A good Linux Distro for a small media center.

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Chevy_Monsenhor

Chevy_Monsenhor

Reputable
Dec 2, 2014
102
0
4,680
Ok , i'll be building small , cheap and usefull media center based on a Linux Distro of sorts.
The specs look like this:
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-AM1M-S2H
CPU: AMD Sempron 2650
Ram: Logic 2GB 1333mhz
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB S-ATA II
Also a blu-ray driver and a small wireless board by TP-Link.

I want a user friendly distro to play 1080p movies at good performance and that also looks good.
I tried Debian with the Gnome interface last night and i tought that was a bit too much complicated for the house wanderers, including me and also had a terrible performance on video playing, even in my performance PC with the R9 280.
So , what Linux based Distro do you guys recommend for this application?

Also , let me know if i'm doing anything wrong with the hardware, something i can add or delete , because i did not bought the parts yet , just picked.

Thanks since my friends.
Chevy.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
delaro

delaro

Judicious
Ambassador
Aug 23, 2011
4,428
250
33,740
http://kodi.tv/

Upgrade your CPU to a Athlon X4 or a Phenom B55 or better, Semprons seem to throttle and choke on 1080P streaming. I have built a few HTPC's with Athlon II X4 630's, Phenom II 955's and APU's all work fine and handle 4+ steaming with no problems. As far as software use Kodi it was designed for HTPC use and can be controlled with a Smartphone or Tablet using the Kodi App, Yatse and other Android aps. Kodi can be used to play Content or Stream it as a Server and is really easy to setup. You also have addon apps for Xfinity, Netflix and just about every other online Streaming service you can find.
 
Upvote 1 Downvote
skittle

skittle

Splendid
Dec 27, 2006
4,036
3
23,960
OpenElec is what you want. It is a small ~100MB embedded linux distrobution that runs Kodi/XBMC. It is designed to run off a flash drive. Everything works out of the box without any additional configuration including hardware decoding video playback and HDMI sound pass through to your receiver.

I run OpenELEC on a AMD E-350 APU and have no problem playing (hardware decoding) 1080p bluray content. The Sempron 2650 also supports hardware decoding playback so you do not need to get a faster cpu. Even a raspberryPi can run OpenELEC and decode 1080p content.

additionally most tp-link devices use Atheros chipsets and are well supported under linux. Provide the model number and we can confirm the chipset.

OpenELEC boots straight into Kodi/XBMC and is very wife/kid friendly. I use this remote and it works without any additional configurations:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16880101002.
http://openelec.tv/
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
delaro

delaro

Judicious
Ambassador
Aug 23, 2011
4,428
250
33,740
All Linux Distro will run off a Flash drive and all Kodi Functions are the Same regardless if it's a APP or the OS. The OS is just a little easier to deal with for first time users since you will not need "Sudo" commands to install anything, nor do you have to worry about the separate OS wanting Updates as well as updating Kodi.

Kore is actually the Official Remote for Kodi although I paid for Yatse because nothing else did what it does at the time, Kore seems to have the same features for free.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.xbmc.kore

Straight from the Kodi requirements for smooth 1080p, you will need a " Dual Core @ 2ghz" and basically any Video card made in the last 7 years. If you plan on using it as a Streaming server then a Quad Core is a better bet, Athlon II X4's are cheap and work great for it as will a Phenom B series or Phenom X4. APU based systems are fantastic for HTPC's since you don't have to worry about a GPU, the Cost ratio is great.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
skittle

skittle

Splendid
Dec 27, 2006
4,036
3
23,960


You misunderstand what it means to be an embedded linux distrobution. It is not a traditional installation like debian or ubuntu with a fully modifiable root filesystem. Instead the entire operating system is in a compressed read-only file and all user changes are stored in a read-write home folder. This is the reason it is designed to run off a flash drive. The OS sits in one file and is copied into RAM. This works especially well for a HTPC setup. Its easy to set up and forget about it.

BTW you absolutely do not need a powerful cpu for playback of files. Even a raspberrypi can playback 1080p content because its graphics card supports full hardware decoding of h.264 content.
 
Upvote 1 Downvote
skittle

skittle

Splendid
Dec 27, 2006
4,036
3
23,960


Don't even need additional drivers. The default open source driver supports full hardware decoding, sound passthrough over HDMI..
 
Upvote 1 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom