User:Keithamus

Setup

I currently have a single system setup, a front/back end, for SD/HD use.

Pundit-pvr

Asus Pundit P3-P5G31 Intel Core 2 Duo E--- 1.8ghz - Stock cooler 1024MB RAM 500GB Samsung Spinpoint drive Hauppauge WinTV Nova-T 500 PCI dual DVB-T tuner Mythbuntu 8.04

http://image.ebuyer.com/UK/P0133754_C0000103_P0000000.jpg

Why I chose this system

• The whole system was very cheap, around £200 ($400).
• It has quite a small footprint, although much bigger than a set-top-box, it is no way as big as a desktop case.
• It looks quite stylish, which is always good for the WAF
• It'll run HD content.

Problems

• The Pundit P3 is a low profile system, as such, you'll need low profile cards. The Nova T 500 is not a low profile card, so you'll have to remove the PCI plate, and have the card lose in the slot (this is not desirable, as the card can easily become de-seated!)
• I have not yet tested the media card reader, attached to the system. But according to my experience with media card readers and Ubuntu, it probably doesn't work!
• The system isn't as quiet as I'd like - the stock cooler is quite whiny, and the stock case fan (attached with only 1 screw!) is very loud. Getting a good Scythe fan or two would definitely be recommended.
• So far Mythbuntu isn't working very well - lots of teething problems, crashes, and general annoyances. Soon to try reinstalling to the non-beta version.

Notes on getting Mythbuntu working properly

A good partition setup is as follows:

1. 20gb / ext3
2. 1GB SWAP (make this the same as the installed memory for easy sleep/hibernation)
3. Rest as /var/lib/ xfs

Mythbuntu uses the incorrect lircrc for the Hauppauge remote, you should copy and paste the one from the Hauppauge WinTV Nova-T 500 PCI page. Save this as ~/.lircrc and make links from this to ~/.mythtv/lircrc and ~/.lircrc/mythtv

In the terminal, setup your channels using tv_grab_uk_rt --configure first, then hopefully, when scanning for channels in mythbackend-setup, the channels will latch onto your xml.

If using wireless, install WICD!, this will enable mythbuntu to silently connect to your wireless network, without nagging you for keyrings, or d/cing after a sleep. To do this; add

#WICD, Wireless network manager
deb http://apt.wicd.net hardy extras

to your /etc/apt/sources.list file.

Also perhaps add wine, depending on how you use the machine:

# Wine
deb http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt gutsy main
deb-src http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt gutsy main

It would be a good idea to get mythbuntu to repair the tables on reboot. Having to manually repair the tables when the box crashes is annoying, so why not automate. Add this to your system startup, whichever way you prefer:

mysqlcheck -umythtv -pPASSWORD --auto-repair mythconverg