[Mityama]

Hey guys!

I have just ordered all parts for my new Atom 330 based (HT)PC:

Antec New Solution NSK1380, 350W SFX
Zotac ION ITX D GeForce 9400, Mini-ITX (DDR2)
WD Caviar Green 2000GB SATAII 32MB 5400rpm
Corsair XMS2 KIT 4096MB PC2-6400U CL5 DDR2-800

I want this to function as my new "normal" PC running Windows 7 as well as HTPC running XBMC. But I can't really find a satisfying answer to the following question: HOW?

I want Windows 7 to be installed on a seperate 32 or 64 GB partition of the harddrive, which will be NTFS formatted. But how should I run XBMC? Linux based? Windows (XP?) based? XBMC Live (Ubuntu) booting from an USB stick would be great, but I assume that I won't be able to read any files from the NTFS drive?

[blittan]

run xbmc from a minimal ubuntu, then set up dual booting with windows. Use ntfs-4g for accessing NTFS partition from within xbmc.

[Mityama]

Thanks for the fast reply, blittan!

So it IS possible to access NTFS under Linux. That's great news for me!

Which Boot Loader would be best? I want Windows 7 to boot by default, or Ubuntu when I hold a button when booting or something like that. Will the Windows 7 Boot Loader be alright, when I add Ubuntu with EasyBCD?

Should I run XBMC Live from an USB drive or install it on the harddrive? I hear that it boots faster from USB.

[kurai]

Thanks for the fast reply, blittan!

So it IS possible to access NTFS under Linux. That's great news for me!

Which Boot Loader would be best? I want Windows 7 to boot by default, or Ubuntu when I hold a button when booting or something like that. Will the Windows 7 Boot Loader be alright, when I add Ubuntu with EasyBCD?

Should I run XBMC Live from an USB drive or install it on the harddrive? I hear that it boots faster from USB.

Install Windows 7 first on whatever partition layout you desire, then install your preferred Ubuntu/XBMC combo with Grub as the bootloader onto the HD in another partition (10Gb would be ample for anything less than a `Kitchen Sink` linux package list).

Grub will maintain a list of the OSes/kernels on the current disk setup - just alter it's config so that Windows 7 boot is the default selected if no buttons pressed.

Grub is definitely the way to go with mixed Windows/*nix setups - it's a lot simpler and more flexible than BCD based methods.

[Mityama]

will do it that way, thank you!

[zebraitis]

As a person that has some XBMC's on XBOX and a few XBMC on windows platform, I have to say that I'd...

1) suggest bulding a server to store your media and making it also your primary computer

2) build a box that you will dedicate to XBMC.

Too much happens on a primary PC.

If you want XBMC stable and available on your TV and reciever, build a small box with no hard drive. This allows you to keep background processes running to a minimum.

Your server in a bigger case will allow you to add more hard drives for storage. Trust me... You will tear up 2000 GB before you know it. (I am up to 9 TB raided now).

In the long run, you will be much happier.