Last year I posted about when I tried to turn my PS3 into a Media Centre. Even though some dedicated distributions have started to appear, such as Ubuntu builds, I actually realised (durr) that the whole point of getting the PS3 was to play games; and why bother turning that into a media centre when I’ve got a perfectly good Mac Mini lying around?
Whilst an Apple TV would have been the better choice, I’d rather have the flexibility to be able to surf the web without turning the ‘puter on. And, coming across this article earlier today, I realised that I had most of the pieces ready to build a fully-fledged Media Centre:
- Mac Mini (an Intel-based one, with OS X 10.4)
- OS X Leopard upgrade (for the improved Front Row – although I do prefer the older interface)
- An iTunes Library full of cheesy 80s and other dodgy music
- An Egalto EyeTV 250 Plus for that freeview digital TV goodness (in theory; see later)
and, of course, a nice little flatscreen telly and surround sound system picked up at discount from Harvey Normans for being the last in stock and a discontinued line. (Who cares, I don’t need the “latest and greatest”.
I’ll update this as I go … and wonder how long it is until I get the obligatory OSXBMC comment …