Media Center PC
Have an old PC lying around, be it a Pentium 2 or Pentium 3 there can still be life in it. Recently I’ve just tried a free linux distribution, GeeXboX that turns your old PC into a living room media center.
I personally have tried it out, and it support most of the video files I can imagine, dvd format, wmv, mp4, mkv, avi and mpg. The only let down is that it doesn’t play any Real media file yet, but there are some codec files workaround that I still have to explore.
Basically the whole interface is pretty simple, no mouse input though. You can control the menu either through keyboard, or a media center remote control(would need to buy one to try it out).
The developers also claim that you do not need very kick ass hardware to play those video files. On top of that, it detects the computer’s hardware fairly easy. Things work perfectly on my old P4 computer, however I couldn’t get the sound to work on my new notebook PC, possibly because of the newer hardware that the GeeXboX does not have the proper driver for it. Other than that, it works like a champ.
Well, maybe it’s time to give your old PC a second chance. Turn it into something useful, and save electronic waste. For more details, please visit the official site, GeeXboX.org.
Related posts:
- Ubuntu Visual Effects with Beryl I just tried installing Beryl plugin into Ubuntu(Linux) recently. Beryl plugin is actually a window manager that controls all the desktop effects animation and the visual of the desktop screen. You might heard that Ubuntu or Linux can actually have those visual effects just like the new Windows Vista. Well,...
- Ubuntu(Linux) Newbie, Me! Yesterday, I got a call from mom while I was having lunch. She was kind of freak out saying that there’s a package for me from Netherlands. I said I didn’t order anything, until she mentioned the name Ubuntu and Kubuntu. Then, I remembered that I’ve placed an order for...
July 10th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Sounds like a great idea if your running basic applications but if not check out http://www.ultimopc.com for state of the art media centers. Very cool blog! Thanks.
July 10th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Sure is interesting site to see.
July 21st, 2008 at 10:51 pm
I like the fact that it’s clean and simple to use, but personally I still prefer Microsoft Windows Media Center (MCE) based Media Computers/HTPCs. MCE is a little more polished and although out of the box it has some limitations, most can be overcome with a few free add-ons. I bought my first Media Centre Computer from http://www.aonhomedigital.co.uk recently, and it has been fun migrating all my digital ’stuff’ onto it. I’ve now got access to music, movies and photos in my lounge - very cool.
I might have a play with this GeeXboX too though, as my wife finds Windows MCE a bit complex to navigate around (basically cos she doesn’t use it that often).