Need a bit of help. Linux mostly.

[DarkTwilight]

right now I have Win XP pro. on 4 Sata2 120GB HD in raid 0.

but for the past few months I've been using my computer as a DVR and i've noticed a big slow down, I'm think a large part of this is because when playing games, or doing anything else for that mater, it's trying to use the RAM or HD and it's being use. Recording a show. so first of all my computer specs.

AMD X2 4400.
2 GB PC 3200 RAM
4 120GB HDs In raid 0
Nvida 6600 GT 128MB video card.
Don't remember the Capter card, i'll find it if it matters.
Win XP pro right now.


so I got 2 500GB sata HDs and want to put them in Raid 01 or 10
first question is what would be best, those hard drives will do nothing but hold the TV shows I record.

now i'm gonna do a clean install. I have WIN XP pro. and Pro 64x but no media center. a buddy said that some destros of linux work great for media center like things. so my second question would be, if that is true, what destro would be the best to use.

I game a lot, so my 3ed question would have to be. How dose WINE work, and what all can it do. is it easy to set up, and if it's hard to set up, are they full guides on how to do it?

I would also like to know, that would it be worth it to get another 2GB of ram. with recording shows, playing game, listen to music, and some time surfing the net all at the same time, do you think it's needed or would help anything?

like I said, I have up to 3 HDs left. one is taken for the main OS, what should that main OS be, should I cave and get Media center (would rather not spend money, but will if it's for the best) and what should I do with the others, just put them back in a raid?


please any tips or help on anything wither or not I directly asked for it would be very nice. I know more then most about computers (that's not saying a lot I know) but I would love to learn, so any answer you can give, I would love all the info or details you could give along with it. thanks for your time and help (if you give it)


sorry for what i'm sure are mind numbing (to some of you) spelling errors and gramer mistakes, it's by far what i'm worse at, so i hope ever tying was at least clear enough to understand what i'm asking/saying. if you need anymore info. just ask.


Thanks again.

 

[patrickv]

you're better off getting windows MCE instead of linux for tv shows /recording on linux you have MythTV
http://www.mythtv.org/

but for games you're pretty much hopeless, as even Transgaming Cedega runs few decent games.
www.transgaming.com

decent distro's are PcLinux OS and Ubuntu. they are really straight forward.
www.ubuntu.com/
www.pclinuxos.com/

(im not discouraging you from using linux its just that for better functionality use MCE)

 

[tlarkin]

Have you used Linux before? If not, this will be a learning experience for you.

so, what I recommend first is not running RAID, because it is too risky when striping and you lose performance when mirroring. In all honesty, RAID technology is really mainly best used for high end machines running high end applications for performance, or server end data storage. Unless you are rendering large 3D or audio files, or doing video editing, or manipulating things that are gigs and gigs in size, a striped RAID will not really give you the performance increase you think it will. It does nothing for normal use or gaming.

Next, if you want to record TV, there is a very powerful app called Myth TV linked by patrickv in a previous post, and it can do a lot more than just record TV. You should go through their website to make sure you have compatible software.

WINE is not an application, but a set of APIs which allow you to run windows software. Installing and setting up WINE is very easy. Installing windows apps is for the most part not that hard, however, not every application is fully supported and well games (I take it you are a gamer from your HW specs) don't all run right or run at all.

Vista is not a good choice IME either right now. So, I recommend you stay with windows unless you feel like learning something new and taking the time and paitence to learn. Myth TV is very powerful and does a lot more things over other standard PVR boxes, but you will need to learn Linux or get a Mac, because it only runs on OS X or Linux.