[pmcgarr]

Maybe I can save someone some trouble and money. I bought an Acer Revo RL80-UR318 with the intention of building an Ubuntu XBMC HTPC. Let me warn you against that if you are thinking of doing the same. The Ubuntu installer has trouble with the graphics and all you get is a screen that flashes a bunch of colors. Pretty, but not what I was after. A search, once I was having the problem, showed it was indeed a problem,not a mistake by me. I was kind of sad because I fell in love with the Revo just taking it out of the box.

Today I ordered an ASUS EB1033-B001E. I hope to install Ubuntu on it, and then XBMC. Maybe this time the Ubuntu installer will at least run.

Anybody have an idea if this hardware will likely be Ubuntu compatible? Specs below:

Product Highlights
2.13GHz Intel Atom D2700 Dual-Core
2GB of DDR3 RAM
320GB 5400rpm Hard Drive
nVIDIA GeForce 610M Graphics (512MB)
4-in-1 Media Card Reader
10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet
802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi
Included USB Keyboard & Mouse
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Thanks,

Paul

[thethirdnut]

The specs listed above should work well for Linux + XBMC.

[Juan234]

I'm also thinking I'll buy the ASUS EB1033-B001E, except my plan is to install OpenELEC. Please post your progress with this nettop. I haven't found any discussions online about it + XBMC.

[asdiop]

Boy was I glad I googled before I bought L80 off of ebuyer for 150 quid few days ago. Found a thread on this very forum...

Code:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=152886

Anyways, please do keep us informed on your ASUS EB1033-B001E. I have been using my old pc as HTPC which struggles to play HD movies... definitely need an upgrade.

[pmcgarr]

Well I am slightly ashamed to admit this, especially on this forum, but I ended up giving up on Ubuntu altogether and switched to a very minimal install of Windows 7 as I just wasn't familiar enough with Ubuntu to get through some of the complexities of an XBMC/NPVR/SABnzbd/SickBeard/CouchPotato setup. It was just too much for me. Even harder to admit is that I gave up on XBMC and switched to JRiver Media Center. XBMC strugled with many 1080 files and I couldn't get past it. JRiver plays everything butter smooth, even on the EB1033. I am using Windows Media Center to setup recordings record TV. I use MCE buddy to rename and move the recorded TV to be managed by SickBeard along with downloaded content that I don't get on TV. All of this is dumped into folders monitored by JRiver. JRiver provides the 10ft experience for my tv episodes, home videos, music collection, and movies and photos. It also does HULU, Netflix, and YouTube. It works well. It will soon have native support for the popular cable card tuners such as the Ceton Infinitv and the HD Homerun Pro. In fact the Ceton is working now.

Please don't get me wrong. XBMC does most, if not all of this too. Just didn't seem quite as efficient at HD video, and I can't say for sure that wasn't something I was doing wrong. And, JRiver is not free. Glad to share detail about my setup if anybody is interested.