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[JustinChase]

I'm running my Living Room HTPC off of my unRAID server in a windows8 VM and it works great.

I just installed another/new Video card (nVidia GT720) in the server with the intention of creating another VM for the bedroom, and had planned to install Windows 8 (maybe windows 10) in that VM, but am wondering if it might be time to try/use MC in Linux for this project.

I mainly control the HTPC with Theater View, via Gizmo; it's easy and the wife understands and can use this method.  I'd like to do the same/similar with the bedroom HTPC.  I don't know if Theater View is working/available in Linux and if not, what is the 'preferred' method to control it as a 10 ft interface?

I've toyed with Linux a few times, but have no preference or allegiance to any particular distro.  It seems Debian is preferred, so that's what I'm planning on starting with.

Any thoughts suggestions before I move forward?

[mattkhan]

There is no theatre view for Linux atm, jremote/gizmo does work though.

[mwillems]

Other key features missing from linux: no TV tuner support, no web viewing of any kind, no audio loopback of any kind, and no robust multi-monitor support (i.e. if you use a smaller second screen as a control interface fullscreen can sometimes get flaky). That and the absence of theater view makes it hard to use as a "classic" HTPC right now.  

If TV tuners aren't in the mix, MC for Linux works pretty well as an MC server (assuming you don't use DVD .ifo rips).  It also works pretty darn well as a headless network streaming audio endpoint (controlled by Gizmo or JRemote).

But there's too much missing for conventional HTPC usage (at least in my opinion).  

[BryanC]

I would love to ditch Windows completely, but I don't think it's quite there yet for me. No theater view is a dealbreaker, plus there are ever-ongoing issues with stand-alone graphics performance on Linux. I think that the 4.3 kernel is supposed to really improve the open-source nVidia drivers, so that might be a good starting point if you want to dive in. It is still a ways out for Debian (testing), but will probably land in Fedora 23.

[mattkhan]

I think that the 4.3 kernel is supposed to really improve the open-source nVidia drivers, so that might be a good starting point if you want to dive in. It is still a ways out for Debian (testing), but will probably land in Fedora 23.

It looks more like a refactoring exercise than substantial improvements in performance. Is there a good reason to use nouveau over the nvidia driver?

[mwillems]

It looks more like a refactoring exercise than substantial improvements in performance. Is there a good reason to use nouveau over the nvidia driver?

I had the same question.  Apart from ideological/software freedom issues the proprietary driver has been a homerun for me.  Zero problems, excellent performance.  Admittedly, I'm only using it on Arch which means I always have up to date kernels and drivers, so maybe the older version packaged in Debian isn't up to snuff?  It's a bit of a blocker for wayland, but otherwise works great.

The proprietary driver's performance is not completely competitive with the windows driver's performance, but there's no madvr on Linux so video card performance isn't as mission-critical right now for HTPC use anyway.

[mattkhan]

As far as I have noticed, the proprietary driver stays reasonably current on Debian as newer versions hit the various backports streams. Of course you always have the option of using only v old drivers if you really want to

[mwillems]

As far as I have noticed, the proprietary driver stays reasonably current on Debian as newer versions hit the various backports streams. Of course you always have the option of using only v old drivers if you really want to

The current Jessie backport is about 7 months old (340.76 released mid-January).  The current Arch driver is about 3 days old (352.41 released near the end of August).  I'll admit that "only 7 months old" is pretty good for debian (no insult intended, I love debian), but if you're playing new-ish games (many of which now run natively on linux) that kind of lag will be a killer.

[mattkhan]

The current Jessie backport is about 7 months old (340.76 released mid-January).  The current Arch driver is about 3 days old (352.41 released near the end of August).  I'll admit that "only 7 months old" is pretty good for debian (no insult intended, I love debian), but if you're playing new-ish games (many of which now run natively on linux) that kind of lag will be a killer.

Does anyone attempt to game on Debian stable? Seems unwise to me. Anyway looping back on topic, the OP has plenty of options for a distro if  he decides to try it on Linux.

[mwillems]

Anyway looping back on topic, the OP has plenty of options for a distro if  he decides to try it on Linux.

It's true, and I wasn't intending that as a digression.  I wanted to highlight the age of drivers issue generally as newer cards don't work so well (or at all) with older drivers, and in case OP's HTPC use-case includes gaming. Several of my HTPCs are also used for gaming, with the games launched from theater view so I tend to think of the cases as related even though, you're right, they aren't necessarily.  In retrospect a GT720 is old enough that he shouldn't have an issue with any modern distro.

Apologies for the pseudo-digression; if your card didn't come out fairly recently (i.e. a 960 or something else that's only supported post 340), then the world's your oyster.

[mattkhan]

That is an interesting point, I hadn't thought of using theatre view as a game launcher.

[tlcmd]

Suggest you try some of the other Linux Forums  just to get a feel for what's out there and what others are using. Linuxquestions.org is a good source. Also you might pose this question on Gizmo's Freeware Forum since Gizmo has only recently begun adding Linux programs.  But JRiver MC for Linux is rapidly progressing and if you can delay your decision, it should be well worth it.