vortexbox on system without OS?

[boem]

This is probably a silly question, but do I understand correctly that I can install this on any fairly modern computer system? Or more specifically, can I go out, buy a cheapo atom-based system without OS and directly install vortexbox as my operation system?


And yes, for a newbie like me it would probably be wise to buy the vortexbox appliance, but being based in the EU, I am afraid that the shipping and VAT (on system + shipping) would set me back quite a bit... Otherwise, I like the appliance very much!

[andrew]

You can build a system yourself. You don't need an OS. VortexBox will load on a bare hard drive.


We ship the VortexBox appliance to any country in the world for $40 (28 euros). You will have to pay your local VAT but you would have to pay that anyway. About 1/2 of all the VortexBoxes we sell are to the EU.

[wizardofoz]

While I cant say what your best options might be, if you know how to put together a PC with bare bones components then the VB install is very simple and I would happily recommend it for DIY, but if you are uncomfortable at all with this then the appliance is likely to be your best bet and based on the price I am not sure you could not do too much better in the UK anyway.


I used a D945GCLF2 Intel Atom board, a 1TB drive and DVD plus 1 or 2GB Ram and a smallish case, and this is an ideal little system that works nicely for playing out the 3.5mm Audio jack or with some edits and a DIY cable via the TOSLINK/SPDIF port.



Which ever way you go the OS is free so any recent (last 5 yrs) hardware should be fine but with Atom boards so affordable I would go with a new setup. It just works!

[socistep]

I have a similar setup to wizardofoz, decided to build my own system then install vortexbox as the OS and it works really well




I bought mine from http://www.mini-itx.com