HTNB: Home Theater NetBook
HTNB or Home Theater NetBook; a story of being Frugal. A couple of years ago I went to the trouble of setting up a retired PC to a television. One of the biggest complaints my spouse had was the noise, rightly so. After my son got his first smartphone, his NetBook (ASUS Eee 1001P) somehow lost its glamour. We decided to see if we could find a purpose for the NetBook, this is what we came up with.
It should be noted that I didn’t have much confinience that this low end machine would work as a streaming device, but to my surprise it works quite well.
Prepping The NB
Resetting to Factory Settings. This model has no optical drive. I discovered the with 2 steps you can easily reset this device.
- F2 - In the BIOS you will need to turn off ASUS Express Gate.
- F9 – Hitting the F9 key during boot up will start the recovery process.
As I never really cared much for Windows Starter and I have a TechNet membership, I went ahead and used the Instant Upgrade option and upgraded the OS to Windows 7 Home Preimum.
Now it is time for one of the most time consuming operations….Removing the Bloatware. Once this is done you can do a couple of last little items that I decided couldn’t hurt.
- 2GB USB Stick used with ReadyBoost
- Turn off all gratuitous graphics. Set Visual Effects to ‘Best Performance’
These minor adjustments made a significant inprovment in the performance of the NB.
Hardware
The only additional hardware that we invested in was a: Blue Tooth/WiFi Mouse. I looked at Windows Media Center remotes but realized that I can do 90% of what I need with a mouse. There are of course a collection of apps for both Android and iPhone that will turn your phone or tablet into a media center remote as well.
If you opt for a Mouse, you will want to take a close look at the distance between the mouse and the BT or WiFi transceiver.
Home Media Sever
One of the primary reasons most of us even go down this road is so we can have access to our local content play through our Home Entertainment System.
I have experimented with various media server configurations, but in the end I opted for:
Remote Potato
Remote Potato is an Open Source project, it will work with Windows7 Media Center and there is an Android application for mobile access.
RemotePotato brings your media to you, wherever you are. Videos, recorded TV, music, pictures, it’s all instantly accessible over the Internet, streamed live from your home. Wherever you are in the world, all you need is a normal web browser to access your media. Videos are streamed in stunning quality – AVI, MP4 files, Quicktime – most major formats are supported. If you have an iPhone or Android mobile device, we have an app to make things even neater. Never sync your mobile again!
Media Center
I tested quite a few different media centers; Windows 7 Media Center, XBMC, and Boxee. As one might guess they are all graphic intensive and require a significant overhead. I took a minimalist approach and opted for:
Google Chrome
Setting Up Google Chrome as a Media Center
Chrome is one of the fastest browsers available and with the use of a few extensions and apps you can create a reasonable media center.
Extensions:
- SpeedDial Plus: Speed Dial Plus is based on Speed Dial extension with an option to export/import the dials. Export Dials to bookmarks – exports the dial’s URL and its custom icon URL to chrome bookmarks Import Dials from bookmarks – imports the dial’s URL and custom icon from bookmark
- AppJump: AppJump is a launcher and organizer for your Web Apps and Extensions! With AppJump you can put Apps and Extensions into Groups to allow easy management. You can also display specific groups of Apps in the launcher and start them right on your browser toolbar.
Apps:
| Crackle | Clicker | Spike TV |
| Hulu | Onion News | YouTube |
| Angry Birds | Popit | Majong |
| Word Search | Revers e | Bowling |
| Backgammon | Yahtzee |
Final Product
Chrome TV Configuration
Chrome w/ AppJump
Click on Images To Expand
Whats Left:
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Upgrad to 2GB of Ram
-
Ethernet instead of WiFi
Categories: All, IPTV, Training, Tutorials Tags: bloatware, f9 key, factory settings, Google Chrome, gratuitous graphics, Home Theater, HTNB, Media Center, windows media center
Our Favorite WP Plugins
We have a group of plugins that we use on almost all of our WP sites which is built on WPMU and now 3.0. Here are the plugins we use the most and can recommend.
Windows 7 Backup
Using Windows 7 Backup. Multiple videos explaining the process.
Categories: All, Training, Tutorials, Windows Tags: backup storage, different day, friend of the family, good job, HP, microsoft, Security, storage locations, Using Windows, Windows, youtube
Explain Computer to Non-Tech Types.
How Do You Explain Computer Concepts to Non-Tech Types? – Computers – Lifehacker
Over my years of experience I have found that in the technology industry, you usually run into 2 types of people.
- 1. People who are good with code and technology
- 2. People who are good with people
You vary rarely find a combination of the two, and this can be a real talent. I have talked to various employers and have been told that when they come across a person who knows their stuff when it comes to geek, but can also explain themselves in non-technical jargon, that those people are real find.
The above article is a really good start and has some great advice that many of us tech types need to keep in mind when speaking to the majority of the world.
Categories: All, Tips & Tricks, Training Tags: combination of the two, computer concepts, lifehacker, technical jargon, technology industry
Onine Conferencing – Try DimDim
I used this application the other day to do some online training and found it to be outstanding. DimDim is an open source project and provides a great list of features when it comes to doing online presentations, product deomostrations or jsut sharing your desktop with someone else.
DimDim’s mission is to enable web collaboration for everyone. They believe that they can improve the world by providing easy, open and affordable collaboration software that anyone can use
One of the big pluses here is that it requires no client side software to be installed, is secure and supports VOIP. Should you want to give DimDim a try, visit their site at: http://dimdim.com and sign up for a free account.
Why Dimdim?
- The easiest to use
- Nothing to install
- One click to share your:
– Microphone & Webcam
– Computer screen
– Docs, website, whiteboard
– Public & Private Chat - Free for up to 20 participants
- Webinars & Audio Conferencing
- Free recordings & embeddings
This is not a paid promotion
