Acer Aspire Revo R3600, £159.95 delivered to Ireland from Ebuyer

vibe666

you can either install xbmc on top of your OS like any other media player application, or you can install it as part of a cut down version of linux where xbmc is basically the only visible component, the rest is just 'under the hood' command line stuff that takes up far fewer resources than windows or a full blown linux desktop would, leaving much more horsepower free for xbmc to use to do its thing.

it's called 'xbmc live' and you can run it from a cd or USB (burnt from a downloaded disk image) without actually installing it, or install it onto a usb stick, internal hard drive or sd card so that the revo boots straight into xbmc when you turn on the pc.

there's plenty of guides online on how to do it and a wealth more info than i could ever hope to provide you with at the xbmc.org forums, so its a good place to start reading up on it all to get a feel for it.

naughtb4 wrote: »

Bought this for Media Streaming

Anyone know of a way i can play games which require a DVD?

I have a laptop that i can put the DVD in if there is a way to mount an image or something to that effect

if you won't want to fork out for a usb dvd drive then alcohol120 or daemon tools might do the job, but most games will have copy protection preventing you from playing them on anything but an original game disk. of course in a lot of cases there are ways of circumventing copy protection, but it would be against the boards.ie charter to discuss that kind of thing, even if it is for legitimate purposes, sorry.

if it makes you feel any better, most modern games would give a sucky framerate on a revo anyway. some of the older titles might work okay, but for the most part you'll find it pretty bad if it's anything 3D.

for a laugh i tried just cause 2 on it when i first got it and with all the details and screen res at minimum i was only getting around 60 frames per second (just kidding:pac:) minute.

it occured to me that something like half-life might work a tad better, but i never got around to actually testing it, so i can't say for sure, sorry.

event

thank you very much, cool.

one last question. if i did install xbmc live over the OS, I assume I could still use the OS to browse the net on the PC instead if i chose?

if so, could I install windowx XP handily enough on it?

vibe666

if you were going to do that, you could dual boot it with windows xp (or even windows 7 runs fine if you have 2gb of ram or more) no problem.

i'd install xp first and when you set it up, just choose the custom installation and tell it to leave a few gb free on the hard drive and you should be able to install it to that no problem.

you don't even need to do that tho either, you could just get a 2gb sd card (there's a memory card slot on the revo) and install it straight to that instead, or even just run it from a usb flash drive.

plenty of options anyway, just remember that xbmc was written by geeks for geeks, so if you think something is a good idea as a feature/option then chances are it probably already is.

a good rule of thumb when installing OS's is, install windows first, most other OS's play nice with windows, but it doesn't always go well the other way round.

Irish Kev

vibe666 wrote: »

you can install win7 or a different version of linux from a usb flash drive very easily. most linux distro's now have a self extracting bootable usb image you can download an write straight to a usb drive from windows and microsoft made a little tool to write windows ISO's to a USB drive so they are bootable which is handy as using diskpart to do it was a little long winded by comparison. you can get the MS tool to do it HERE and iirc it should work with any bootable ISO, not just windows 7.

NOTE: *any tool you use will reformat your USB key, wiping any data on it, so be careful and unplug any other USB drives you may have just to be on the safe side*

my original plan was for my R3610 to replace my existing original xbox media centre and boot directly into xbmc live, but i stuck win7 on it just to see how it would run on a dual core atom with 2gb of ram and it actually runs fine, so i've left it on there and now use a combination of media player classic, vlc & xbmc within windows depending on what exactly i'm doing. if i'm playing back 720p video with just 2gb of ram in win7 I do need to close down any extra running apps (browsers, skype etc.) to claw back some memory, but its a small sacrifice and i think with more ram it would be fine.
.

thanks for the link.The plan is for this to be my media player, nothing more. Plan on leaving it in another room feeding HDMI to main tv.Will need to sort a remote that works with xmbc.It will have to be wife friendly.

Plenty of reading for me to do

vibe666

Irish Kev wrote: »

thanks for the link.The plan is for this to be my media player, nothing more. Plan on leaving it in another room feeding HDMI to main tv.Will need to sort a remote that works with xmbc.It will have to be wife friendly.

Plenty of reading for me to do

pretty sure any of the Windows MCE remotes will work well with XBMC, you should be able to pick one up on ebay pretty cheaply.

EDIT: maybe not 'well', but they should work at least and they're cheap and easy.

does anyone have any recommendations for a remote to use with xbmc?

i just use my Rii for now as i use the revo for more than just xbmc, but i always assumed an MCE remote would work well given how common they are as a PC remote and that they can be got hold of cheaply off ebay.

mcgovern

vibe666 wrote: »

pretty sure any of the Windows MCE remotes will work well with XBMC, you should be able to pick one up on ebay pretty cheaply.

They'll work, but not particularly well. You might need something like EventGhost to re-map buttons. Should be a lot of detail on the XBMC forums (including EventGhost configs to download).

webels

Its been mentioned here before but consider using event ghost with most of the MCE remotes. Serious level of automation available, you could do some really nice scripts to open/close most programs, control xbmc etc. If you have an Iphone/android you can get the event ghost app and use your phone as a remote. It works using wifi so no need for line of sight to your acer if you want to hide it away. Just a thought.

Edit: McGovern you just got there before me snap.

TekDes

Does anyone knows where to get a wireless keyboard and mouse for an ACER REVO 3610?

Quaderno

TekDes wrote: »

Does anyone knows where to get a wireless keyboard and mouse for an ACER REVO 3610?

A bit steep pricewise, but here you are: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Acer-MAC-Style-Wireless-Keyboard-Mouse-Laptop-PC-/350400954507?pt=UK_Computing_ComputerComponents_KeyboardsMice&hash=item519586408b#ht_2237wt_1139

TekDes

Quaderno wrote: »

A bit steep pricewise, but here you are: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Acer-MAC-Style-Wireless-Keyboard-Mouse-Laptop-PC-/350400954507?pt=UK_Computing_ComputerComponents_KeyboardsMice&hash=item519586408b#ht_2237wt_1139

Thanks Quaderno, you think that is a genuine set?

Kotek Besar

TekDes wrote: »

Thanks Quaderno, you think that is a genuine set?

They say: "100% Genuine or we will TRIPLE your money back! (as there are a lot imitations out there)"

TekDes

Kotek Besar wrote: »

They say: "100% Genuine or we will TRIPLE your money back! (as there are a lot imitations out there)"

Thanks, I think I'll go with it.
Have you found any others? (I don't want to take too much of your time anyway)

about this one?
http://cgi.ebay.com/Wireless-Acer-keyboard-and-mouse-BRAND-NEW_W0QQitemZ150575864041QQcategoryZ15389QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m263QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DSIC%26its%3DI%252BC%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BIEW%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D10%26pmod%3D150550396154%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D7989116193612477972

Do-more

A keyboard with trackpad is a good option for surfing from the sofa....

event

so i got this anyway lads, xbmclive is installed and all.
i know I can connect my HDD to it and play files from that but how can i transfer some of those files to the acer itself

i installed filezilla but dont really know what to do with it?
what would i select as the host?
does my laptop need to be connected to the Acer machine?

event

event wrote: »

so i got this anyway lads, xbmclive is installed and all.
i know I can connect my HDD to it and play files from that but how can i transfer some of those files to the acer itself

i installed filezilla but dont really know what to do with it?
what would i select as the host?
does my laptop need to be connected to the Acer machine?

If the HDD is connected by USB can't you transfer the files by means of XBMC's file manager? As regards FileZilla you SFTP into it with the IP address of the Acer as the host. Your laptop does not need to be connected to the Acer if they're all on the same network you should be able to SFTP wirelessly.

event

ill try the transfer over the file manager, didnt know you could do that

event

cant figure out file manager at all

when i open it up, i can access my files from the HDD on the left hand screen. on the right hand screen, its the same thing. i cant figure out where to copy the files to. on the right hand screen, it gives three options:
HDD, profile and add source

how do i creat a folder on the acer that i can copy the files into?

event

cant figure out file manager at all

when i open it up, i can access my files from the HDD on the left hand screen. on the right hand screen, its the same thing. i cant figure out where to copy the files to. on the right hand screen, it gives three options:
HDD, profile and add source

how do i creat a folder on the acer that i can copy the files into?

event

figured it out

event

i tell a lie, havent figured it out at all.

now when i go into the library section there is nothing there.
the files are on the scer though, i can access them through the file manager, they play through that way but thats not the way to use it at all.

jesus i thought it would just pick up everything easily, maybe im doing it wrong though

event

event wrote: »

i tell a lie, havent figured it out at all.

now when i go into the library section there is nothing there.
the files are on the scer though, i can access them through the file manager, they play through that way but thats not the way to use it at all.

jesus i thought it would just pick up everything easily, maybe im doing it wrong though

They're on the Acer but not showing up in the Library? Did you scan them to the library in the first place? If No then scan them if Yes now that you've moved them you may need to delete then rescan them because they have new locations!

event

it looks like the library mode i cant set up.
can see them in file modem fine. tried to scan them there and it looks like it cant connect to the internet.
i connect over wireless, any ideas on how to set that up? the acer has wifi built in

event

event wrote: »

it looks like the library mode i cant set up.
can see them in file modem fine. tried to scan them there and it looks like it cant connect to the internet.
i connect over wireless, any ideas on how to set that up? the acer has wifi built in

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=81858

mabozarichie

I thought this thread was about the Acer Revo bargain, not XBMC help desk.

This thread needs to close....:mad:

mabozarichie

mabozarichie wrote: »

I thought this thread was about the Acer Revo bargain, not XBMC help desk.

This thread needs to close....:mad:

You could always just unsubscribe y'know!

event

Deleted User wrote: »

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=81858

ill try that later, cant get it working either, the first bit where it asks me to type

dmesg | tail

i cant get the | to come up on the command line

mabozarichie wrote: »

I thought this thread was about the Acer Revo bargain, not XBMC help desk.

This thread needs to close....:mad:

i dont see what the problem is?

event

event wrote: »

ill try that later, cant get it working either, the first bit where it asks me to type

dmesg | tail

i cant get the | to come up on the command line

That reminds me!! Yes I had the same trouble. I was up around 3am trying to get everything set up and couldn't get past typing an "|"!!!

I gave up and just typed the "mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt" as in the example and that worked for me. I didn't have an hard disk attached as well though so that might wreck it for you....maybe try sdb2? I can't help as I'm no Linux expert!

Maybe somebody else might know how to get the "|" on the Acer keyboard?

Goolay

So now that I've finally decided to get one of these bad boys (to run XBMC live) I see eBuyer have stopped delivery to Ireland. Bah.

Where's the next best/cheapest place to pick one up?

cheers

vibe666

i got an extra 2gb stick of ram for my R3610 (thinking there was 1x2gb already in it) and it turns out mine had 2x1gb sticks so i have 3gb instead of the 4gb i was after. still, with the revo only able to handle 3.25gb at the hardware level, i've only really lost a tiny bit anyway.

the difference in performance in Win7 is significant though, if anyone wants to use win7 on their R3610 i'd highly recommend the extra RAM, it's well worth it.

ALL my 720p video plays nice and smoothly now in WMP, VLC & XBMC within windows (had problems with *some* videos before being jerky) and the whole thing is generally more snappy.

1080p video is still a little jerky in windows, but i imagine that XBMC Live would handle it fine if i dropped windows (as XBMC Live does 720p fine with 2gb RAM). since i don't have a 1080p TV though and windows has become invaluable to me, i'll be sticking with what i have for now.

it's all good though, i just thought people would like to know what a difference it makes.

mabozarichie wrote: »

I thought this thread was about the Acer Revo bargain, not XBMC help desk.

This thread needs to close....:mad:

26 posts and you're already running the place. :rolleyes:

vibe666

Dublin579 wrote: »

So now that I've finally decided to get one of these bad boys (to run XBMC live) I see eBuyer have stopped delivery to Ireland. Bah.

Where's the next best/cheapest place to pick one up?

cheers

probably ebay at this stage if you want an R3610, since a lot of places haves stopped selling them. pretty sure since the r3700 has come out the r3600 series has stopped being made.