Windows Vs Linux For My Project?

trainergames · April 27, 2013

Well i am buliding a HTPC/media server using old parts,and i am trying to decide what OS to run.

It is going to have a 2TB drive for videos and stuff recorded using a tv tuner i have,it is also going to have a 160gb&120Gb sata drives for music& cd backups and pictures.

Other than that it is an am2+ board,and if i can sell off some of my old ide drives i will pick up a athlon II X4 640 and mabye a cpu cooler,so i can overclock.i have a friend who says he will give me a 450w psu,and he has 2x2gb 1066mhz DDR2,and for a video card i will be using a ati AIW x800xl,if it does not work i will use a 7900GS.

Well my goal with this is to have it hooked up to my 1080i HDTV,and right now it will mainly be used for media playback(cause i am living with my sister and she has a dvr with cable),but when i get my own place i want to use it as a DVR also,but other than media playback on the tv,i want to not only let people in the house be able to stream off of it,but i would love to be able to also stream to my phone(GS2) while i am at work on my lunch.

Now with windows i know just enough to fix most of the problems i have had myself,but with linux,i used it once,i tried to use ubuntu(and wine) to run a game server on a old dell poweredge server,and i never got it running,cause i could not even get wine running lol.So i am a major linux noob.

But i know linux will most likly suit my needs better lol.

So what do you guys think i should use for this project?

EChondo · April 27, 2013

I personally would use some version of XBMC: http://xbmc.org/

You can install Windows and then install XMBC and it would be an overlay and interface. Seems simple enough and you can download it right now on your personal computer and set it up and play around with it to see if you like it.

trainergames · April 27, 2013

Would i be able to use it to set my tv tuner to record stuff,also is it possible to set it up to so i can stream to my cell phone,while i am at work(on lunch)?

If this helps my internet is 18mbps down,5 mbps up.

Dragonflare · April 27, 2013

Would i be able to use it to set my tv tuner to record stuff,also is it possible to set it up to so i can stream to my cell phone,while i am at work(on lunch)?

If this helps my internet is 18mbps down,5 mbps up.

XBMC does support TV tuners, and I'm sure there is a piece of software somewhere that would let you stream video over WiFi, I myself have never run a media box with XBMC, but I do know that Linus has video streaming (not live TV though) over WiFi set up on his server which runs Windows Home Server, so you could ask him what software he uses.

I personally would use Linux for an XBMC box, just to make it run lighter so there is less processing power being hogged by the OS itself, but Windows should be find on an Athlon II X4 640, so feel free to use either OS, especially since you are more comfortable with configuring Windows.