Reformats and Routers
Amazingly, I actually did some of the stuff I was talking about in my last post. Shadow, the Home Theater PC, is now running Windows XP instead of Linux. I played around a bit with the SnapStream demo software, and I think I’m going to buy the card/remote/software bundle once I have some spare cash lying around. I also reformatted Vincent, my gaming box, and it’s been running Linux with the 2.6.6 kernel stably for about a week now. I’ve started playing Neverwinter Nights again, this time under Linux, and it seems to actually run better than when I was playing in Windows. I still need to get around to reinstalling WinXP on that box again, as there are some games that don’t want to run very well in Linux, even with the Transgaming version of Wine. Ah well.
I’ve also been thinking of the home router project. Rather than getting an EPIA CL board right away, I’ve been thinking of using my old K6-2 350 board and throwing OpenBSD on it. It’s mostly just to get used to using OpenBSD as a router/firewall, since I’d like to switch the firewalls at work to it. Maybe I’ll get to that in the next few nights. This will be replacing my Sparcstation 10 running NetBSD, which is doing a fine job as a home router, but the hard drive makes annoying noises.
Don’t forget that your birthday is only about a month away!
I am on the verge of ordering the SnapStream card/remote/software kit – and I may try the Hauppauge system to replay the TV through the network – it will now support up to 12 units, which could be very cool! If it works well, I may then build a small PC to act as a VCR and keep it in the entertainment unit in the living room – it would be best if I could used the HDTV as the monitor and an IR keyboard, I’ll have to check into it!
I think some HDTV’s actually have DVI inputs. If your TV does, then it’s just a matter of hooking a DVI cable from the computer to the TV. There are also converters available that go from DVI to the HDTV component inputs, if the TV doesn’t have a DVI port.