For the first time in twenty years, I decided to build a PC. \u00a0This project isn’t born of an idle whim – it’s born of my dislike for the Virgin+ box. \u00a0Seldom have I seen a more ill-conceived piece of hardware. \u00a0I’ve certainly never seen a system which glows more brightly on standby than it does when it’s ‘on’.<\/p>\n
The requirements started simply. \u00a0Any box that I build will be able to record freeview television programmes, convert them to a format that I can play on my Mac or my iPhone, and make them available on my home network so that they can be copied off easily. \u00a0I don’t have time to watch much TV at home, so I’d really like to be able to watch my recordings on the train to and from work. \u00a0The box will also need to be able to play DVDs and I’d really like it to be able to play my MP3 files too. \u00a0If it can connect to Boxee then so much the better.<\/p>\n
As for the hardware requirements, it will need to be exceedingly parsimonious. \u00a0A box that records will need to be on standby much of the time, and I don’t want it to chug though the juice like an alcoholic in a brewery. \u00a0I’d like it to be remote controlled from the sofa just like all my other kit. An LCD front panel would be nice too – if only to make it look more like a hifi separate and less like a computer. \u00a0While we’re on the subject, it’ll need to be quiet as well.<\/p>\n
I decided not to skimp on the quality. \u00a0The kit I bought is all good, albeit at rather less than the manufacturers RRP. \u00a0I decided what I wanted and then went looking for it at the lowest possible price. \u00a0My shopping list, and my rationale, went as follows:<\/p>\n
For this posting, I’d like to leave aside the issue of OS (I chose Mythbuntu<\/a>, but I may yet decide to use Windows Media Centre). \u00a0The Mac vs. Windows vs. Linux is a meme as old as the hills, and not as interesting. \u00a0I know which is best for me, and I know which is most likely to crash with a virus and a blue screen. \u00a0I’d like to pick a different fight today\u2026<\/p>\n \u2026Hardware. \u00a0Good lord, common PC hardware is crappy. \u00a0The stuff I bought isn’t bargain basement – but it doesn’t even come close to the quality that I’ve come to expect from a computer. \u00a0And even if I’d spent thousands on the most expensive kit possible, it’d still lag behind Apple because of the need to maintain compatibility with the woeful generic PC standard. \u00a0I beleive in elegance. \u00a0I don’t want to see a rat nest of cable inside my computer. \u00a0In fact, I don’t want to see any cable – I want all the wires to be hidden neatly away so that they don’t bugger up the airflow inside my machine. \u00a0It isn’t just a matter of aesthetics, it’s a matter of longevity.<\/p>\n This home build isn’t my only experience of generic PCs. As well as my Macs, I do have a bog standard generic PC. \u00a0It’s a Dell XPS tower (not the latest generation – and I certainly won’t be buying another). \u00a0It’s crap. \u00a0It’s a professionally built machine, the top of Dell’s line, and it still looks like it was assembled by a crazed magpie. To use the car analogy, this isn’t Mercedes engineering. \u00a0This is Trabant. \u00a0On a bad day.<\/p>\n Sadly, it isn’t possible to do what I’m attempting to do with Apple hardware. \u00a0Apple doesn’t make a machine with the form factor that I’d like. \u00a0So I’m making the best of a bad job. \u00a0Software-wise though, I’m very much open to conversion. Suggestions for alternative software stacks and improvements that I might make to my system will be gratefully received.<\/p>\n If, on the other hand, you don’t need a custom computer, if all you want is a machine that you can work on and, perhaps, use to play the odd game, if you don’t want shoddy build quality and worries about reliability then I’m afraid that you don’t have a great deal of choice. \u00a0Only one manufacturer offers the machine you want. Guess who<\/a>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For the first time in twenty years, I decided to build a PC. \u00a0This project isn’t born of an idle whim – it’s born of my dislike for the Virgin+ box. \u00a0Seldom have I seen a more ill-conceived piece of hardware. \u00a0I’ve certainly never seen a system which glows more brightly on standby than it … <\/p>\n