[clue] HTPC systems?

[Sean Leblanc]

Anyone out there that has built - or bought - HTPC systems?

Anyone have hardware/software to recommend? I'd like to use some flavor of Linux, and I know for sure I'd want to run MAME and other emulators on it. 

I think I'd also like to use MythTV as a front-end and probably XBMC, maybe, too? The typical use case would be playing video files. 

I'm a little out of touch on which flavor of Linux might be the "best" fit for this, though. I need something that doesn't require much fuss, but doesn't have too much cruft slowing it down, either...