[mythtv-users] Device Guru - boxeebox cookbook blog

[Steven Adeff]

On Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 2:13 PM, Brad Fuller <bradallenfuller at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 10:27 AM, jedi <jedi at mishnet.org> wrote:
>> On Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 08:18:58AM -0800, Brad Fuller wrote:
>>> Don't know if this has been mentioned, but the DeviceGuru has detailed
>>> his building of a $610 Ubuntu box to access boxee at:
>>>
>>> http://www.deviceguru.com/the-boxeebox-cookbook/
>>>
>>> He goes into a bit of detail. Satisfies much of what has been
>>> discussed recently for an HD box, except the price.
>>
>> Something that is a mac mini replacement, even at the same
>> mac mini price is still progress. It's interesting how
>> expensive these sorts of little boxes can be if you try
>> and build them yourself (or buy from a Windows vendor).
>
> Some cost-cutting items could be had here for an FE. Smaller capacity
> drive. Lower the cost of the motherboard, but make sure you obtain a
> newer nvidia video for acceleration. The box is expensive, but seems
> to be par for slimline. Maybe $20 off the processor. Don't need an
> optical drive for myth.

If your building mainly for Myth...
Not much lower on motherboard, anything with a 9300/9400 is going to
run you around $100. I was just forced to by parts to upgrade my
living room frontend and went with an EVGA board with a 9300IGP which
comes to $99 after rebate.

You could easily halve the amount spent on the processor. Any of the
Core based (current socket 775) Celerons would work. I went with a
faster processor so I could use the spare cycles for commflagging,
transcoding, etc.

I would also go with the Antec Veris Fusion case, a little thicker,
but it has a VFD/IR (both which work in linux, I have on for my
bedroom MythTV setup) integrated and costs less.

DVD/hard drive would depend on the user


> I'm looking forward to the Nvidia ION boards.

ditto

>> A lot of us are looking forward to the prospect of slightly
>> tweaked Apple hardware. If we can do the tweaking ourselves
>> then that would be most cool.
>
> I've got a dual boot ATV. It's not ideal, but it's not bad for the
> price for sure.

can't beat the nice integrated form factor though! we'll have to see
what Apple decides to do with its next generation of ATV and Mini
products. I doubt there will be a VFD, but that's not necessarily a
deal killer either.

-- 
Steve
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/User:Steveadeff
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