Media System for a novice..

[J4MES]

so, two sticks of the same RAM added, free delivery taken away, one last thing - network card? which ones are compatible? and can I get a card reader for the front?

[nichomach]

Can I throw a spaniard in the works? Keyboard-wise, we have one of THESE in use here; I know it's not from Scan, but it basically has an optical trackball (not the horrible MS thumb-paralysing stickpoint thingy), it's RF not infrared, and it still has all the media centre buttons and stuffs. Good kit.

[this_is_gav]

The MS media centre remote and keyboard (requires the dongle included with remote) will only work on XP MCE or Vista Home Premium/Ultimate. It uses built-in drivers which aren't included with XP Home/Professional or I presume Vista Home Basic/Business. The Phillips Vista MCE remote uses the same drivers so has the same limitations of OS. Whether someone has hacked that or extracted the drivers I've no idea, or if they work on Linux at all. They might be installed with SP3 for XP too, though I doubt it.

[J4MES]

so, two sticks of the same RAM added, free delivery taken away, one last thing - network card? which ones are compatible? and can I get a card reader for the front?

and I need an av cable...

[directhex]

onboard networking is fine in anything

[J4MES]

cheers - just spotted that... will be ordering tonight.

[Biscuit]

and I need an av cable...

Standard HDMI cable i recon (assuming thats what TV has) Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

selecion of card readers are a bit lame TBH... i wiould just get a usB one and plug it in when you need it but here they are anyway

Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

[dangel]

£1.50 free delivery if you just one SD/SDHC card reading: SDHC card reader

Have 2 and they work a treat!

[J4MES]

final novice question... when it all arrives, I reckon I'll be able to put it all together but I'm guessing that I won't be able to just switch it on - so is there a guide anywhere on step-by-step installation etc?

[Biscuit]

Well all you will need to really get your head round is the bios then windows XP is pretty straight forward. every bios is slightly different so its hard to give u a guide but basically

Disable the floppy drive
Set the boot disk priority (CD/DVD Rom then HDD)

save and leave bios. with xp disk in you should go through that installer, once in windows you need to insrtall the drivers and software and our done

[J4MES]

cheers - it's literally been about 10 years since I delved into BIOS, but if I recall it's not all completely counter-intuitive! I'll let you know how I get on - and thanks for all the help!

[directhex]

Well all you will need to really get your head round is the bios then windows XP is pretty straight forward. every bios is slightly different so its hard to give u a guide but basically

Disable the floppy drive
Set the boot disk priority (CD/DVD Rom then HDD)

save and leave bios. with xp disk in you should go through that installer, once in windows you need to insrtall the drivers and software and our done

assuming xp supports the assorted disk controllers

given xp only reads drivers from floppy 'n' all

[J4MES]

ok... pushing the boat out a bit now - I've added Corsair RAM (for £10 more - 2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800) and an Abit AirPace PCI-Express 54Mbps Wi-Fi Card, but have now decided to add a graphics card just in case - how about this 256MB Asus 8400GS PCI-E (x16)?? Any issues (apart from it not being in stock)?

[J4MES]

this is where I'm at for now...

[Biscuit]

Bumping the budget up for ram is a good move. Graphics card is your call but i dont think i would bother until i needed it, the onboard chipset on that abit board is quite sufficiant and if you get one later down the line when u actually need it your garaunteed a better feature set.

Even so, if your mind is set on it then i would probably go down the ATI route (HD3450) they offer better features for multimedia. That is if you are sure you are staying on windows XP, if you decide to move to linux then ATI is a no-go. If linux is a possibility and you want to retain the HDCP capabilities i think the lowest end nvidia card capable is the 8600GTS but even then i dont think its fully HDCP capable and it is quite expensive.