Linux MCE??

[gapplewagen]

Does this actually exist? I can't seem to find out much about it other than what was on digg today.

The digg link today:
http://digg.com/linux_unix/Linux_MCE_Whole_house_media

Video link:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4422887272477313460&hl=en

The site is down as of writing this.
http://www.linuxmce.com/

It looks amazing.

[prizrak]

You can install MythTV on just about any distro. There are a few distros that come as an HTPC install.

[gapplewagen]

You can install MythTV on just about any distro. There are a few distros that come as an HTPC install.

I'm not talking about MythTV... I already run 2 Myth boxes. Watch the video. It apparently integrates some of Myth but it is it's own system. Vaporware or real?

[prizrak]

I did watch the video but it was fairly long and somewhat confusing switching between Win and Lin.

[newlinux]

what's in that video is certainly not Mythtv. I saw this too, and I hope this is real. looks cool.

From what little I can gather, it may be based on Pluto:

http://plutohome.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

[bastiegast]

I watched the movie and I don't know what to think of this. The guy says with a straight face linux will automatically turn the tv on, detect your bluetooth phone so you can use it as a remote(wtf?), it will detect all media in the entire house(wtf??), and you can control all the lights in your entire house(...) and on top of that: without any configuration??

Did I miss something or is this just plain nonsense?

[ixus_123]

I've been able to use my bluetooth mobile phone as a remote since the first incarnation of Mac os X version 10.2 to control iTunes, power point, video players etc with the wonderful free software called Clicker.

I think pluto handles the rest. I just googled pluto & it looks pretty damn impressive - I wish I had my own house to install a system like that

[smeagol]

It is based on Pluto code, for more read here: http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/History

I saw the Digg post and thought 'oh great another MythTV distro...', but it is completely different, yet I believe includes MythTV code. Since it is based on a commercial project, it should have some more maturity/stability than the other MythTV options out there. The latest Knoppmyth release really made life difficult on me. I ain't complaining, as you get what you pay for, and I'm not a developer... but I'd like to think that setting up a Linux media center should be way easier than it is currently. I'll be waiting for a valid download link and will be sure to give it a test. I've got a newly built system just waiting for some software.

[%hMa@?b<C]

Get a wiimote, check wiili.org, there are some pretty good tutorials, use that as your mce remote :)
I use my remote for browsing tv-links.co.uk from my couch on my 19" widescreen :)
(i dont have a wii though :()

[Mateo]

Mythtv is not a media center, it's a PVR.

[newlinux]

Mythtv is not a media center, it's a PVR.

Then what are mythmusic and mythgallery? That qualifies it as a media center to me.

[Mateo]

the non-pvr features are pretty pedestrian. I haven't used mythmusic or mythgallery all that much so they might be all right, but mythvideo is nothing but an organizer. (and not a very good one). my media center needs are about 90% Video, 8% PVR, and 2% other. Myth devotes 99% of its efforts to improving the PVR function, which is exceptionally good, but not that important for me.

[newlinux]

Well, then it is not as good as media center as you want it to be - that doesn't mean it's not a media center. PVR, Videos, games, Phone, streaming tv, photos, music, web, RSS, UPnP server - means it is a media center.

What types of features are you looking for? What do you use? I'm always curious to see what else is out there...

[geekphreak]

Can anyone make Pluto debs? That'd be so cool...

[faradesla]

I believe this is real, but the download links for the ISO and the installer are both down.

If the developers are having bandwidth issues, there's always BitTorrent. I'm sure there's more than enough people who could keep the torrent alive until they get their server situation worked out.

Speaking of which - and assuming this isn't vaporware - will it work with Kubuntu? I'm assuming it will, but many bad things have come from assumptions in the past...

[DoctorMO]

Well as for the home automation stuff. it's certainly possible to do that kind of stuff. I used to develop inbeded devices in Neuron C for LonWorks which would allow very complex BMS (building management systems) to be hooked up together allowing you to control a massive building on the other side of the world. the problem is that this sort of Home BMS never really took off, so while businesses and office buildings have BMS, homes tend to use standard light switches.

The phone control stuff is new, connecting up an embedded phone control to your house is a really cool idea for allowing your mobile to control your house. the ones I've programmed dealt with SMS control but I suppose it's possible to go over Modem/phone.

Everything else seems doable, who ever made it seems to have put in a lot of work.

Oh and the Switching on the TV, controlling the VCR etc, normally done through SCART sockets. they seem to be less prevalent in the USA, but in the UK we have them on all TVs.

[afljafa]

Mythtv is not a media center, it's a PVR.

Rubbish.


the non-pvr features are pretty pedestrian. I haven't used mythmusic or mythgallery all that much so they might be all right, but mythvideo is nothing but an organizer. (and not a very good one). my media center needs are about 90% Video, 8% PVR, and 2% other. Myth devotes 99% of its efforts to improving the PVR function, which is exceptionally good, but not that important for me.

Again - Rubbish. Mythtv now handles videos itself. It doesn`t pass anything of to any other app. You want DVD menus - no problem.

[dr_d]

check out linuxmce.com... seems to be real.

although i'll admit, it seems almost too cool to be true. using a bluetooth device as a controller seems feasible (although i have no knowledge about bluetooth), however as for automatically turning on the tv, that doesn't seem possible.



lets assume that the box is connected to my tv only by those standard 3 red yellow and white analog cables.

if there is some way for a device to turn on the tv through those cables, it must surely be a feature of the tv, and not the device.


oh well. hopefully somebody will put this in the repos and we'll be able to see for ourselves soon.

[pirothezero]

I was under the impression that it was the following with mythtv installed on top of it:
http://plutohome.com/index.php

Not sure which on to go with guess I'll try out both when the servers come back up for mce. I guess mce took the pluto code and changed it up a bit or something.

After this semester I am taking plutohome and going over to my moms place and screwing around with it all summer and see what kind of project I can get started to suite my boredom. Should be fun times. She'll freak probably though, but w.e I just won't tell her til its done.

[faradesla]

www.linuxmce.com exists, sure. But all the download links are down, and have been since I first heard of the product. I see a few people on their forums discussing it, but unless they're personal friends of the developers or something, I can't see how they managed to find copies.

[Mateo]

www.linuxmce.com exists, sure. But all the download links are down, and have been since I first heard of the product. I see a few people on their forums discussing it, but unless they're personal friends of the developers or something, I can't see how they managed to find copies.

yeah, i'll believe it when I see it too. smells like a hoax to me.

[dr_d]

if all they say in the video is true, i'm surprised we haven't heard of it until now.

i mean it looks like it would've taken a considerable amount of work.... and it *is* for ubuntu only.


also i hope they find a way to get it into the repos.. if it's just installed off of a cd then updates will be a pain.

[dr_d]

also... why why why... would anybody hoax this?

maybe i'm missing something, but so far i cant' see a single motivation that justifies the effort of making the video, putting up the site, etc. :confused:

[H.E. Pennypacker]

I can't believe this many people believe Linux MCE is a hoax without even trying it out on their own. I am not saying everything works as the creators say, but I am not saying the opposite either. It looks extremely cool to begin with, and seeing that I've seen the video myself, I am not sure what I should not believe. Linux MCE introduces somewhat radical concepts, but then again, the Internet was radical at one point.

Let's just wait and see...what's the point of being so conclusive at this time? Wait for others to review it, or just try it out on your own.

[Mateo]

also... why why why... would anybody hoax this?

maybe i'm missing something, but so far i cant' see a single motivation that justifies the effort of making the video, putting up the site, etc. :confused:

I have no idea why people do stuff like this, but it happens. I monitored the torrent-style streaming technology community for a while, and there were always people who claimed to have figured it all out and had a working client, but then when it came time to present the software people would disappear. I think people do hoaxes like this as a scam, they get people to invest and keep the cash.

I'm not saying this is a hoax though. I'm saying it might be a hoax. How something like this can be built without anyone knowing about it until now is pretty fishy. But if it's just a combination of mythtv and this other software, then maybe it is legit.

[gapplewagen]

I was FINALLY able to acquire the installer but I'm afraid to actually run it :)

Turning on your equipment would be pretty easy with an IR blaster would it not? I don't have one but I was under the impression that that is what they're for.

[MonkeyBoy]

Dude how about a link to wherever you got that installer?

'Cos I'm not afraid to run it! ;)

[MockY]

Yes, please spread the installer since it's nowhere to be found on linuxmce.com right now.

[disturbedsaint]

I was FINALLY able to acquire the installer but I'm afraid to actually run it :)

Turning on your equipment would be pretty easy with an IR blaster would it not? I don't have one but I was under the impression that that is what they're for.

Edit: Nvm, just noticed you only have the installer, thought you had the ISO.

[pirothezero]

I have no idea why people do stuff like this, but it happens. I monitored the torrent-style streaming technology community for a while, and there were always people who claimed to have figured it all out and had a working client, but then when it came time to present the software people would disappear. I think people do hoaxes like this as a scam, they get people to invest and keep the cash.

I'm not saying this is a hoax though. I'm saying it might be a hoax. How something like this can be built without anyone knowing about it until now is pretty fishy. But if it's just a combination of mythtv and this other software, then maybe it is legit.

The developer spent 5 months mostly him and someone else plugging it into ubuntu and tearing out plutohome code, says him. If it was a solo project for the most part I could see why it was quiet for so long.

[Sammi]

Found this tread on the official Linux MCE forum with multiple links to the installer: http://forum.linuxmce.com/index.php?topic=1235.0

As I understand it the problem is that the installer is only a script that is supposed to use a pre downloaded iso to install from, but this iso isn't available for download ATM. There are some other posts in other treads on the forum where people are trying to make a torrent for this iso, though.

[gapplewagen]

Edit: Nvm, just noticed you only have the installer, thought you had the ISO.

You are correct... I only have the installer which apparently is only a script.

mce-installer_1.0.0-1_i386.deb - 84.9k

[faradesla]

From the site:
"Many apologies... The original installer I posted on this site always downloaded the 600mb of software from a fixed URL on linuxmce.com. I thought I'd be able to scale linuxmce.com gradually to handle a heavy load, but it went from 0 to 10,000 downloads of a 600mb file in less than 1 week. I'll post a new installer on Saturday that uses a cd from mirrors and a torrent."

So I guess we'll see tomorrow. His reason for not having working download links is plausible enough, but I remain a bit skeptical. If there's no working links by tomorrow afternoon, then I'll be much more inclined to call shenanigans.

[dr_d]

Well it's Saturday night here in Australia. I suppose it's likely that he is in a different time zone, but none the less my hopes of this being for real are quickly fading.

Pluto sounds cool though. If this turns out to be hoaxware I might give that a try.

[dr_d]

Torrent's up. It's all over Digg!

[Mateo]

let us know how it works out.

[Sammi]

Direct link to active torrent: http://torrents.thepiratebay.org/3645755/LinuxMCE.3645755.TPB.torrent

I know it is hosted on pirate bay, but that doesn't make it a illegal torrent, so download away :)

[Mateo]

yeah, let us know how that works out. I'd rather not waste a cd. if it doesn't need to boot to cd, I'd rather just mount it and run the install.

[Sammi]

I'm pretty sure it installs directly from the iso, but I haven't finished downloading, so I can't really be 100% sure yet.

[Laterix]

Am I the only one who thinks that this is not that great application after all? Sure, there are many neat features in the video, but still. What I need to my living room is stylish, easy to use and simple MediaCenter. This is certainly not that. To me LinuxMCE seems ugly and unusable toy for geeks.

But this is just my humble opinion. :)

[sicofante]

I've just seen the video.

I find LinuxMCE suffering from "featuritis" and the old "we do it just because we can". They should think about actually reducing the options or giving the user/admin/installer choices about those options.

I hate rotating cubes. I wish they had never appeared in first place, but it seems they're considered "cool" in Linuxland. They're definitely wrong as a metaphor for "next scroll page". Too bad. :-(

The Gyration mouse is a good idea, IMO. I would use a Wiimote for that same purpose, but that's really just me.

Except for these issues, it looks fine to me and there are a number of very good ideas there. I'll try it once I put a PC in the living room...

[Jose Catre-Vandis]

Here are the current links:

LinuxMCE installer: http://www.neversfw.com/linux/mce-installer_1.0.0-1_i386.deb
ISO Mirror 1: http://www.neversfw.com/linux/linuxMCE.iso
ISO Mirror 2: http://www.robogoat.com/rampage/linuxmce/linuxMCE.iso
Torrent File: http://torrents.thepiratebay.org/3645755/LinuxMCE.3645755.TPB.torrent

[Mateo]

the http links are dead. i'm getting the torrent and speeds are really good.

slightly off topic, but I think it's funny than on a linux-only application, utorrent is the second most used to download this, behind only azureus (which is preinstalled often).

[Mateo]

so... have the torrent now and it looks like a hoax to me. just a whole bunch of .DEB files, could haev been gotten off the repos. lots of stuff that doesn't seem to have anything to do with a media center, like iceWM for example. maybe i'm wrong though. not sure if I want to precede and install all of this junk if it's not real..

[disruptor108]

You need more than just the .deb, you need the LinuxMCE 1.0 Install CD.


LinuxMCE 1.0 Install CD (linuxmce-1.0-packages.iso)
http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/Mirrors

Detailed Installation Instructions
http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/Installation_Guide

I'm in the midst of installing it right now...

EDIT:
Now I've installed it and ran through the installer and the machine rebooted. Upon reboot, there's another configuration page. I ran through that, and then came upon a Grey screen. I thought it was just doing something in the background waiting to startup, but it sat there forever. It turns out you have to do some more configuration....by accessing the HTPC from another machine via http://(Your IP)

[dr_d]

i think there should be a deb in the repos for it... even if it's just a script.

because then nobody will have to worry about updating it when a new version comes out. it will just get done thru apt.


for some reason i'm also hesitant to install it.

[newlinux]

A guy over at the AVS forums said it works but takes time to install. He says it can allow you to use an external myth backend so you're not dependent on the linuxmce myth release... I'll let others play first until I have time and other hardware to test this on...

[webpaul1]

>> he guy says with a straight face linux will automatically turn the tv on, detect your bluetooth phone so you can use it as a remote(wtf?), it will detect all media in the entire house(wtf??), and you can control all the lights in your entire house(...) and on top of that: without any configuration??

It's real. You need a TV with a serial control port (Sharp, Pioneer, Runco, Mitsubishi, Gateway, HP have them and are PNP in LMCE). When it senses a change in the cts/rts, it starts sending init strings until it figures out what you have and it starts controlling it. Hit the 'menu' on the remote or put in a dvd and it turns the tv on.

It also has a HAL implementation and monitors for all USB devices. So Bluetooth dongles are pnp. Plug one in and it starts scanning for mobile phones. If you have a symbian series 60 or ms smart phone, it will pick it up and send it an applet so it's a control. Also the ZWave USB interfaces for lighting control are pnp, and it will inquire of the dongle what lights you have and automatically create scenes to turn the lights off when you're watching media. It also has pnp support for popular i/r dongles, like usb uirt, tira and irtrans, and automatically recognizes the i/r codes from a windows mce remote.

It also scans for any new ip requests, and when found, looks up the mac address in a database of known ranges and runs detection scripts to figure out what it is. Buffalo NAS, Cisco VOIP Phones, SqueezeBox media players are added like this. And yes, it automatically scans any nas devices as well as windows/samba shares (asking you first for a username/password if they're protected), and aggregates the content into an sql database on the core. It includes cd/dvd recognition with cover art, and a cover art scanner that uses the keywords in the id3 file to locate missing cover art on amazon.

After you install the LMCE cd, it comes up and you can do what I described without a keyboard/mouse/terminal/gnome. You only start plugging in the devices and answering any questions that appear on screen using your remote control.

The caveat however is that the compatibility list is very small, and the pnp support probably isn't in there for all the stuff you'll have in your home. But since the architecture is there and is solid, hopefully the community will start adding more support and the compatibility list will grow.

[webpaul1]

BTW, it still needs some polishing and the Ubuntu integration needs more work, but I'm a big Ubuntu fan and my ultimate aspiration is to make it so seamlessly integrated into Ubuntu (like MCE now is into Windows Vista Ultimate), that it can be a standard desktop option in Ubuntu that you easily switch in and out of so Ubuntu is the ultimate home media pc distro that non-Linux users can use as well. So, if any of the seasoned ubuntu community has tips and advice it's much appreciated.

[Frak]

Holy $*** it WORKS!
It automatically turned on my tv and dimmed my lights, automatically.
And yes the Wiimote works appearantly :)

[newlinux]

Holy $*** it WORKS!
It automatically turned on my tv and dimmed my lights, automatically.
And yes the Wiimote works appearantly :)


This has awesome potential. I'm too scared to mess with my current mythtv setup now, but I'm anxious to hear reports on this.

How does this work if you already have a myth system setup? Can you keep it separate? Can you integrate it without reconfiguring you current myth system?

Also, I did take a quick look at my Pioneer plasma manual, and there is an RS-232 port that according to the manual is used for "factory setup and configuration." So I'm definitely a believer... nice to have some more details on this - thanks.

[Frak]

I just setup a seperate partition with GParted and installed it on there, so it doesn't mess with anything else, but it setup almost everything by itself. It detected my Samba shares while Ubuntu couldn't (no offense to Ubuntu), and yes it also turned on my TV automatically, I don't know how that works, but my TV is only connnected via coax and S-Video, Sanyo. Thats all I know about it, and it works with my Wii-mote.

If only it detected by fridge :-k

[Cheizzz]

Well, this seems to be very intresting, but I cant' get a good impression about it.
I'm quite intrested in having a nice "media center" program to controll all my video and music on my workstation, so I can watch and listen when from bed and controlling it with my cellphone (my workstation is located in my bedroom, and I'd like to watch the movies directly from the monitor, so no fancy HTPC stuff with 30 inch televisions)

Would this cater to my needs, or would it be overkill. and: how does it run? can I start this from gnome? Please tell me about your experiences.

[Frak]

Its pretty much overkill with some of what it does, MythTV at the moment still looks better. And you install it on a seperate Ubuntu 6.10 Partition and it starts up automatically, I haven't been able to get back in to regular Ubuntu, I may have screwed up, I don't know, but I'm about to trash it, I like MythTV a little better, much simpler.

[tehkain]

Anyone know how to get past the error? I get something to the effect of 'the core was unable to be installed'. Trying again and taking note of the error this time.

Edit: 'Failed to install and configuire base software'.

Edit2: Crap.. my database has a password since I use this system as a webdev box.. time to script dive.

[Frak]

I've also found that its hardware support is horrible, It used the Bluetooth dongle already integrated into my system, and it just happened to work, but other than that, hardware is horrible.

[tehkain]

If anyone has any idea how I would go about adding the custom database password into the install script let me know. Their install is horrendous.
edit: Just changed my database password. Install now.

[webpaul1]

I agree the installer needs some work and the hardware compatibility is very limited. However I'm working on the installer and the hardware compatibility will improve once there are more users. Once you *do* have compatible hardware, though, getting Myth going is trivial. In my case, I just plug in the hauppauge pvr usb2 and it sets up myth automatically without ever having to enter myth-setup. So I think that with some more hardware compatibility it will be the easiest way to get a linux-based media pc going. However, until then, if you just disable the myth auto config, you can still run mythsetup like you always did and it will still run myth as before.

Regarding easily switching between Ubuntu and LMCE, this is a weak point. The integration must be smoother. Right now LMCE and Ubuntu run on separate desktops and use separate xorg.conf files and separate window managers, because LMCE needs to use ICEWM because the composite extensions needed for alpha blending don't work in the Ubuntu default wm as far as I can tell. Hopefully this will change with 7.04

[awakatanka]

Tryed to install it. But my screen stays grey to. hadn't much time to look into it, and also the main site is very very very slow :). But thats probably because the peak attention this mce get from dig and other sites.

Looks promising and would use it if it worked for me. Tryed it on my ubuntu partition, hope it wil work to on a kubuntu system.

Got a pvr-500 and it was always hard to get it to work under (k)ubuntu. but if i have more time i will try it again.

[kerinin]

I just installed LinuxMCE on a new partition and I thought I'd leave some of my impressions. I'd like to start by saying thanks for all the work that has been put into this, and that I'm really looking forward to using future versions.

That said, I have to say that I had a lot of problems, and the my current install is unusable. This isn't really mentioned anywhere, but i would STRONGLY discourage installing this on top of an existing Ubuntu install which is being used for anything besides web browsing. MCE did very bad things to my X install and I can only assume that similar problems would be caused to other components which have been modified to work with MCE. I can only hope that the current release is not intended to be used in parallel with other software on a workstation.

MCE's installation process is far from simple - the details of setting up rooms, figuring out the differences between 'tuners', 'recievers', 'PVR's etc takes time (I don't think I ever really sorted this out), and the setup interface needs some polish.

I was unable to get MythTV to work, despite MCE recognizing my Hauppage 350. I tried inserting a DVD and telling MCE to play - nothing happened. As a result, MCE has no real use to me - I was essentially hoping to find a better packaged way to use Myth.

The interface was painfully slow on my computer - both X and MCE seemed to be unaware of my video card. The UI was responding as I would expect a 5 year old computer to respond on my dual-core 64-bit processor with 2gigs of ram. This may be a hardware detection problem, but if Ubuntu recognizes my video card I don't see why MCE doesn't.

In all, I'm pretty dissapointed. I think part of the problem is the disconnect between my experience and the implication in the MCE video that everything was plug-n-play, 'it just works' when it is far from being to that point. I hope that the project gets support and development time from people with more free time than myself, but right now there's no way I can use MCE.

[Gijith]

This is just some geek jacking off for 20 minutes.


Why is he using the old version of Windoes MCE anyway?

[newlinux]

This is just some geek jacking off for 20 minutes.


Why is he using the old version of Windoes MCE anyway?

This is early on in the development cycle, and he must be on to something as there has been a lot of interest. I haven't tried it yet (need some other hardware), but I understand the install process has been frustrating for many. But rather than bashing the author(s) I think we should be supportive. Wouldn't you rather have this working well rather than just disappearing?

[Mateo]

I use an older version of windows MCE (2005) because I think it's better.

[hkgonra]

I am keeping my eye on this.
Looks very promising and my Dual athlon box is just waiting to be a Media Center.

[awakatanka]

Got it running on a fresh ubuntu 6.10 install without updates. Now trying to figure how everthing is working.

[Laterix]

Got it running on a fresh ubuntu 6.10 install without updates. Now trying to figure how everthing is working.
This is exactly the problem with LinuxMCE. In my opinion, MediaCenter should be so easy and intuitive that you instantly know how to use it. Just like gnome. ;)

[Iceni]

I just tried it on my computer and ran into some problems, mainly the fact that some repos are down and it keeps hanging. It also killed my network and my samba. I think a fresh 6.10 install is needed for this to work out-of-the-box:(

[clint1010]

Definatly interested in this project. Will try installing it on an old PC, will post up my results.

I like :popcorn:

[Daviey]

Regarding turning the TV ON/OFF in MythTV.

I wrote a fairly simple python script to control my LG 32LC2D. You will need a NULL modem cable (cheap from ebay). I set this up as a service that switches the TV on with boot and turns it off on shutdown. I also set up the lirc remote to turn it on and off.

It is quite a straight forward script - if anybody wants it i'll share.

:)

[superm1]

Regarding turning the TV ON/OFF in MythTV.

I wrote a fairly simple python script to control my LG 32LC2D. You will need a NULL modem cable (cheap from ebay). I set this up as a service that switches the TV on with boot and turns it off on shutdown. I also set up the lirc remote to turn it on and off.

It is quite a straight forward script - if anybody wants it i'll share.

:)
Daviey,
Can I see this script?

[Daviey]

This is the script i wrote to switch the tv on/off. It requires both 'python' and 'python-serial' package installed.

The string you need to send to the TV will vary between manufactures. Hopefully there will be a pointer either in the manual - or google.

Save the following as /usr/bin/tvon and replicate changing the 'ser.write("ka 0 1")' - see comments. Then chmod +x tvo*



#!/usr/bin/python
#
# Simple script to control the on/off of tv.
#

import serial #pyserial module
ser = serial.Serial('/dev/ttyUSB0', 9600, timeout=1) #set to the serial port connected to tv
ser.open()
ser.write("ka 0 1") # switch on tv - change to "ka 0 0" to switch off.
ser.write("\r") #Carriage return
ser.close()

[Hackmo]

Awesome work on LMCE, i've been wanting something like this for awhile. I've not actually tried it yet as I don't have the time or resources rite now but hopefully by the time I do then LMCE will be a little more mature and some of the teething problems that the guys above described will be sorted.

Keep up the good work, i'm looking forward to future developments.

[@trophy]

I'm not talking about MythTV... I already run 2 Myth boxes. Watch the video. It apparently integrates some of Myth but it is it's own system. Vaporware or real?


Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Cl... err... LinuxMCE. No, it doesn't work as advertised. Unless you have EXACTLY the hardware that guy in the video had. I attempted installing it on my desktop with a Haupage WinTV card, and it didn't like the capture card, nor really any of my other hardware, and loaded up a menu that ran like molasses uphill in January. Once more hardware is supported, though... looks really frigging awesome. I especially like the Asterisk integration.

[newbie2]

Veteran Microsoft security expert, Jesper Johansson, says he may dump Microsoft's Windows Media Center in favour of Ubuntu-affiliated LinuxMCE after struggling with Redmond's DRM (Digital Rights Management) software.
http://www.builderau.com.au/news/soa/Ex-MS-security-guru-dumps-Media-Center-for-Linux/0,339028227,339282399,00.htm
:)