use and hook up a TV for a monitor ...
is it hard lol


2- how do I hook up a Roku to get Netflix hood up for my
TV ... in another rm ...

It depends on the TV and on the computer.
Same applies to the Roku.
Suggest you google it and look at the videos.

I am sure I will have to do all that... when the time comes...
thanks ...

Check your PC of choice for what kind of External Monitor port it has. They've been changing a lot recently. Then check the TV you get, for what kind of inputs it allows. Those have been changing rapidly as well. The ideal would be to have a PC with an HDMI port, and a TV with an HDMI input. But HDMI is being gradually replaced or at least augmented by something called Display Port. And on PC's, especially on mobile PC's (the new name for laptops), the newer ones don't even have regular HDMI ports, they have mini-HDMI ports. You might end up having to buy adapters AND cables, and still struggle to connect things reliably.

As someone who works on this stuff every day, I never stop marveling at how designers manage to come up with ways to make the latest technology much less reliable and more difficult to work with at the same time. I've seen laptop designers install video ports that were inset so far (for style) that it wasn't possible to find anyone making video cables with plugs long enough to reach the circuits inside. And I have yet to see any designer show any hint that they are aware that anything that sticks out more than an inch from a port, will exert so much leverage on the socket, that anyone who brushes past the cable will break it off in the machine.

Ah, well.

Hooking up a TV for a monitor isn't hard at all providing you have the right connections. Hopefully your TV has an HDMI input (it will say the type of connection it is by the input on your TV) As for the computer side, all depends on what your computer has and how old it is, in any case Fry's (http://www.frys.com/)or Microcenter (http://www.microcenter.com/site/stores/houston.aspx) will have any adapter you would need.
Here is a link for the Roku
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+hook+up+a+roku.

I use a hookup like the one you mention. I use it as an HTPC.

You can use anything as a PC monitor, provided they use the same connector (HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort), just try to stay digital, don't go for the "VGA" connector anymore.

The CPU/Motherboard/PSU combination should be an efficient (low consumption) one, because of the long hours the system will be on.

I am on my second self-assembled HTPC and couldn't be happier with what I can do, as opposed to use just a SmarTV.

I had tried all kinds of Linux distros in them and settled with LinuxLite, I thik it was the fastest and most configurable, and less prone to failure (to my tastes).

...but in the end I returned yo Windoze, the "7" flavor, that is, as I was missing some tools and plugins that dn't exist in the open urce world;
...and installed Win7 because I couldn't tolerate all the spying crap on Windoze 10.

HDMI has both audio and video in one connection. Both the TV and the Computer need the ports or you will need to buy adaptors. Higher end units have multiple ports.
VGA is video only. You will need an audio cable from the computer audio out to the TV audio in.



This is a sample of what the cable ends look like.

I have been doing this since my first computer.
But with component a/v connections.
The rise of LCD TVs has really made connecting easy.

One thing that I do is connect to my TV using HDMI and then connecting from my TV audio out to my surround stereo unit input with RCA pins. It gives me sound via my tv speakers or sound via my stereo speakers or both.

Its all very simple once you do it.