[clue] HTPC systems?

[Michael J. Hammel]

On Sun, 2012-07-08 at 11:04 -0600, Sean LeBlanc wrote:
> What about TV style remotes?

It's much easier to control you HTPC with Linux running X using synergy.
Synergy lets you use your laptop (or other mobile device running X) to
control your HTPC across the network.  I just drag my mouse over to the
HTPC and use my laptop keyboard to control the HTPC.  Maybe not as
clever as a remote, but much easier for me since I always have my laptop
while I sit in front of the TV.

> Another hardware question: do remote keyboards tend to play well with 
> Linux these days?

Synergy, yes.  Wireless RF, mostly.  I've had a little trouble with
them.

The only drawback to using Synergy is that if you launch Firefox and
open a full screen Flash video session you have to leave the mouse on
the remote system.  If you move it back to your laptop then the
fullscreen reverts to its original size.  'Tis a lousy unconfigurable
setting of Flash, methinks.  Hulu and XBMC do not have this issue.

> As for how I intended to play video files - locally or not - I was 
> hoping to find a machine that was as quiet as possible for HTPC, so 
> probably it would be playing them over network, either by mounting 
> Samba, NFS (or sshfs?) or streaming via DLNA.

NFS works fine with XBMC over 802.11g at my house.  I have occasional
network drop outs - maybe when someone nearby is sparking up the
microwave or similar.  In these cases it isn't NFS that's the problem,
it's the wireless.

As for quiet, try a BeagleBoard or PandaBoard.  No fans.  Quiet as a
mouse.  But not necessarily as easy to install Linux or keep it up to
date.  BeagleBoard has an Ubuntu release, but I don't use it.  Both can
be powered by a wall-wart (re-no fans).

But for dirt cheap hardware, you have to go AMD and a desktop
motherboard, which means a power supply and fans.  So there is bound to
be some noise.  How much depends a bit on how much you're willing to
spend for higher end power supplies and CPU/Chassis fans.  In my case,
the machine is a tower sitting behind a big flat screen that is, itself,
in a big cubby-hole over the fireplace (which is never used).  So the
sound of the computer is always drowned out by the audio from the TV and
stereo.  Except in the rare occasion when a drive or fan starts to die
and begins to squeal.

-- 
Michael J. Hammel                               
mjhammel at graphics-muse.org / http://www.graphics-muse.org
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