs right off of a bootable CD, so you don't even need to install it.
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