Yes, we are still online...

I know, it's been months!

Sorry 'bout that - been busy over this summer. But I'm back and I've got some good tasty tidbits for y'all.

First off - Feisty Fawn, in the long run, just hasn't cut it for me. I'm back to running XP. It's a fairly decent OS but I'm not ready to climb the learning curve to perform simple functions. I can make XP do everything I want it to do, why switch? I'm enjoying Linux on machines running specific tasks (m0n0wall, freenas and so on) but still don't like it on the workstation desktop.

MediaPortal has continued to be my Media Center of choice, though I did venture into a few aborted attempts with Vista Ulitmate's Media Center component and MythTV.

I don't like that digital rights management prevents you from streaming live TV from Vista to other Vista or MCE clients on the network unless they happen to be M$ Xbox 360's. I also wasn't fond of the cover art / media info search and importing to the Vista media database. It made too many errors and it was a lot of hunt and peck to fix the problems. It also requires a very thick client in the living room next to the big screen.

MythTV provided this streaming live media to clients feature but I wasn't satisfied with the look, feel or functionality of navigating through the media library. I was using KnoppMyth, FYI. I really like the idea of the MAME component built into the media center but wasn't happy with how I could browse, view, rip, download or manage media other than TV.

I think I've finally found a better option though - LinuxMCE. I downloaded and tried out the quick start DVD. No joy. The LinuxMCE Core (server) needs to be the DHCP server so that thin clients ('Directors') can boot to the network and load the client from the server. This is a very nice feature as I can always choose to boot to the machines hard drive with whatever else I want on it.

So, in preperation I hard coded the IP's and gateway on all my systems to point to the m0n0wall box to get to the internet, turned off its DHCP server and started installing CORE. It failed horribly because the box could not reach the internet. With no DHCP services running it couldn't acquire a route and the install never gave me the option of configuring the TCP/IP settings.

They recommend you run two NIC's. One connected to your WAN router (DSL, Cable, whatever) with DHCP enabled and one on the internal network. I'm okay with this but I need to figure out how to manage the firewall and DHCP services built into it so I can keep my other servers and services running. This might take some time and I haven't had it. It would be nice if I could just configure the damn gateway on the installed NIC during setup.

I do have another beef with the Quick Install DVD option LinuxMCE ships out. It insists on running as a Hybrid (integrated Core and Director). I don't want director on my core machine. So now I have to go out and download the LinuxMCE CD's and the Kubuntu Live disk, install Kubuntu then install LinuxMCE.

All this stuff is RIGHT THERE on the quick install disk - why not give me the option? Sure, it's really 'cool' that it's a one option installation but you really should have a quick install option for "Core Only" - not force me through a hybrid install on a machine that I want to run ONLY core.

I think they missed some really important features by trying to streamline the install from the quick install DVD. I wasn't able to configure the gateway, I wasn't able to select a core only install - why the hell not? So you could boast about a one option install? Well, if one option isn't enough to install it properly then I have to say you need MORE OPTIONS.

1) Which hard drive should I install to (the only current option)
2) Configure TCP/IP or Auto (Allow you to set a static IP, gateway, DNS and such if you want)
3) Core, Hybrid or Director? (What is this machine going to be?)

Those are some pretty simple options and I'd be up and running it right now giving glowing reviews to its intuitive interface and sexy efficiency but no, instead I had to listen to the pretty girl with the intriguing accent tell me to click Next when I can see and hear her 15 freakin times while I get device install errors in the background.

It forces the MCE client install to keep launching and launching, making it impossible for me to get to the desktop to configure the freakin NIC. But it was already too late because the errors were caused when it couldn't reach the internet to download the drivers and components it needed. So I wasted a couple hours chasing my own tail when a couple of simple setup questions would have had me up and running in short order. Is that one option install REALLY better? I think not.

So, now I download another couple of GB's eventhough I've got all the actual bits and pieces on a disk already. What Fun! I guess it will sit on the shelf until I find time to try it again.

I've still got high hopes and expectations for LinuxMCE, once I get it running. But I've got a lot of work to do before I can switch over everything else running on my network to route through the Core system.

Couple of questions - 1) Where do I go once I get Kubuntu installed to manage the firewall settings, or will this come as part of the MCE install? 2) How do I setup access to the media storage on the MCE box from my MG-35? It's got a limited set of choices on how to connect and it works smooth and easy in Windows. 3) Am I going to be losing features/functions that I have with m0n0wall when the Core box takes over those functions?

Sigh...I'll get it all sorted out, I just need time to fiddle with it. I will probably end up tricking the Core box into talking to the m0n0wall box for routing and allow Core to run DHCP so I can net boot the Director machines. Here's to hoping that the non-Director DHCP clients can be told to set their gateway, DNS and WINS pointers to the m0n0wall box. What a clusterfuck.

Darn LinuxMCE geeks trying to make a box that does everything and anything never thinking that someone might have most everything and close to anything already covered and just want a nice media center. They dumb down the installation to address the lowest common denominator and don't think about what their application/system might be stepping on elsewhere in the environment.

Get a job at Microsoft if that's how you think business should be done. That would have been time better spent integrating MAME, Netflix, Graboid or BitTorrent into the MC UI. But at least any frickin monkey can install it just the way you decided it should be.

I'll let you know how it goes.