Former VMC user making the leap! Linux or Win?

[morphy]

Hi all, I have a couple of questions that I need some guidance on. My current setup is Vista MC in a headless server (no monitor), and I run entirely off of extenders over cabled ethernet throughout the house. In order to run headless, I have hacked up VNC to work with it from various workstations throughout the house (Mac & Linux). I use DirecTV, and I had been previously anticipating the HDPC-20, but it appears that its vaporware.

So now that Sage has extenders available, I am planning on going SageMC on the headless server with HD-PVR's and HD receivers. The only question now is OS choice. I'm far more comfortable running Linux than Winders (especially headless... yikes!) but from what I understand the HD-PVR support is still sketchy. Is it at least stable at this point? Also, are there any differences in SageTV's feature set on Linux vs Windows? Do the same applications work over Extenders.

Thanks for all the help!

[ThePaladinTech]

Others I am sure will shed more light on this - but what I have seen in my time on this forum that in general Windows is typically the way to go, the reason for this is that some of the plug-ins are windows only. I believe that some linux folks are running these extensions through wine. It's also my understanding that the base SAGE media center is nearly identical on all three platforms. another consideration is that the Linux version is not supported (?) by sage - it's an OEM version. All that said, these points may be trivial if you are significantly more comfortable with Linux or OS X.

[Surtr]

Yeah, even being (sort of) a linux guy myself and having seen a buddy's issues running sage on linux, I also say windows is the way to go for sage.

[Brent]

I'd lean towards Windows unless you really love Linux. Linux can be awesome with SageTV, but imo its best left to those really comfortable with it and/or the SageTV guys stuffing it into the greatest extenders (HD200).

[QueOnda]

+ driver availability for some capture cards may not be there in Linux.

[bcjenkins]

I say Linux runs ok

HDPVR, 3 HVR1600s 6 HD Extenders, IR blasting, 64bit os with 8G of ram.

To address some points, if I miss any pls let me know:

HDPVR - Currently analog audio works great. I think that the issue is in firmware. Also, I would guess a bit of reading will likely be about MythTV installs and not SageTV.

90% of add ons will work on Linux. It just depends on what you want to accomplish. I run comskip via wine but everything else I use is native.

Sage does provide support for bugs. I think you run into support issues for config, but generally speaking they have always answered my emails. Plus their CTO runs linux at home for his SageTV server. (as noted in some other thread)

Driver development is very active in Linux. The developers there seem to be very passionate, but it is hit or miss depending on who picks up the project. The guy running with HVR-1600 dev is fast, helpful, and by his work very smart. The HDPVR development seems to have slowed a bit, but the hardware has had its share of issues. However, it works for me.

B

[stuckless]

I run my setup on linux. I'm not a complex as bcjenkins, but I do run a single HD-PVR connected to a sat receiver. I have 1 HD extender, 1 SD extender, 1 xbox and 1 ps3, that all use from time to time. I haven't had any issues personally.

The problem that I've seen in the forums about people using linux is that sometimes you get people that are not familiar with linux deciding to go with linux. That's not a good idea because typically you get hung up on things that are not Sage related by rather simple linux ralated issues.

If you are a linux user and you are familar with the configuring linux, compiling drivers, etc, then check your hardware to see if it's supported. If it's supported, then I would think you will be fine. But I would definately check your hardware first.

I use ubuntu, but there are a wide range of linuxes users here. Sage does provide .deb packages as well as .tgz packages.

Sage Linux does not provide a trial licence, so if you decided to linux, then you have to do it blindly. You can try the windows version for 21 days (i think).

Also, from what I hear, if you are comming from VMC, then you may be missing some of the "bling" of VMC. I've never used or seen VMC, but that my general impression from comments made on the forums. SageMC, a user provided add-on to SageTV, appears to be more stylish and it adds some extra features. It also runs in linux.

Personally, I would try the 21 day trial license in windows, just to make sure you are satisfied with SageTV. The Linux version will work the same as the windows version (as long as the hardware is supported in linux)

[jimwhite]

Of course we must mention that you can often use both... Linux as a super-stable back-end and windows for Clients...

[morphy]

Thanks for the advice all! I'm going to start off on Win, and possibly move to Linux in the future.