Silent Linux HTPC - my attempt

[krionius]

I've created a blog about creating my home theater PC around a silent hardware with integrated nvidia video (7050PV), Linux and FOSS multimedia softwares. I'm updating it with the details now and then:

http://silentlinux.blogspot.com/

What's your experience in this field?

Cheers,
SK

[six_storm]

Neato looking project man. I've always wanted to make a small, fanless HTPC but I've never had the time or money to do so. I'll keep an eye out here.

A good website to look at HTPC stuff is PCAlchemy.com or even go to hardforum.com and check out the HTPC section. Neat stuff there.

Good luck!

[whig]

Cool, got a flash drive to go with that? 7200rpm drives make a bit of noise; my 5400 usb one is pretty quiet. Which AMD cpu and heatsink is being used?

[krionius]

Cool, got a flash drive to go with that? 7200rpm drives make a bit of noise; my 5400 usb one is pretty quiet. Which AMD cpu and heatsink is being used?

I'm going with a 400GB SATA2 Western Digital - said to be quite, and by my experience it is really little noise except for writing out bytes, a little bit of noise of course. AMD cpu is an energy efficient 4200+ and Thermaltake Sonic Tower heatsink modded with a GlacialTech Silent blade II case ventilator onto it going on constant 950 RPM. Gives no noise audible when it's inside the case (meaning a 19dBA noise level trapped inside the case). :-)

[six_storm]

What distro are you going with? What recording software and media center software are you going to use?

[krionius]

Decided to use Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon + MythTV. Ubuntu package hierarchy and content is highly supportive regarding MythTV (for example mythbuntu package makes it much easier the setup process). I also read about Freevo as an alternative, but first round I'm trying MythTV.

PS.: I was just posting about the distro last night: http://silentlinux.blogspot.com/2007/11/choosing-linux-distro.html :)

[six_storm]

Good to see this project is still going . . . :D

[krionius]

Good to see this project is still going . . . :D
Hey, hey! :D I've got a few of time consuming parallel projects ongoing in my life. But I've got some nice posts still ahead that I wish to add to the silent linux project. :) One is already there right now. ;)

[six_storm]

Hey, hey! :D I've got a few of time consuming parallel projects ongoing in my life. But I've got some nice posts still ahead that I wish to add to the silent linux project. :) One is already there right now. ;)

Yeah, I saw that. I've been looking into building an HTPC myself here in the next 6 months (complete) and was looking into a few options such as Mythbuntu and stuff like that. I'll be keeping an eye on your project man, can't wait to see it chug along! :D

[six_storm]

Why are you going with Mythbuntu over something like LinuxMCE? Just wondering why you chose that. Also, how hard is the installation so far? I've been keeping an eye on your blog, keep up the good work.

[krionius]

Why are you going with Mythbuntu over something like LinuxMCE? Just wondering why you chose that. Also, how hard is the installation so far? I've been keeping an eye on your blog, keep up the good work.
I didn't consider LinuxMCE when I was choosing. It looks very good although, I've visited the LinuxMCE site. KUbuntu based with mythtv and pretty good looking. Probably a good choice. But I don't need the extra functionality of it, while I do need the things of the original ubuntu desktop. So probably for me it was better to choose ubuntu and install the mythbuntu extra packages. Installation was not too bad, for the first timer like me it meant some headache although to learn how mythtv is built up.

[LORD-eX-Bu]

nice job with the build, I'll be watching it develop :D

[krionius]

nice job with the build, I'll be watching it develop :D
thanks! :-)