[mythtv-users] Hardware setup questions

[SredniV]

    Howdy,

    I'm in the process of planning a MythTV setup.  I've never set it up before, and I wanted to pass my idea by some smarties before I drop some cash into a new system.  I'm still working my way through various documentation, so I apologize if I'm about to ask some really bonehead questions that make you see red.

    I'm planning the following basic system:

    Asus Pundit
    Celeron 2.0 GHz
    512/1024 MB RAM
    WinTV PVR 350
    
    At this point, I've seen enough reports that that hardware is probably OK.  But, here's where I go astray from the usual crowd:  I don't want a hard drive in this sytem.  That's right!  I'm cheap!

    Right now, I'm considering putting a small compact flash card (16MB that I have laying on my desk) in as a boot device.  This will simply contain a kernel that will instruct the system to do a "diskless" boot from the network (100 mbit) and load everything from my server.  (This hopefully explains my desire for 1Gb RAM, as I may not have swap.)  My server has nearly a half terabyte of storage, so I'm not interested in adding a new drive to another system on the network.

    The basic question is:  Will this work?  That is, will the network be able to handle recording/playback to/from a NFS server when there is absolutely no local storage?  It seems like there's allowance for this given that one of the FAQs on the site regards NFS-based storage.  (I'd be interested in knowing how much bandwidth simultaneous record and playback will suck up from my 100mbit.  If it's a lot of bandwidth, I can add a separate subnet and connection for it's private use, or just jump to gigabit.)

    If it's a Really Bad Idea (TM) to skip local storage on the system with the capture device, would a 2.5 inch IDE device work?  I've got a 10gig drive resting on the desk next to the CF card that's waiting for an application.

    Another option I was thinking of was to have the backend situated on the server and have a diskless frontend, but that comes with the trouble of routing cable (TV) to my server, so I'm none to jazzed about that.  An option that popped through my head was to have a master backend without a capture device that will collect/organize shows, but that doesn't seem to be allowed.  Is there some way to fake a capture device and make sure that it never gets touched?

    The last question I've got is:  If I add another frontend machine (say for another TV), will there be any issues with sharing the shows stored on the NFS server?  I'm guessing that the various front/back ends just put their heads together and do the right thing.

    Thanks in advance for your advice,
    Jason
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