On 5/24/05, Adam Pash <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi everyone, > > I'm new to both mythtv and linux, but I'm hoping to tackle both. I'm > hoping to setup a system that I can use as an all-in-one (front-end + > backend) system.
welcome to Linux and Myth. I've got an old pc (amd-k6 w/multimedia 300mhz, 288mb ram, > pvr-150 [from my other computer], dvd-rom) and I don't know if I'm ready to > tackle all that would go into installing a linux distrubution and mythtv on > a system as old as this. I'm looking for suggestions for hardware (mobo, > processor, video card w/tv out) that I can throw together with the pvr-150 > remaining salvagable parts and get a mythtv up and running in the most > simple fashion for a linux newbie. that's an understandable request. :) i did exactly the same thing, build a MythBox out of spare parts. after i had it assembled and partially working i thought it was so cool i just went out ahead and ordered parts for a new system. :) even if you do decide to start with old hardware as a first step i'd recommend that you start compiling a list of parts based on posts in the archives for a new system. i guarantee that you will end up buying it. :) > > I understand that this will probably be a somewhat large undertaking for > someone who doesn't know anything about linux, so I'm ready to put some time > into it; nonetheless, I figure that it'd be best to start out with the odd > in my favor when it comes to hardware. I've read the Fedora-Myth HOWTO, and > I think that's the route I'd like to take, but like I said, I'm looking for > suggestions for the cheapest hardware purchases that will still get me a > good system. i read Jarods HOW-TO. it's a great document and i know that it's helped a lot of ppl here on the list. but if you have no/limited experience with Linux and really only want to play with MythTv then i would 'highly' recommend KnoppMyth. it is very easy to install and everything works pretty much out of the box (based on supported hardware of course; but that is a pretty wide range...). i used KnoppMyth for my test install on an old AMD K-7 700MHz machine with a bttv tuner card i had laying around. i don't think i even got to watching/recording tv and i was so excited by how cool Myth was and how easy KnoppMyth was that i built a new system for it. > I'm hoping to use it mostly to record, transcode, and watch my video. I > don't need it for live tv watching, but that wouldn't hurt! I'm excited to > try the different offerings of mythtv, but those are my main NEEDS. since i'm advocating a new system for you i'd recommend a supported motherboard (look in the archives and KnoppMyth forums) that includes tv-out, audio and LAN. i would also recommend the nvidia nforce2 chipsets. with the PVR cards you can get away with a fairly low powered CPU and still be able to record/watch tv without any problems. if you are planning on doing a 'lot' of transcoding then i would recommend a higher powered CPU; or if you're thinking you may want to move to HDTV. i'm very happy with my AMD +2700 for standard cable, but it's been mentioned that Intel chips handle HD and transcoding better than AMD. (not trying to start a war, just making an observation) ;) definitely go with the biggest hard drive you can afford. :) i have a 40GB that the main system and ringbuffer are on and a 300GB that my video & tv partitions are on. (the video and tv partitions are actually LVM'd with the 40GB...) so i have ~300GB of tv storage space. i've run out of space twice. :) but i don't watch as much as i record (obviously), and i didn't have auto-expire set. space does go fast, especially as you get carried away with how cool your MythBox is. :) good luck and enjoy! _______________________________________________ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users