[mythtv-users] Digimatrix success stories/sources?

David Snider dsnider at thesniderpad.com
Thu Jul 6 03:08:52 UTC 2006


>
> I *really* like the ASUS Digimatrix for a remote frontend, but have
> heard conflicting reports as to how well it works with Linux/Myth.
> Has anyone tried it and either have glowing success or horror stories
> to share?
I've been running MythTV on my DigiMatrix since 0.16.  Overall,  
pretty solid machine.

>
> - Diskless net-booting or just a boot partition on CF (read-only) and
> getting everything else NFS?  I'm trying to make it "abrupt power-off"
> safe.
>
I'm actually toying with this right now.  I've had a 250GB hard drive  
in it for some time.  The problem with netbooting is that I can't  
seem to get it to boot automatically via PXE.  If I enable the 100MB  
card with netboot, it brings up a menu, with Local as option 1, PXE  
as option 2, and NetWare something or other as option 3.  You have to  
use the keyboard to select option 2.  I can't seem to find a way to  
make it boot PXE by default.  If I enable the Gigabit card for  
booting, nothing happens.  I *do* have a working diskless machine  
(laptop) that works great, so I know my server is setup correctly.   
Also, when I *manually* select PXE, it boots.  I'm messing with a  
bootable CDROM with Grub and Netboot now to get around this.
> - The included remote?
This was troublesome for some time.  The latest version of LIRC now  
has the remote driver bundled in, so it's no problem.  On Gentoo, you  
just have to make sure you use the correct USE flags for the digimatrix.
>
> - The (digital and analog) tuners?
Digital?  The only option that I was able to find "Digital" was via  
the firewire and Comcast cable boxes.  I may be missing something.   
Analog seems to work OK, but I had to really mess with the saa7134  
kernel module drivers to get it to work.
>
> - Outputting SD and HD.
Only worked with SD, not HD.  As far as SD goes, I have a celeron  
processor in there HD doesn't work for me.  I'd go with the best CPU  
you can find (2.8 P4 if I'm not mistaken) to attempt HD.
>
> - The front display?
I've had really good success with the S-Video, Composite, Component,  
and VGA output.  Right now, I have it plugged into an AV/Reciever  
with the Component plugs going to a plasma tv @ 1280x720 res.  No  
issues.
>
> - The DVD drive/writer?
Mine only has a CD writer, DVD Player.  Works fine for playing DVD's  
and burning CD's.
>
> - The firmware "DJ" mode?
 From what I can tell, this "only" works if you preinstall Windows.   
Never did that, so it doesn't work.
>
> - Anything else in general.
As far as the comment about the SPDIF port being in front, mine works  
great, and I really don't care that it is in the front.  My  
Digimatrix is under my bed in my bedroom (completely out of sight).    
And the SPDIF works great.
>
>
> Also, anyone know of a reasonable/reputable source for new
> Digimatrixes?  Newegg recently dropped them, TigerDirect doesn't have
> them.  http://www.sysbuilder.com/sysconfigurators/digimatrix.htm has
> them but want $399US a piece which IIRC is a good chunk more than
> Newegg wanted.
>
Got mine from newegg a while back, sorry.  Haven't been shopping for  
one since.  There used to be a very good forum for them @ http;// 
outertrack.com but it seems to be down.  I get 404 when I try to  
visit.   I run a wiki for it, but there hasn't been much interest as  
of late.  The address is http://digiwiki.thesniderpad.com

I'm happy to provide any advice on setup, config, etc.



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