Comments on: equinux MediaCentral

By: Julio Merino

Julio Merino — Wed, 03 May 2006 19:33:45 +0000

I tried it on a G4 Mini. It works ok, but mouse is not supported. I am using a wireless gyroscopic mouse which I find very comfortable when I am in the couch. I think that mouse should be supported.

By: Ian

Ian — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 14:21:01 +0000

Yeah Michael, this is a piece of freeware here, calm down. And an incredible piece of freeware. On the core duo mini i just got, it runs better than Front Row using the remote. Just more responsive. The ability to play all kinds of movie files by folder is exactly what I’ve been waiting for. However, a couple .xvid files don’t look as well decoded in MediaCentral as compared to playing them in VLC. In MediaCentral, they get square-like aliasing-like stuff.

But for version 1.2… wow this software is incredible for my pseudo-HTPC mini.

By: Marcel Hasas

Marcel Hasas — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 00:34:03 +0000

I can’t share Michael’s opinion either. I really like this product and think the guys from equinux did a pretty good job here. (In fact after downloading Media Central I stumbled across their eBay software for Mac and bought it right away.)
Of course, I also tried Front Row but I must say that I prefer MediaCentral because of the ability to watch Web TV.

4 stars for Media Central (5 if it could play my songs bought in the iTunes Music Store as well).

By: site admin

site admin — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 16:02:54 +0000

MediaCentral is freeware according to the download link, cant see much harm in that.

By: Michael Maggard

Michael Maggard — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 14:01:26 +0000

A pity it’s Equinux.

I bought software from them 2 years ago, a tool to manage files on my TomTom GPS from my Mac. The software was already expensive for what it was intended to do, then when I installed it I discovered the ridiculous set of restrictions, authorizations, and registrations required (indeed I’m sure more then 3/4 of it’s code was dedicated to ‘locking down’ the software instead of doing what I’d bought it for!) I jumped through the hoops, only to find it was US$40 & an hour of my life wasted.

Long story short the software was unable to do what it was claimed to, even in the most basic way. Worse Equinux’s “Technical Support” was easily the most incompetent I’ve ever come across in 20 years in the industry (they called at 5-am once, apparently their support staff based in Europe was unaware of the concept of “Time Zones” much less how their own craptacular product worked. Then after reading from support scripts said they’d call back, were never heard from again.)

Happily TomTom soon offered their own Mac support, and apparently had a devil of a time getting Equinux to stop using TomTom’s logos & such in Equinux’s advertising, doubtless rightly not wanting TomTom’s own good product associated with the asshats at Equinux.

So, nothing from Equinux will ever stain my hard drives again, and I strongly advise caution on anyone parting with their own hard-earned money, and time to set up and maintain a solution like this from a company like Equinux.

Buyer be warned.