[OT] Question about MCE 2005

["Keith Doxey" <ukha@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,

Just been looking on various websites for the prices of M$ operating=20
systems and I see that MCE is priced midway between XP Home and XP=20
Pro

>From googling I see that MCE is basically XP Pro PLUS the Media=20
Centre interface. As far as I can see, the only bit of XP  Pro that=20
is missing is the ability to join a domain which I dont actually=20
need.

What I do need is IIS so that I can run a webserver and MCE seems to=20
have that built in (although not installed by default based on what=20
I have read).

XP Home cant have IIS (although have seen some hacks to allow it but=20
I am worried that this may go all funny with some of the updates) so=20
that leaves me with a choice of MCE or Pro.

Now the question....

... from the information that I have seen the minimum requirements=20
for Home and Pro are=20

"Computer - PC with a 233 MHz or faster processor
Memory - 128 MB of RAM"

but for MCE there is no minimum processor shown and I cant see it on=20
the M$ site either but what I have seen is the following

"Memory - 256 MB of PC133 Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory=20
(SDRAM) is recommended.

Drive - A DVD-compatible drive is required, and the Media Center=20
computer must have built-in "Designed for Windows XP DVD
playback"=20
MPEG/DVD decoder. The DVD drive must read DVDs at 4x and CDs at 16x=20
speed.

Graphics Card - 64-MB graphics card using DDR with 4x AGP and=20
Microsoft DirectX=AE 9 application programming interface support=20
(recommended having "Designed for Windows XP Media Center
Edition"=20
logo)."

The memory requirement is not a problem but the drive and graphics=20
card bit is where I come unstuck. Is that JUST to use the MCE=20
features (which for the machine I have in mind, I dont intend to=20
use) or will it not install without it ?

Has anyone successfully installed MCE or XP Pro on the =A399 Dell=20
Server from last year ?

I know someone tried but had driver issues.

Thanks

Keith