Episode 77 - The Livingroom Computer

frostbitten_panda

I, for one, also have an entertainment PC. I've only had it for a few months now. I must must must must must say: USE A WIRELESS NETWORK!! It works so well. I have a small drive on the computer and I just play my videos off of the network. I have a badass computer which I use to control everything, I download everything onto it and I run VNC to control my media center PC. I have almost a terabyte of space on my main PC so its pointless to buy extra drives for my media center.

I have 4 ps2-like controllers which work great with PS1 emulators and N64 as well. The only problem is..... PS1 emulators and N64. The framerate isn't too bad but when my friend and I played Super Smash Bros. it fell like a stone. It was horrible. But whatever, I still need to clean it out (software-wise) and hopefully it'll do better. My video card is a cheapie, 21 dollars, PCI off of newegg. I got it because the PC didn't come with any form of TV-out. I didn't realize till I opened the box that it has an AGP slot and FUCK ME! I have a GeForce 440 AGP card. I lost it though so damn. Hm... Maybe it's hiding in my parents' old Dell..... Shit. Bye.

Rym

Actually, we were going to go wireless at first. It was just so much cheaper and faster to run a network cable from the switch upstairs to the livingroom.

Luckily processor-wise, we only really emulate NES/SNES/Genesis games, which doesn't require much power. ^_^

kjonson

Another cheap alternative is to install a cheap $20 mod chip into your xbox (if you have one) and install Xbox Media Center. It supports all video types that mplayer does and you are able to network it. Emulators are included and you are able to use the xbox controller to play your games. The xbox comes standard with a 8 or 10 gb hard drive but you can install a larger one.

Rym

I'm thinking of picking up a cheap-o used XBox sometime after the price bottoms out for just that sort of tinkering.

omegafinal

Well, maybe you already know this by now, all the X360 controllers work in both. You just need a driver if you use it on the PC. The only downfall is that the two triggers are recognized as Z-axis controls rather then buttons, and the guide button has no support (yet).