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[flight16]

I am evaluating MC.  In my ideal setup, I would install MC on a Linux VM to be the server, then connect via Mac and Windows JRMCs from work and home.  Can I do this reliably?

This wiki page has two conflicting statements):
- "It is preferable that both computers run the same version and build of Media Center."
- "Both computers must have the same version and build of Media Center."

I found another thread saying somebody is using Linux -> Windows fine.

Is it safe?  What is the worst that could happen?  Why the conflicting statements?

[mwillems]

I am evaluating MC.  In my ideal setup, I would install MC on a Linux VM to be the server, then connect via Mac and Windows JRMCs from work and home.  Can I do this reliably?

This wiki page has two conflicting statements):
- "It is preferable that both computers run the same version and build of Media Center."
- "Both computers must have the same version and build of Media Center."

I found another thread saying somebody is using Linux -> Windows fine.

Is it safe?  What is the worst that could happen?  Why the conflicting statements?

The "version" in your quote refers to major version number (i.e. Mediacenter 20 vs. Mediacenter 21), not to different platforms, so there is no contradiction.  I currently use a windows server with mixed windows and linux clients from inside and outside my LAN, and it works perfectly fine for almost all of my uses.  

There are a few "gotchas" that mostly relate to the lack of feature parity between the platforms.  For example the Linux version of JRiver lacks certain features that the windows version has, so cannot act as a server or client for those features (TV watching/recording being a primary example).  If you want to share TV tuners with a server, it needs to be a windows server, and the clients that will watch live TV need to be windows clients.

Another "gotcha" is that currently JRiver doesn't handle cross-platform filepaths correctly (although there may be a fix in the works for this).  That's not a huge limitation because JRiver can automatically serve most kinds of files without any issue, so it isn't a dealbreaker for most kinds of content, but, for example, .ifo rips of DVDs may not work correctly in a cross-platform environment (for complicated reasons).

So assuming that the linux version has the features you need to share the content you want to share your plan should work fine.  I've had no problems with any other kinds of audio or video, but that doesn't mean there aren't some corner cases out there I haven't run into.  I should also say that I have no Mac's in my ecosystem, so I don't know what the limitations of that platform are (although I'm fairly certain it lacks TV support).

There's a 30 day free trial, give it a try and see.

[flight16]

The "version" in your quote refers to major version number (i.e. Mediacenter 20 vs. Mediacenter 21), not to different platforms, so there is no contradiction. 

Surely sentences 1 and 2 contradict each other (I'm talking purely about the sentence, not about how MC actually works).  My point is that new users reading about MC for the first time will be mislead and confused.
1. "It is _preferable that both computers run the same version and build_ of Media Center."
2. "Both computers _must have the same version and build_ of Media Center."

One is saying the same version and build is required.  The other is saying it's preferable.

I think the documentation could be cleaned up to benefit new users learning about MC.  For example, rewrite the two sentences as "Both computers must have the same major version of Media Center".

There's a 30 day free trial, give it a try and see.

Thanks for such a detailed reply including the specifics of your setup.  I will indeed test this out.  I am in the middle of a trial now and wanted to gauge whether or not it would be worth it to dig up an old PC and test out a Linux server/Mac&Win client configuration.  I'm glad to find the answer is "yes". : )