Linux network questions

carvegio · 5 Apr 2009 at 09:29

Hi Guys,

I am thinking of moving from Vista to Linux (Ubuntu) for my HTPC.

But I had a couple of questions on what is possible with network drives.

1. I have a couple of large ntfs drives with my dvd collection on them, can this drive be mounted in linux ubuntu and be used as a normal drive?

2. Does it matter that these drives are ntfs partitioned and not linux drive partitioned?

3. Can I share these drives on the network so my other pc with vista on it can pick them up, like they do currently without much hassle vista to vista?

Can anyone see any trouble with the above?

I think it is possible to do all of these things but just wanted to double check before I moved.

carvegio · 5 Apr 2009 at 14:09

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. Can linux read/write to ntfs drives also? And will the network share with vista be able to read write just fine too?

I read some posts saying they might be read only, but I think these might be outdated as I have read some which say it is possible.

Also, I am going to be using it for a HTPC with a lot of storage attached... so kinda like a server too.

I will be running XBMC, I am currently running it on windows and it is great - but under linux it has gpu offloading via vdpau. It uses FFmpeg for playback and this supports most formats I use fine.

I have tried the linux version out and it does have some bugs, same with windows, but is still very useable and very good.

carvegio · 5 Apr 2009 at 15:23

Hi Bob Wya Jnr,

Answered everything I wanted, thanks!

XBMC has gpu offloading capabilities with the latest nvidia drivers, in fact people are actually underclocking their cpu's as a result of vdpau.

It is still a little buggy but getting better daily.

carvegio · 6 Apr 2009 at 13:23

I will def be playing 720p/1080p files.

What did you use in linux to try and play the file?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VDPAU

Have you tried it with mplayer or vlc? or anything else listed?

I am trying the killa sample and many other 1080p files with a q6600, in windows it has 40-60% cpu usage, and in linux with one of those players under 10% usage.

I think the 9500m supports vdpau also.