Ok i am working on a SteamBox/HTPC using old parts i have lying around.
Well the problem is deciding what OS to use,because of my add-in cards,one part only supports up to windows 2003,another supports up to vista,and another supports up to windows 8.
If it help i have a half a dozen XP keys lying around,but i do have one windows 7 key,but i would have to dig it out.
Which OS do you think i should run?
Linux
Linux
Linux
Linux
Windows NT..... Oh wait I mean't to say Linux.
Hell you could just use a raspberry Pi to do the HTPC part and have a dedicated gaming box on the side if you really wanted to, No fan noise to worry about while watching your home-movies-which-you-filmed-yourself.
Linux.
But windows 7 will probably work fine.
Linux
Why? It will easily tie all those random cards together instead of cobbling which Windows will obviously need to do.
+1 to Raspberry Pi running RaspBMC. Works incredibly well, just the menus can a bit slugish sometimes due to the lack of horse power in the ARM chip. On the flip side though the "VideoCore" is great for 1080p content upto around 35Mbps in my testing (although its rate to 40)
i say win 7 cause that's what you're familiar with. why do you need those cards for a HTPC?
TV tuners? Capture cards for recording
+1 on Linux!
Pssssst! XP is insecure as hell and doesn't even receive updates anymore. Using XP these days is just about the most terrible choice anyone can make especially if there's any online activity going on -- like most any descent game would have.
But of you insist on using Wind-blows because of the bloated Micro$tuft Direct-X or something then don't even think about using XP for that reason too -- DirectX! If you have old hardware that the manufacturer doesn't support with Wind-blows drivers and can't get it to work with newer versions of DirectX then there's just one more reason to go with Linux (and the OpenGL standards). However, you may be surprised at how well a newer version of Wind-blows supports older hardware -- just don't expect it with Vista.
Here if this helps the parts are an IDE controller card(windows 2003 or older),a dell/ATI OEM theater 550 pro tv tuner(supports vista),and the last one is a hauppauge wintv hvr-1800(supports up to windows 8).
The reason i need the IDE card is cause the board only has 1 IDE port,and most of my spare drives are IDE.
I still have more drives to dig out but so far i have 4x 80GB maxtor drives,which i plan to raid 0 on the IDE card(it does support it) and run my steam games off it,and then i have a WD 120GB,and a Seagate 160GB
And i know i still have more ide drive lying around.
To you guys that say just buy a new drive,i have NO EXTRA money to spend on this,so i have to use what ever i already have.
Then you only have two options. Either Windows 2003 or older, or linux.