Finally, this is the section that was my motivator for this whole tutorial. Both hardware and software guides for assembling HTPC boxes exists on the Net for years, but none of them describes how to make a box that runs 24/7 running all applications simultaneously and provides all functionality through only one, simple remote controller. What is worse, there is surely not the One And Only Way to make this possible, but rather many different approaches many of which are subject to owner's personal opinion and preferences.

In this section I'll try to explain what tweaks to default Debian installation I had to make for my system to be useful according to my vision of decent HTPC box. Some features are simply must-have although implementation may vary according to one's personal preferences (e.g. choosing sound output from only one application while multiple sound-outputting applications are running simultaneously), while some others are completely my personal acrobations without any strong logical sense (e.g. disk partitioning).

Point is that I'll try to explain how I think system has to be tweaked for optimal performance and usability, but you are more than welcome to suggest any other way of accomplishing the same functionality or even completely different approach to given problem(s). I'll try to write less and quote configuration and script files more, providing descriptions only when needed. Every file that I'm mentioning in this section can be easy downloaded and used directly almost every time without any modification. Understanding of how it works is, however, advisable :)