Upcycling a Windows 10 PC with PC-IRS5-01

[fla]

A raspberry pi 3 used as a kodi client for NextPVR was becoming too slow for recent kodi versions.

An old low end Windows 10 PC which doesn't qualify for upgrade to Windows 11 was looking at becoming e-waste when Windows 10 support ends soon.

I installed xubuntu and an inteset PC-IRS5-01 and this 10 year old low end PC makes a good kodi/NextPVR client.

xubuntu:

Never ran this before but googling suggested xubuntu is lightweight and runs well on old hardware (it does). Libreelec would probably be a better choice but I wanted to enable hibernation and the tutorial I found was for ubuntu.


PC-IRS5-01: link click on "Products"

This adapter allows turning off/on a PC with an IR remote (see review). In addition to allowing IR remote control of your HTPC's power button, it's actually an RC-6 (Windows Media Center eHome) compatible IR receiver so it can control kodi. Since I have a pulse-eight usb CEC adapter, I'm not using the IRS5's MCE feature, only the remote control of power button feature. It's a pretty cool product for HTPC's and suprisingly rarely discussed on these forums.

[gEd]

Good to hear of folks keeping perfectly usable hardware running (safely) instead of contributing to the impending mountain of e-waste.

I think a linux distro may well be the answer for many folks who don't need to run software that only runs on windows.

I was able to upgrade my 14 years old PC to win11 using rufus to bypass hardware requirements. However I am aware that there is a degree of uncertainly over whether MS might block updates in the future.
I also ran into a problem recently with the PC not sleeping and waking properly which I think started after a recent win11 update. I've rolled back to January and blocked updates for the time being and now it sleeps and wakes perfectly so I need to try and narrow down what exactly was causing the sleep problems.

I considered installing Linux but that would have meant ditching my old (but perfectly working) Blackgold PCI TV tuner and buying a new tuner that is know to work without issue on Linux. When I last looked, this didn't appear to be a trivial task.

[jimil]

Similar to my position, my NPVR runs on a HP EliteDesk 800 G1 which is over 10 years old and originally came with Win7. Over the years I've upgraded it to Win10 pro, 16Mb ram and a 500Gb SSD. I'll just keep running it as it is, just because Win10 is EOL it will still work. It's on a LAN behind a firewall and is only used for security cameras , video processing and NPVR so no security issues.
As long as the devices have working hardware/drivers/software and aren't exposed directly to the internet I see no reason to stop using them if they can still do the job.
I still occasionally use a netbook that runs Win7, still works perfectly well for equipment programming, very useful as it still has a proper serial port. At work we have SCADA systems still running on Win 2000 servers and XP pro clients ( no external network connections) with no issues.

[fla]

I have a pretty fast (to my standards) Win 10 Pro desktop that also isn't approved by Win 11 requirements. Still wondering what to do with it. It is occasionally used for web browsing so I don't think leaving it on Win 10 after the end of security updates is something I would do. Those tutorials online about bypassing the HW requirements and installing Win 11 seem like a temporary fix and may eventually break with certain updates as @gEd said. Even supported PC's are occasionally broken by Windows updates...

Drink with a soggy paper straw to save the planet they said. Meanwhile they arbitrarily mandate to create a billion or more e-waste PC's. Sigh...

[mvallevand]

I will play the devil's advocate here because since I have started using GBPVR/NextPVR users have whined about Windows upgrades and the Win 11 issue is nothing new. I remember one who was adamant about staying on Windows 2k even in his tag line. I don't think the reason for the e-waste is Microsoft policies. Supporting and O/S isn't cheap but how many of you would be willing to pay $100 US for Windows 11 license when you can get a new licensed NUC for under $200? I'd bet that's why most of us have all the extra devices.

One of the beauties of NextPVR is how light it is. My main server is still a dual core AMD running Debian I got for $200 when v5 was pre-release over 6 years ago and it was low end at the time. A few years ago I bought I a refurb I5 gen5 that I plan to "upgrade" it to. It even as a 10Gb NIC in it so I should be set until it fails. However I would never consider putting any of these devices into my living room. They are big, draw too much power and have not one but two fans and Windows or Linux they still typically get updates.

My main concern with the origianl post isn't the server though is the suggestion of using the PC-IRS5-01 To me it's just another always on device destined for e-waste Same goes for the idea of buying another IR remote in 2025, no one cares for line of site now. Good ideas 20 years ago now they cost more than an Android box and the old PC's play less content.

Martin

[fla]

users have whined about Windows upgrades and the Win 11 issue is nothing new.

Sure people (including myself) always grumble about being forced to change things they are accustomed to. However the internet is filled with articles/videos about draconian/unprecedented/arbitrary Windows 11 requirements sending good PC's to landfills. I have two such PC's rejected by Win11 and since DOS in the late 80's I've never once had this forced on me like this.

My main server is still a dual core AMD running Debian I got for $200 when v5 was pre-release over 6 years ago and it was low end at the time. ... However I would never consider putting any of these devices into my living room.  They are big, draw too much power and have not one but two fans and Windows or Linux they still typically get updates.

Most users don't have your skills to configure linux which does indeed provide updates for a long time. With less income, we may make perplexing compromises on age, fan noise and size of the systems we use. Power draw see below.

My main concern with the origianl post ... is the suggestion of using the PC-IRS5-01  To me it's just another always on device destined for e-waste Same goes for the idea of buying another IR remote in 2025, no one cares for line of site now.  Good ideas 20 years ago now they cost more than an Android box and the old PC's play less content.

The 1x1.5 inch PC-IRS5-01 was $24.95 US at time of purchase. No IR remote purchase as old hauppauge remotes and my TV provider's IR remote is programmable enough to work with it too. By enabling hibernation and using the PC-IRS5-01, power draw is essentially zero except during the 10-20 min / day of watching the evening news top stories before bed. I didn't even plug in the PC-IRS5-01's USB header wire since I already have a pulse-eight adapter to control kodi.

[mvallevand]

My point about Win11 upgrades was really about users likely not being willing to pay Microsoft $100 for a new license for their old hardware. If upgrading was truly lucrative, and covered all the extra h/w testing no doubt they would have made things less restrictive. MS does support Intel gen 8 so we are talking hardware that is more than 7 years old with CPU and GPU are no longer supported by Intel so what would you have MS do?

I am really glad that you found a solution that works for you (although I can't see how watching 10/20 minutes of news would stress current version of LE even with the RPi3). For most users that is a bad purchase that will end up in e-waste too.

Martin