Need help with zotac HD11 set up please!!!

Hello everyone!
Recently bought zotac HD11.... my questions are....

1) Which XBMC version (dharma latest, nightly etc) best suits this machine ?

2) I have a 80 gig laptop drive...which I think I can use in it..it has 2 gig of memory also.....should I install XBMC on operating system or should I run off USB on this machine ? Any pros or cons with or without OS being installed?

3)Or, should I installl XBMC as separate OS along with another OS?

4) any link to step by step procedure for XBMC install on zotac HD11 would be highly appreciated.

5) how can I download (and run also afterwards) movies etc using XBMC. Don't want to download using separate computer and then streaming using XBMC.

too many questions....but really need help before I do something wrong with the brand new machine.....

Thanks in advance to everyone......such a nice community and such nice people....and thanks to XBMC team of course who helped bringing these good helpful people together....sorta....

Thanks again!
Satfan

Check out my wiki article. It should get you going.

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW...BOXHD-ID11

Also, I've switched from the 3rd party repo to the official xbmc iso. It works the same way and if you replace my 'xbmcfreak' related content to the internal xbmc/official xbmc downloads, it should work fine for you.

thank you!!
it says bios update as optional...any suggestions??
Also...will the xbmc run better off usb live or should i install on windows 7 (i don't know what other benefit i can get with having windows 7 along with xbmc but i think i would still like to have it...any suggestions in that case)...
any method so that i can have both and then boot just xbmc or windows 7 as needed....
which windows 7 (32 or 64 bit) is better...(my zotac HD11 machine has 2 gb of ram with 80gb of laptop harddrive (NOT SSD)..
thanks again...
Peter

No problem. I have some more time now to respond.

I would NOT use Windows 7 to run xbmc. The reason why is because the hardware acceleration for the nvidia won't be utilized and you will have problems playing 1080 content in xbmc.

What I would do is download the xbmc live usb iso and start with Step 5 in the wiki. Try XBMC out and see if it works. If it doesn't, don't do the 'fix audio', or other steps in the wiki. I want to say that all that stuff is fixed in the xbmc iso you downloaded.

As far as flashing the bios, I would check the latest and what version you have. I know that earlier versions had issues with heat and fan noise, and the later bios versions fixed that stuff.

BTW, I'm running xbmc on hardware that's probably yours. What I bought is in the wiki, which I think is pretty much exactly what you bought. I have zero problems playing videos on it and once you get it set up, you will love it!
Hope that helps!

thank you very much!!
Will install XBMC live on a 8 GB stick and will keep it that way...later may be will try to install windows 7 ulimate on hard drive and will keep the machine as dual boot.
will let u know how it goes...just to confirm...the below (link) stable 10.1 dharma live xbmc is the one i'm going to download and install...( skin back row is what i'm looking for...hope i don't need nightly build for for that)
http://xbmc.org/download/

Thank you very much, once again....
satfan

Keep the facts straight please. XBMC on Windows has hardware accelerated decoding for all graphic cards with dxva2.

If I were you I'd set up a dual boot HD, which XBMC does automatically for you if you install the live version (i.e. you'll get the option to boot windows or XBMC after computer POST). Then you can use the Windows environment to handle your downloads, since it has a better GUI for that, and then play them off the same HD with XBMC.

Only disadvantage with the above is ofc that you can't do simultaneous downloading and watching.

Good to know.....thanks !! Wonder if that makes any difference for XBMC being on windows 7 or as a self OS (with XBMC live USB)?? ALthough..i bought Zotac HD11 for XBMC but know that i know that it can also be used as a PC so i'm trying to avail both benefits....
thanks again...
satfan

satfan Wrote:Hello everyone!
Recently bought zotac HD11.... my questions are....

Is this the exact model of your Zotac "Zotac ZBOX HD-ID11 Mini PC"? If it is, Windows 7 32-bit would work best with 2GB of RAM. Windows 7 might be the easiest route!

To Orclas..
thanks!! what is "ofc" in "Only disadvantage with the above is ofc"??

I'm Trying keeping XBMC as live on USB as my latop hard drive (which i'm planning putting in zotac) is not big (80 GIg) also i'll probably make a NAS in near future from where i'll play all my media....the hard drive OS is only for casual browsing on big TV!!

Also...would really apprciate if u can check this....
wiz561 was very helpful so far but i think he's offlline now..as per him (at this link..

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW..._it_to_usb

i don't understand 5th step onwards for BIOS flash?? And also how can i check if my BIOS is not already updated as i bought a "Used" system....any way to check without hard drive in the machine...

BIOS flash steps as per link: (BTW i downloaded BIOS from Zotac website and will install Dharma stable 10.1 live later)

1.Download 'unetbootin' from sourceforge. unetbootin
2.Download BIOS flash files from Zotac Zotac ID11 Downloads
3.Start unetbootin and choose "FreeDos" for the distribution.
4.Copy "AFUDOS" and the BIOS from the Zotac flash bios download to the usb thumb drive.
5.Restart
6.Load FreeDOS LiveCD with HiMEM + EMM386
7.Change the drive to B: or C:. Basically, you want to find the AFUDOS directory. Some say it's on B:, I found it on C:.
8.Read the readme.txt file for instructions to flash the BIOS!!! I had to add a couple of switches to the command so it flashes everything!
9.Flash the bios.
10.Reboot and hopefully things will work.

thanks again!!
satfan