[mythtv-users] Anyone running a diskless frontend?

usenet at wingert.org usenet at wingert.org
Thu Feb 13 13:09:57 EST 2003


Unfortunately, this is a real expensive way to go.  I've looked at this
already.  Reader + Card > Low GB Harddrive

One option is to boot off the HD and then turn it off.  

Another is to boot off a CDROM.  You would need either two CDROMs or have to 
swap out the boot CDROM to play a DVD.

I think turning off the HD is the way to go.


> 
> Also, has anyone looked at using a very small distro and booting off a
> CF card.  It's pretty easy to attach a CF card to an IDE slot and have
> the computer think it is a disk. http://www.pcengines.ch/cflash.htm  You
> can get a 128M cf card for less then $40
> http://store.yahoo.com/digi4me/12commemcart.html.
> 
> I want to do this, but I have a long way to go before I can get all this
> figured out.
> 
> Ben
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mythtv-users-bounces at snowman.net
> [mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at snowman.net] On Behalf Of
> usenet at wingert.org
> Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2003 3:14 PM
> To: mythtv-users at snowman.net
> Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Anyone running a diskless frontend?
> 
> 
> One more thing.
> 
> There are X procotol compressors available (in ssh for example).  
> However, these usually do gzip/bzip type compression as opposed to the
> DCT type compression (yielding worse results).
> 
> 
> > 
> > Personally, I would not run X over ethernet.  I would export the root 
> > of a filesystem and run X locally on the diskless machine (much less 
> > bandwith given the raw bulk of video).  Although I export mythtv 
> > sessions all the time from one of PVRs for testing purposes, 
> > performance is fine.
> > 
> > If you are exporting the streams as opposed to X, the following should
> > yield your performance.
> > 
> > I haven't had much experience with the codec that MythTV uses (I am 
> > using TiVos for recording devices).  If I remember correctly 1 hour is
> around 2 GBs.
> > This is about 582 kB/s.
> > 
> > A good 100BT connection can sustain about 90 Mb/s (11 MB/s), in an 
> > optimal
> > environment.
> > 
> > Given this performance 100BT should be able to sustain approximately 
> > 19 streams.  This does not include the disk bottleneck though.
> > 
> > Since X exports images in a more raw format, you essentially lose your
> 
> > codec compression rate.  So you could divide the number of streams by 
> > your compression rate to achive the number of X streams.
> > 
> > BTW - 100BT has a lot of bandwidth.
> > 
> > HTH
> > 
> > > 
> > > Further to this discussion, I have been thinking about this.  
> > > <Disclaimer>
> > > this is a question, not a suggestion.  I haven't tried it and doubt
> it will 
> > > be very efficient.</Disclaimer>
> > > 
> > > How about running the backend *and* frontend somewhere in a storage 
> > > room or
> > > whereever you can't hear it.  Then next to your TV you have a
> Pentium 200 or 
> > > some such just running X -query mythserver?  Vanilla pentiums used
> to be 
> > > quiter than a mouse.  Double that with a nfs-root and you have a
> dead silent 
> > > "frontend" that only has a network card and a TV-out PCI card.  The
> video 
> > > card of course must have xv support.  You have to take care of
> audio.  How 
> > > about nas?
> > > 
> > > Would the traffic choke a 100MB switch?  Is this even feasable to 
> > > attempt?
> > > 
> > > Thanks,
> > > IvanK.
> > > 
> > > On Thursday 13 February 2003 04:09 am, Bruce Markey wrote:
> > > > Aaron Stewart wrote:
> > > > > I dunno.. It seems like network transfer of data is adding 
> > > > > another level of complexity that could be avoided, but if sound 
> > > > > dampening is necessary, then it's a necessary evil :).
> > > > >
> > > > > My understanding was that an uncompressed mpeg2 stream ran at 
> > > > > 18mbits/sec, which translates to:
> > > > >
> > > > > send->18mbit
> > > > > recv<-18mbit
> > > > > buffer->18mbit (for delayed playback)
> > > 
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > > mythtv-users at snowman.net 
> > > http://www.snowman.net/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> > > 
> > > 
> > 
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> > 
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