Hardware advice

[trondis23]

I am an absolute beginner - or not even that. I have just placed my order. I would like some advice on what extra hardware I should buy.

My main use of RPi would be to run XBMC. I need to connect to S/PDIF in on my receiver. I plan to control it via the XBMC remote on my Android phone. I also plan to install FreeNAS on an old computer to use as a network storage. If this works, I would have a potentially totally quiet media center.

What I have is: a VGA monitor, and a projector with VGA, composite or s-video in. I have a composite or s-video to vga converter - this doesn't give a high quality picture, but it is sufficient for basic work. I probably have a working SD-card. And I can borrow keyboard and mouse. So what I need is S/PDIF out, plus decide on how I should connect to my monitor.

I can see two ways to have the S/PDIF out and vga connection:

1) Use the composite out and my composite to vga converter, plus an USB soundcard with S/PDIF out.
2) Use the HDMI out, and a HDMI to vga and S/PDIF converter. There are boxes that converts to vga + S/PDIF (http://www.dealextreme.com/p/hdv-338-hd ... 824?item=6) or http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-HDMI-VGA-YP ... 2c6402dd46. Alternatively, I could use a HDMI splitter, plus separate converters for HDMI to vga and HDMI to S/PDIF.

The last option is quite pricey, but I suspect that it would be better for the video signal. What would you advice me to do?

Then I have a some other questions:

Can RPi connect to a network disk set up by FreeNAS?

Can I control RPi from a PC via remote desktop?

Do I need to have all components (monitor, keyboard, mouse) connected for the RPi to work? If I control it via the phone remote or remote desktop I don't really need it.

[felix123]

Can RPi connect to a network disk set up by FreeNAS?

Can I control RPi from a PC via remote desktop?

Do I need to have all components (monitor, keyboard, mouse) connected for the RPi to work? If I control it via the phone remote or remote desktop I don't really need it.

Yes
Yes
No

[trondis23]

Thank you!

Then I conclude that I only need a USB soundcard to get the S/PDIF out.

Are there any guides to connect to RPi with remote desktop, and the RPi to the NAS? Can I use the normal Windows remote desktop and connect to the IP address, or is there another program I must use?

[trondis23]

Regarding USB soundcard, does anyone know about one that supports dts/ac3 passthrough? I googled a bit, and found one interesting soundcard, the Turtle Beach Advantage Micro II. But this doesn't seem to support passthrough on Linux: "By installing an optional driver, the digital output can also send 5.1 channel Dolby® Digital or DTS™ surround sound as an encoded digital audio stream to your home theater system. (NOTE: This feature is only available on the Windows platform.)"

Are there other alternatives? C-Media CM106?

[felix123]

Can I use the normal Windows remote desktop and connect to the IP address, or is there another program I must use?

Hi trondis23, if you want to use Window's Remote Desktop Connection to connect to your Pi, try installing xrdp or something on your Pi. Alternatively, you can look into VNC or NX.

As for NAS, do you know what protocol it is currently using to present your files?

[trondis23]

As for NAS, do you know what protocol it is currently using to present your files?

I don't know - I haven't set it up yet. What would you recommend? I don't know the differences or advantages, since I am new to Linux. FreeNAS seems to support a number of protocols.