I am a RasPlex user. Switched from Roku 3 to RasPlex about 4 months ago. I love RasPlex but want something a little more powerful. I installed Ubuntu 14.4 on a VM yesterday and add PHT. It runs great, and now I am seriously considering putchasing a small, fanless PC to be dedicated as a Home Theater component to replace the Roku and RasPlex.
I have searched the forums and haven't found any references to the specific hardware I am proposing so I am here asking for advice/help.
Here is what I propose:
Gigabyte Intel Celeron N2807 Mini PC Barebones GB-BXBT-2807
2 GB of RAM
16 GB SATA III SSD
Ubuntu 14.4
Latest PHT
FLIRC USB Dongle
First question: Will the Ubuntu 14.4 support the hardware listed?
Second Question: Is there a way, using Ubuntu 14.4, to have it startup in PHT without showing any desktop like RasPlex does?
Third Question: Are there currently any limitations above and beyond PHT on Windows when using the Linux builds (codecs for example)?
Any and all help, suggestions, comments are welcome. I currently have two X10 Icon Universal remotes (one for me and one for my wife) that are setup to use Roku IR commands. This works perfectly with the FLIRC USB running on the RasPlex and I would like to keep using them with any new PHT setup. Also, I want the system to be as simple as possible so my wife and guests can use it (the main reason for not showing the desktop). Ideally, if there is a problem, the system could just have a power reset and it would boot back up to the PHT just as RasPlex does.
Thank you for the response. I have looked at the NUCs, in fact that's how I found the Gigabyte box. The low end with the Celeron 2820 is about the same price as the Gigabyte, but rumor has it that the 2820 NUC has a flaw so serious Intel discontinued it and is in the process of replacing that model with a 2830 processor. For that reason the 2820 systems are heavily discounted. Otherwise, the next lowest cost NUC is about $80 more than the Gigabyte and it uses an Atom processor that I don't want. Since I eventually want to build 3 of these for my home and 2 for relatives, I want to keep the cost as low as possible. The 2GB of RAM and 16GB SSD are really cheap and using the Gigabyte system I can do each box for about $200.
I figure if no one has tried it, I may just go ahead and get one and be the first. It won't go to waste at any rate. I am an IT pro and have several other uses for a box like this professionally (digital signage, custom test equipment with LabView, etc..). If you or anyone else has any hands on with the Gigabyte box, I would be interested in hearing your opinions. Also, anyone running Ubuntu and PHT on a similar chipset/processor.
I haven't been on the Ubuntu boards in a long time, but I think I will go over there and post to see if anyone has a Gigabyte box running.
Again, thanks for answering. I'm always open to advice.
I found a couple of threads with people that have installed Ubuntu on the GB-BXBT-2708. No one that has put PHT on. I ordered mine today so next weekend I will load it up and update this thread with my results.
Did you end up getting the boxes with the N2807's? I just found these and thinking of replacing my existing boxes with them: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856501007. They seem like a great option for the price and are fanless (compared to my existing atom based ones). Seems hard to beat at $110.
I did end up with the Gigabyte Brix with the N2807. However, I have had no luck with Ubuntu or OpenElec. I can get both loaded but then run into driver issues (wireless and video) that I can't seem to resolve. Also, the Brix I'm using is very finicky when booting from a USB 3.0 flash drive. Both OpenElec and Ubuntu would only boot on the Brix when I put the USB 3.0 Kingston Flash drive in the rear USB 2.0 ports. It absolutely refuses to boot Linux from USB 3.0 port. On the other hand Windows 7, 8. 8.1 and 10 all booted and installed fine from the USB 3.0 port. I ended up with Windows 7 on the system and added a custom load screen, replaced the shell with Plex Home Theater and added Plex Wallpaper. This gives the illusion of a dedicated device since there is no desktop. To get beyond the PHT, I can connect a keyboard, hit ctrl-alt-del to get task manager and start explorer.exe manually. It works very well. I ordered a second Brix and set it up exactly the same way for my Mother-in-Law who live several blocks away. Coupled it with a FLIRC Universal USB IR Dongle and a $10 Roku IR remote. Set it up on her home WiFi and set remote video to 2MB. Works really well. I also set the preferences to only show REBOOT in the alternate menu so if there are any issues, you just menu to REBOOT and about a minute later the system is back up at PHT. I also set it to autologon and disabled all updates, minimal install so no extra un-needed task running in the background. I am very happy with the whole setup. Cost wise, I already had the spare laptop drives so I only had to buy the Brix, memory, FLIRC, and Windows 7, so each unit clocks in around $230. I have just ordered a 60GB SSD that I hope to try out in a week or two that cost $40. I did it more out of curiosity than need. I just want to see how it performs.
I will say this, the N2807 performs far better than I initially thought it would. The UI is silky smooth and even the one at my Mother-in-Law's house viewing stuff across the internet is far superior to any other Home Theater Solution I have ever seen or used.
Yes, in fact my first Brix came with F1 and I couldn't load any OS from USB until I flashed the BIOS to F3. It runs great but I never tried Ubuntu or OpenElec because Windows 7 ran so damn good on it. The second one I got about two weeks ago and it came with F3. I flashed it to F5 and struggled with Ubuntu and OpenElec, unable to get any to boot even in live mode. That's when I read about issues with USB 3.0 flash drives. My 8GB Kingston DataTraveler USB 3.0 when inserted in the front USB 3.0 port would not boot with either OS but did just fine with Windows. I switched to a rear USB 2.0 and got Ubuntu Live to load OK but no WiFi. I did an install and it went fine but I could never get WiFi working properly. I could see it and sometimes connect but after a couple of hours I moved on to OpenElec. That one gave me a different set of problems. I got a flashing screen after loading and when I got that solved (something with the sync rate), my video was skewed about a third of the screen to the left. I was using a VGA 4:3 monitor for setup and testing. I gave up on it only because I ran out of time, my wife and Mother-in-Law were waiting for me to finish so they could watch a movie. So, I just threw the Windows 7 image I already had created back on and installed the box. I am hoping to set up a third box after Christmas for my Son-in-Law and will try OpenElec again at that time. It will probably be another Brix although I would like to try out that ECS LIVA linked in the post a couple above this.
