[mythtv-users] Front end choice: Mac Mini versus VIA EPIA. Mac OS X remote control?

[Monkey Pet]

Unfortunately, I regret buying a minimac. I haven't found a good use for it 
except as a paperweight. A better use would have been to buy a PC of the 
same form factor with lots of bells and whistles for about the same price. 
However, this is just my opinion.

On 8/31/05, Andrew Morley <Andrew at teabreak.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> 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
> --
> --
> --------------------------------------------------
> Andrew Morley | Cambridge, | Email: ABMorley
> | England. | @iee.org <http://iee.org>
> --------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> 
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