Original Message From: Wolfgang Mader Sent: Sunday, 10 January 2016 14:09 To: arch-general@archlinux.org Reply To: General Discussion about Arch Linux Subject: [arch-general] x86 hardware suggestion for home movie theater setup (kodi) Dear list, right now, I run a home movie theater setup under arch linux on an arm device. While I really appreciate the low power consumption and the small form factors of arm (developer) boards, for me, arm also comes with a much larger maintenance burden than standard x86 hardware. Thus, I search for a platform which is x86 and well suited for a home theater setup. While browsing the internet, I go the feeling, that the Intel Atom series might be a good way to go. In particular, here is what I aim for: - standard boot process. No uboot. - standard cpu such that I can relay on standard arch repos and community - a graphics chip for which drivers are officially available, such as integrated intel graphics - low power consumption - some sort of internet connectivity, preferable cabled, but wifi would also be ok. - usb, but nothing fancy, only for keyboard Software wise, the hardware should be able to allow for browsing the internet and to deliver video and audio fluently. The interface I am targeting is kodi. Since I have no experience with low-powered x86 hardware such as the Intel Atom chips, I kindly ask for your experience and opinions on the topic. Thanks and have a nice week. If you want a small, 'all-in-one-box' you might consider taking a look at the Intel NUC devices, lots of similar devices are available from other vendors. If you want to build a 'box' on your own take a look at uATX mainboards with 'integrated' CPU; i've built a pfsense router with a Celeron J1900 based mainboard and it has a surprisingly low energy consumption (~12W(?) quadcore CPU) and has PCIe slots, fullsize RAM slots, the whole shebang. ----------------------------- PGP key ID: 62A58DE5 www.blockdevice.net/contact.html