Hi all,
this is the first time that I register to a forum community (except for business ;o) ) , but I wan´t to share my experience with you.
In the last weeks I built my HTPC, based on the Scaleo E and now - VISTA - yes, it works, BUT....!
The Scaleo E seems not to work under Vista with one of the xx1 processors, means Intel 65nm CPUs!
My tests:
Celeron 336 (2,8GHz, SL98W, 90nm)--> Fine with XP Sp3 and Vista Sp1
P4 631 (3 GHz, SL9KG, 65nm) --> Fine with XP SP3 , Vista hangs during boot (for existing installation during the boot screen, "second round" of the load bar", hangs during fresh installation after copying files at load bar)
P4 640 (3,2 GHz, SL7Z8, 90nm) --> fine with XP Sp3 and Vista Sp1
My latest configuration:
Chassis/Board: Scaleo E barebone
CPU: Intel SL7Z8 3,2 GHz
RAM: 4 GB Corsair DDR-RAM (4x 1GB VS1GB400C3) (every DDR-400 CL3 should work...)
HD: Western Digital 500 GB "Green Edition" WD5000ABPS
Graphic: Club3D HD3450 low profile(ATI chip with VDI->HDMI adapter)
DVD: LG GSA-H55L
TV-card: FloppyDTV with CI
Tips for installation:
- Vista Sp1
- Install anti-vir and MS patches
- Unknown device awy0001!
In the device manager, you´ll see one unknown device, shows something like AWAY0001 in the description. This is the Away- button on the front panel of the Scaleo (behind the slide) Because it´s an OEM feature, there´s no direct download at MS, I found a driver at MSI´s homepage, called AMDAwayMode.zip. It install´s named AMW Away feature, but don´t care, it´s a MS feature and it just installs a driver. (search for Vista away mode)
After that, your system should run with correct Sleep/ Standby modes.
- Install the latest driver for the graphic card. I installed this card because the onboard graphic is not up to date, in my system it´s the onboard Intel graphics with max 128 MB shared memory.
I choose the ATI because of its possibility to take all decoding steps necessary for HDTV, VC1, h.264 and needs less power than nvidia...
- Install the FloppyDTV and follow the installtion instruction. I choose the MCE installation, that will smootly integrate the TV card into the Media center. Although Vista MCE only supports DVB-T, the driver form digital-everywhere will integrate any other DVB (DVB-C in my case) into the MCE.
A big applause to the digital-everywhere team for this great work, I found a lot of threads discussion problems with other cards and MCE.
- Install the driver for the front display. ( I got one from the seller of my barebone, called VFD display driver. After installation, MCE shows title of music and TV shows in the display, Great!
- Add all your media to the system ( I copied my data to a second partition and added the path in the media center setup, I think it´s easier to maintain...)
That´s it, have a lot of fun with your HTPC!
I´m happy with my system, it might be that other HTPC software has more or other options and visualisation possibilities, but the config above runs smoothly , without any long nights configuring with textbased tools or downloading the 3rd and 4th add-in for get something running.
Yes, I also very often become desperate when configuring MS systems or having crashs or compatibility issues. But this MS Vista, with all its integrated MCE works well for me. MS should speed up with supporting all DVB-stuff natively and add some small options for making MCE a little bit more comfortable when configuring, but over all , I ´m very happy and very impressed about the painless setup!
Some tips:
Their are a lot of threads outside, here are some that were, in my opinion, the best one to start with.
Attention: I´m not responsible for any content at this linked pages, they are not my ones, and I do not control them!
http://forums.ebuyer.com/showthread.php?t=665 (Thread about the Artisan-> which is the Scaleo E ;o))
Hope this helps.
Have a nice day and weekend!
Stefan