Spec'ing Hardware

On my lunch break I decided to price some hardware for a decent Home Theater PC (HTPC). I was surprised at what I could build for the money. I could get a decent microATX computer for around $356 after shipping. This included an Intel Dual-Core CPU (clocked at 2.5 Ghz), motherboard, case, power supply, 640 GB hard drive (with 32 MB buffer), 4 GB of RAM, and a 256 MB video card that outputs to s-video (and composite). This computer wouldn't beat any speed records by any means, but it would be a relatively cheap jump into making my dream a reality. I would most likely eventually want a better video card, better CPU, wireless mouse/keyboard, and a Blu-Ray DVD player which would almost double the cost of the computer. But I can start out slow and work my way up to bigger and better.

Experimenting with Hardware

So over the weekend I acquired a computer that has dismal specs (at best). It is a 333 Mhz PII (w/ MMX Technology!!) and 384 MB of RAM (can anyone say SDRAM?).

I used a boot CD to load Puppy Linux on it over the weekend. I was amazed at how simple it was. I downloaded the ISO from the internet and burned it to a CD. Just boot from the CD and voila. It installed and started running very quickly. Puppy Linux ran pretty good but every time I attempted to stream video with Firefox the system crashed. I was really surprised how well the OS ran despite the old hardware. If I needed a simple box to check email and look up stuff on the internet, you could do it very easily with Puppy Linux despite the hardware.

This evening I tried a different distribution of Linux called Damn Small Linux (DSL for short). Again, I'm very surprised how responsive the OS despite the hardware specs. I am having difficult loading flash on the computer. Linux appears to have a little different way of installing software. A novice computer user would have a little difficulty switching from Windows to Linux. I'm starting to get the hang of it, but it's still somewhat foreign to me.

I do realize that even if I do get streaming video to work with this hardware, the results will be abysmal at best. For now, I am simply trying to test the theory before sinking a bunch of money into this project.

Streaming Video PC

I was doing some research on computer hardware for a streaming video PC. I can make a pretty good computer for around $500. That included a TV tuner card (somewhat worthless at the moment) and a Blu-ray DVD drive (which I can always upgrade to later). If I drop those two components, I can get it down to around $375. Not ready to pull the trigger on tat yet, but I'm considering it.

Looks like streaming video on the laptop and a movie are on the entertainment docket tonight. I think I'm officially in denial.

It's Official

I am fully functioning on DSL today. We had worship team practice at the church, coupled with a long day at work means no time to miss TV today.

So far I am pleased, although it's barely day 1. The bandwidth test showed 1.8 mbps on the DSL download speed.

The shakes still come and go...

Am I Going to Survive This?

I came home from work today to a box on my front doorstep. My DSL modem came today along with the activation instructions and a notice that explained my service starts tomorrow (yay!). My internet has officially been disconnected. My wife and I plan on watching a movie this evening to help pass the time. We even plan on going to bed early!

Today has been too busy to suffer from shakes.

Hello DSL

In the midst of the melee, I signed up for 3.0 mbps DSL from a national local/wireless phone company. They told me my service would start on Friday, May 1st. I still have no solution for TV.

The shakes are coming regularly now...

Cutting the Cord

I called the cable company about my billing issue and the very unpleasant lady on the phone told me that I had to deal with it. I was apparently on a promotion (that lasted 2 years) and there was no way to lower the price or put me on another promotion for the service I had subscribed to. She was sure to offer me slower internet for $30 and proceeded to bash DSL in the process. What she didn't realize is that the DSL I looked into was twice as fast for about the same price. I asked her to give me a good reason to stay with her company and she kept repeating the $30 "deal." I was extremely frustrated. I told her to cancel everything. She asked me the date to cancel and I told her that I didn't care what date it was but that they shouldn't expect next month's bill.

When I got home from work, I took my cable box to the local office. I was hoping they would ask why I terminated my service. I had this grand vision in my head that I would tell them what happened and they would beg and please for my subscription back, laying the world at my feet. They didn't. The lady was very nice but to the point. I walked out of the office a free man.

And that's when the shakes started...