Way, way back in the dim dark past of 2007, Diane bought a Mac and moved her Vaio desktop in with her entertainment center (well, there was that huge flat screen TV to hook it up to, so… :-)) after realizing it was a Media Center-enabled PC. *heh* She’s using it a lot in that way now, but I’ve seen los of folks who’ve had MPCs who never really used the platform’s potential. So, when I began thinking about building an MPC, I began gathering info and making plans for a decent media center I could really use. At the same time, I’ve become ever more comfortable with Linux and BSD ways of doing things so when I ran across LinuxMCE (and here), I kinda hunkered down for a good long read… and then looked about for more information. Here’s a taste of why I became so interested:
LinuxMCE is the only all-in-one solution for your home that seamlessly combines media & entertainment, home automation, security, telecom and computing. You can control your whole house with a mobile phone, a touch-screen tablet or a web-interface. A LinuxMCE system is like an appliance – not a computer. It is self-configuring, maintaining and updating. No technical skills are required to use or install LinuxMCE. LinuxMCE is above all simple. The devices are all plug and play. LinuxMCE is also an open platform, offering unlimited expansion potential, and requiring no special cabling. This is LinuxMCE: a complete, comfortable and secure solution for your home. “
Hmmm, ambitious. And using its full–or even much of its–potential will require some rather extensive hardware/infrastructure upgrades if I decide to go whole hog with it.
Still, it’s intriguing, attractive and designed to be integrated with Kubuntu–one of my two fav distros of Ubuntu (the other’s Xubuntu, a good choice for older computers, IMO).
A quick rundown of installing and using LinuxMCE:
I haven’t built an MPC yet, but the day’s getting closer as I gather more info and explore the benefits and pitfalls of various approaches, but the LinuxMCE approach is looking more and more appealing as I go about this process. If/when I get off the dime and actually build a system/upgrade the twc central infrastructure, I’ll be sure to report back in on how it went.
Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Is It Just Me?, The Virtuous Republic, Woman Honor Thyself, Right Truth, The World According to Carl, Oblogatory Anecdotes, Global American Discourse, Leaning Straight Up, InvestorBlogger, Phastidio.net, and Dumb Ox Daily News, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.