[mythtv-users] Front end choice: Mac Mini versus VIA EPIA. Mac OS X
remote control?
Andrew Morley
Andrew at teabreak.fsnet.co.uk
Wed Aug 31 07:04:46 UTC 2005
I'm at an awkward stage with Myth.
My back end is pretty much complete and works a treat. I bought the
slowest second-hand P4 machine that the local second-hand computer
shop (<http://www.computer-resale.co.uk/> - it's a great place) could
sell me, installed Gentoo, two Hauppauge Nova-T cards and Myth and
everything worked pretty easily. Kudos to the developers, the Gentoo
ebuild maintainers and the many HOWTO authors. It records stuff
reliably and dishes out the video to either a front end running on
the same machine (in the study) or to my PowerBook plugged in via
100-baseT. It doesn't work too well wirelessly, but that's no
surprise.
So, now the difficult bit. The back end will be hidden away (in the
attic, probably). It is time to buy a front end system. I want
something quiet, above all, so was considering either a Mac mini or a
VIA EPIA system. It would be controlled only via a remote control -
I've no plans to provide it with a pointing device or to use it for
general computing.
While most people have the idea that Macs are expensive, it seems to
me that a Mac mini actually costs less than an EPIA system with a
comparably nice looking case. However I'm not so confident that I
can turn a Mac mini into a completely remote-controllable system.
With no serial ports, I can't see how I can use it with LIRC. There
are USB-based remote control receivers for Mac use, but they come
with remote controls with only very few buttons and I don't expect
they can be used with any other remote.
So: Has anyone successfully built a complete Mac OS X front end
system, playing Myth, DVDs, ripped CDs, ripping CDs and DVDs etc, all
controlled from the remote. Or.... should I go for the EPIA? Or...
have I overlooked any other machine?
Finally how quiet is the Mac Mini? It has a fan, which I couldn't
hear in the shop, but then shops are noisy. EPIA 8000s are truly
silent.
Andrew
--
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Andrew Morley | Cambridge, | Email: ABMorley
| England. | @iee.org
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