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Created 6/28/2003
Last update 10/11/2006
HTPC Howto Purpose:
The purpose of the Linux HTPC Howto is to help educate people who are interested in learning about or building their own media computer (aka Home Theater PC or HTPC). The perfect HTPC solution doesn't exist and because of this there are many ways to build a HTPC and there are even more pitfalls that can make a HTPC more troublesome than helpful. This guide is designed to help both Windows and Linux users see what is involved in building a HTPC and what technologies need to be considered to make your goal a reality. The guide also takes many of the complicated details that are typically overlooked by people new to HTPC's and helps make things easier to understand.
I have been building HD HTPC's since 2003 and I prefer to use MythTV which uses the Linux OS. Although this guide references Linux often, most of the howto is not software or OS specific, and in 2005 over 80,000 visitors were Windows users.
The howto continues to grow when I have the time. There is quite a bit covered and I hope my attempt to make it enjoyable and comical at times don't get too dry. You'll have to pace yourself, it's not a single sitting reading, unless you're looking for specific information. I have tried to only go deep into areas that can have serious impact on the performance or functionality of a HTPC, and this has been what I feel has made this Howto so useful. When I wrote this I had spent hundreds of hours researching for facts and it was very difficult to find answers at all, let alone quickly. I hope this guide helps save time, frustration, and money for all of you.
Books
Wiley Publishing released a book in November 2005, Linux Toys II that I did the MythTV chapters technical editing for. It's a good book if you would like a hard copy of steps to setup MythTV.
Updates:
- October 11th, 2006 Updated information about dual and quad core CPU's
- March 2nd, 2006 Updated information on NVidia 6x00 series cards
- February 3rd, 2006 Over half the pages are updated now
- January 17th, 2006 Well, it appears the howto hit Digg.com and Linux Today's front pages. I typically get 800 unique visitors a day but on the 17th it was over ten thousand.
- December 22nd 2005 Began updates of all pages
- September 23rd 2005 Updated details on overlay support by NVidia cards..
- August 23rd 2005 Updated information regarding NVidia Geforce 6xxx and 7xxx series cards.
- March 19th, 2005 Split out the hardware page.
- March 13th, 2005 Cleaned up the formatting of the site.
- February 13th, 2005 Started at the begining and re-read and update *everything* to be current.
- January 14th, 2005 Added information regarding 64bit AMD systems.
- December 26th, 2004 New howto on Setting up Myth for pcHDTV cards.
- November 9th, 2004: Put in a tip on how to adjust brightness/contrast for XV (X-Video) when using a DVI connected display.
- September 26th, 2004: Added more sites on the Links page.
- September 14th, 2004: Updated PSU,Enclosure,Cooling.
- September 12th, 2004: Uploaded new NVidia XF86Config-4 file.
- September 9th, 2004: Went through Audio and Video to bring current.
- September 7th, 2004: Went through PSU/Enclosure/Cooling to bring current.
- September 5th, 2004: Went through Intro, Needs, and Basic to bring current.
- September 3th, 2004: Started tracking changes.
- June 28th, 2003: First version published.
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