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| − | [[category:User Setups]]
| + | this page can be deleted, thanks. |
| − | [[category:Standard Definition Setups]]
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| − | [[category:X10 User Setups]]
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| − | [[category:Networking Setups]]
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| − | ==About Me==
| + | |
| − | First, a brief history:
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| − | | + | |
| − | Hello. My name is Gerald Freymann and I live in Ontario, Canada.
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| − | I first attempted a LinuxMCE installation in March 2008, using 7.10 B4. My core machine worked like crap, one media director was OK but had a bad PVR card and the second media director caused me grief with the video card and I gave up, rather frustrated, confused and extremely disappointed.
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| − | Afterwards, I set up a 3 station MythBuntu system in a day, and have been tinkering with it and learning more about MythTV since then. I'm happy to say that I was able to get my MCE Transceivers working under MythBuntu. See: [http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4527005#post4527005]
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| − | I then tinkered with the X10 equipment I bought but never got to use with LinuxMCE, and quite happily, did very well integrating X10 under MythBuntu both through on-screen menus and remote buttons. See: [http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4733977#post4733977]
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| − | From MythBuntu 7.10 to 8.04, I've enjoyed the system and I've learned a heck of lot more! but have been keeping tabs on LinuxMCE, as it was my system of choice in the first place, I just needed another way to play with it without pressure or time constraints.
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| − | So, in mid-May I purchased yet another system that I figured would replace the MythBuntu core, but before I did that, I wanted to load LinuxMCE 7.10 RC2 on it, just to see how things have progressed since the 7.10 B4. I was very fortunate this time around, as things just worked! I freely goofed around, not caring if the system came crashing down, and other than tinkering with network cards that caused a fresh reload, this version just seems to work.
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| − | Now I'm thinking the new box will become my new LinuxMCE Hybrid/Core and I'll change the other two stations over to LinuxMCE, and be where I wanted to be a few months ago. Kewl!
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| − | I thought I would take this opportunity to document what equipment I am using, and what worked, and what didn't.
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| − | | + | |
| − | ==System==
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| − | Prices are in CDN Funds and most don't include shipping, taxes or mail-in rebates.
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| − | ===Core===
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| − | '''Hybrid/Core -- June 2008 -- WORKS!'''
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| − | *$279.99 -> AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4600+ Socket AM2
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| − | *1 x AMD Original AM2 CPU Fan (a little noisy, not too bad)
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| − | *1 x ECS nVidia GeForce6100SM-M Motherboard
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| − | *2GB DDR II 667 Memory 240 Pin (Kingston?)
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| − | *1 x LG 20X IDE DVD RW + Dual Layer optical drive
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| − | *disabled on-board nVidia GeForce 6100 as I couldn't use VGA output
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| − | *Realtek ALC660 6-channel HD Audio
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| − | *Onboard 10/100 Network Card (connected to my main wired/wireless Linksys Router, which is connected to DSL modem)
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| − | *6 x USB 2.0 Port, 1 Parallel, 1 Serial
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| − | *1285 Deluxe Black Tower Case
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| − | *450 Watt Power Supply
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| − | *$ 99.99 -> Hitachi 500GB Serial ATA HD, 7200/16MB/SATA-3G (Main OS and initial installation on here)
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| − | *$ 79.99 -> WD Caviar 500GB Serial ATA HD 7200/16MB/SATA-3G (Media drive in LMCE file structure)
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| − | *$ 24.99 -> D-Link DGE-530T 10/100/1000 Mbps PCI Network Adapter (for the inside Network)
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| − | *$ 48.99 -> EVGA GeForce 7200 GS 256MB (will take up to 512MB) PCIe Video card
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| − | *$102.02 -> Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-150 MCE BNDL MPEG2 w/REMOTE
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| − | *$ 45.00 -> TP-Link TL-SG1008D 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch (connected to internal nic in Core, rest of the internal LAN connects here)
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| − | *$ 39.99 -> Logitech Cordless Desktop LX310 (keyboard/mouse)
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| − | *$ 58.83 -> USB-UIRT
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| − | *$ 69.59 -> Gyration Motion Sensing Remote Control (GYR3101US)
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| − | This is my main Core/Hybrid located in the Basement.
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| − | [[Image:basement.jpg]]
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| − | It is connected to a no-name 26" LCD HD TV from Wal-Mart via HDMI at 720p, with a DVI to HDMI cable.
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| − | I have a Bell ExpressVU 4700 Dish Receiver with SVideo output connected to the PVR-150 input with Left/Right RCA Audio cables.
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| − | I have an old cheap stereo that you have to control manually that the Core's sound output feeds on AUX input.
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| − | The USB-UIRT controls the dish receiver with one IR dongle stuck to the front and the IR Blaster seems to have no problems
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| − | controlling the TV.
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| − | ===Networking===
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| − | '''-> various additional network cabling'''
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| − | *$17.99 -> 2 x 25 FT CAT5e 5e Computer Ethernet Network Internet Cable
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| − | *$ 6.99 -> 50 FT CAT5e CAT 5e Computer Ethernet PS3 Internet Cable
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| − | *$ 6.99 -> 25 FT 8M CAT 6 Network Patch Cable
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| − | *$ 3.99 -> 10 FT CAT5e 5e Computer Ethernet Network Internet Cable
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| − | | + | |
| − | ===Automation===
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| − | '''-> various X10 equipment'''
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| − | *$46.09 RCA X10 ActiveHome PC Interface (CM11A)
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| − | *6 x dimmable lamp modules (LM465)
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| − | *2-way transceriver module (RR501)
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| − | *$42.70 -> KR22A, LM15A, AM466, WS12A
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| − | In the living-room, I have X10 light controls on a table lamp, floor lamp and china cabinet light. I
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| − | have a 3-prong appliance controller on an electric fireplace.
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| − | I created two lighting scenarios, one for watching TV which turns on the table lamp and fireplace,
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| − | and one for watching Movies will only have the fireplace and china cabinet light on.
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| − | In the master-bedroom, I have a X10 wall light switch rocker switch on my side of the room. I had
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| − | one on my better half's side but she hated the way the light switch works and I had to remove it. Now
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| − | that it's summer, and warmer at night, I grabbed one of my extra X10 appliance controls and plugged
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| − | a small circulating fan into it and placed one of my extra keychain remotes beside the bed. I can hit
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| − | 3 On/Off to control the fan without leaving the bed!
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| − | In the basement, I have X10 light controls on a floor lamp and a small accent light at the bottom
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| − | of the stairs, and I have two X10 wall light switch rocker switches controlling a ceiling light above
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| − | the bar and two wall sconces on one wall.
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| − | I created one lighting scenario for the basement, which turns on the light above the bar and the wall
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| − | sconces. This basically puts light to the left and right of me while watching TV.
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| − | I have the X10 wireless transceiver in an outlet in the laundry room at the back of the house. It's
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| − | completely out of the way and nobody notices the antenna. I used a couple socket rocket's to control
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| − | the front entrance and rear entrance lights. I have one of the key chain remotes attached to my car
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| − | key chain and now we're able to flip on the lights when we approach the door so we don't have to leave
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| − | the lights on when we're out.
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| − | I put an X10 appliance control in the garage to control the outside lights there. There are two
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| − | lantern type lights on the front of our garage, and whoever installed them originally attached a
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| − | 3-prong plug to the end of the wire and used a mechanical timer to turn the lights on and off. I
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| − | replace the mechanical timer with the X10 appliance module.
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| − | Before LinuxMCE I had used heyu to program a schedule into the CM11A controller, which would turn
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| − | on the garage lights at dawn, and turn them off at 11pm. The schedule would also turn on the basement
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| − | accent light at the bottom of the stairs 15 minutes before dawn, and turn it off at 1am.
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| − | The timer function is still in place for those two lights, until I decide to unplug the CM11A,
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| − | remove the batteries, and let it sit over night, at which time I'll add events to LMCE to do this instead.
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| − | ===In development===
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| − | * Nothing at the moment
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| − | ===Media Director===
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| − | '''MEDIA DIRECTOR -- March 2008 -- WORKS!'''
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| − | *$169.99 -> AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ Socket AM2
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| − | *AMD Original AM2 CPU Fan
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| − | *ECS nVidia GeForce6100-SM-M Motherboard
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| − | *1GB DDR II 667 Memory 240 Pin (Kingston)
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| − | *nVidia GeForce 6100 2D/3D Graphic Engine, up to 256MB Memory (disabled in favour on PCIe Video card)
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| − | *Realtek ALC660 6-channel HD Audio
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| − | *Onboard 10/100 Network Card (connected to Gigabit Ethernet Switch)
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| − | *6 USB 2.0 Port, 1 Parallel, 1 Serial
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| − | *1285 Deluxe Black Tower Case
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| − | *450 Watt Power Supply
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| − | *$121.99 -> Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-150 MCE BNDL MPEG2 w/REMOTE
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| − | *$ 39.99 -> Logitech Cordless Desktop EX110 (keyboard/mouse)
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| − | *$ 54.99 -> EVGA GeForce 72000 GS 256MB (will take up to 512MB) PCIe
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| − | *$ 58.83 -> USB-UIRT
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| − | *$ 69.59 -> Gyration Motion Sensing Remote Control (GYR3101US)
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| − | This is my living-room MD.
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| − | [[Image:living-room.jpg]]
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| − | There is an IDE 500GB HD and IDE DVD/CD ROM on this box. I will likely pull the drive out and replace it with an older 40GB IDE hard
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| − | for use as local swap.
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| − | It is connected to a Toshiba 32" CRT TV via SVideo in from the nVidia 7200 SVideo out.
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| − | I have a LG Surround System here for audio (Left/Right RCA sound out from MD goes to AV-1 Input).
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| − | I have a Bell ExpressVU 2700 Dish Receiver connected to the PVR-150 via SVideo and Left/Right RCA sound jacks.
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| − | The USB-UIRT is controlling the Dish, TV and Stereo. One IR dongle is stuck to the front of the LG Stereo, and it
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| − | just blasts the IR which reaches the Dish and TV.
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| − | ==Comments and Experiences==
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| − | ===Non Working core===
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| − | '''Hybrid/Core -- March 2008 -- FAILED TERRIBLY! -- RETIRED'''
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| − | *Some parts have been moved to the new hybrid/core
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| − | *$ 34.91 -> Diablo X-Man Silver Gamer Case, Coolmax 400W V2.01 Power Supply
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| − | *$360.06 -> EVGA nForce 650i Ultra Socket 775 Motherboard
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| − | *EVGA GeForce 8400 GS, 512MB RAM, PCIe w/DVI-TV-OUT
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| − | *Samsung 18x DVD RW SH-S183L SATA LS OEM
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| − | *Seagate 250GB Serial ATA w/NCQ 7200/8MB/SATA-3G
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| − | *Crucial 1024MB PC5400 DDR2 667 MHZ (2 pieces, for 2GB RAM)
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| − | *Intel Pentium D 925 3Ghz DT 800FSB Socket 775
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| − | *$102.02 -> Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-150 MCE BNDL MPEG2 w/REMOTE (now in core)
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| − | *$ 79.99 -> WD Caviar 500GB Serial ATA HD 7200/16MB/SATA-3G (now in core)
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| − | *$ 29.99 -> Sony DRU190A 20X DVD Burner EIDE
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| − | *$ 39.99 -> Logitech Cordless Desktop LX310 (keyboard/mouse) (now in core)
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| − | *$ 48.99 -> Gyration GO 2.4 Air Mouse, Refurbished
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| − | *$ 30.99 -> Linksys Etherfast 10/100 5-port Switch
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| − | Strangely enough, I let this network boot into a MD and it still produces problems. MythTV wouldn't work and if you
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| − | left the box alone for a few hours when you came back it would be pretty well frozen. I would love to get another
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| − | 7200GS video card for this box and try it again as a MD just to see if the 8400 GS video card was the problem with
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| − | this box.
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| − | At the moment I'd be hard pressed to say the motherboard is compatible until I'm able to test with a different video card.
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| − | ===Other Non Working items===
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| − | ''Items that didn't work:''
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| − | *$ 9.99 -> Trendware 32 Bit 10/100/1000 Copper Gigabit PCI Network Card.
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| − | ===Car PC===
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| − | *'''MINI ITX Media Center PC/Car PC FULLY LOADED -- March 2008 -- Ok as a MythTV 7.10 Frontend'''
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| − | *$210.00
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| − | This neat little machine was able to boot up into UI1 on 7.10RC2, and when I added the specific
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| − | video drivers for the via video (which was quite easy actually), I could play back videos (with the
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| − | occasional freeze, making it not so good) and TV playback had a green screen, picture off kilter, with
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| − | lines through it. So basically... no good.
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| − | So I loaded MythBuntu 7.10 onto the internal drive and it is now talking to the LMCE core.
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| − | I did a NFS mount to my second "media" drive in the core, and mapped the video, audio, and
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| − | pictures directories in mythtv to the LMCE core, and basically, this machine is working as it
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| − | was before under MythBuntu 8.10, with some very minor exceptions.
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| − | For $210, this is actually a pretty decent little HTPC.
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| − | I did add a MCE Remote and IR Transceiver. The MCE Remote is one of the programmable remotes so I was able to teach it
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| − | how to turn on the Hitachi 21" CRT TV and control the TV Volume! The video and sound are connected to the TV via A/V RCA type jacks
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| − | (red, white, yellow).
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| − | This box is used in the master-bedroom.
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| − | ** Complete system with power adapter
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| − | * Via EPIA-SP 1GHZ with TV output
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| − | * 512MB DDR Memory
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| − | * 80GB Western Digital Scorpio HD
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| − | * LG DVD-ROM Slim
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| − | * 2 additional USB 2.0 ports (4 total)
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| − | * Dimensions: 12” x 10 ½” x 2”
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| − | ====Motherboard Specs:====
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| − | *Model Name • VIA EPIA SP13000G
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| − | *VIA EPIA SP8000EG
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| − | *Processor • VIA C3™/ VIA Eden™ EBGA processor
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| − | *Chipset • VIA CN400 North Bridge
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| − | • VIA VT8237R-Series South Bridge
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| − | *System Memory • 1 DDR266/333/400 DIMM socket
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| − | • Up to 1GB memory size
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| − | *VGA • Integrated VIA UniChrome™ Pro AGP graphics with MPEG-2 decoder /MPEG-4 Accelerator
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| − | *Expansion Slots • 1 PCI
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| − | *Onboard IDE • 2 X UltraDMA 133/100 Connector
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| − | *Onboard Serial ATA • 2 SATA Connectors
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| − | *Onboard LAN • VIA VT6103 10/100 Base-T Ethernet PHY
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| − | *Onboard Audio • VIA VT1617A 6channel AC'97 codec
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| − | *Onboard TV Out • VIA VT1623M TV Encoder
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| − | *Onboard 1394 • VIA VT6307S IEEE 1394 Firewire
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| − | *Back Panel I/O • 1 PS2 mouse port
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| − | *1 PS2 keyboard port
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| − | *1 RJ-45 LAN port
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| − | *1 Serial port
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| − | *2 USB 2.0 ports
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| − | * 1 VGA port
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| − | * 1 PCA port (SPDIF or TV out)
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| − | * 1 S-video port
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| − | * 3 Audio jacks: line-out, line-in and mic-in (Smart 5.1 Support)
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| − | *Onboard I/O Connectors • 3 USB connector for 6additional USB 2.0 ports
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| − | * 1 1394 connector for 1 1394 port
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| − | * 1 Serial port connector for a second com port
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| − | * 1 VIP connector
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| − | * 1 Front-panel audio connector (Mic-in and Line-out)
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| − | * 1 CD audio-in connector
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| − | * 1 FIR connector
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| − | * 1 CIR connector (Switchable for KB/MS)
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| − | * 1 LPT port connector
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| − | * 1 Wake-on-LAN connector
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| − | * 2 Fan connectors: CPU/Sys FAN
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| − | * 1 I2C connector
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| − | * 1 LVDS/TTL module connector (Optional)
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| − | * 1 +12V power connector
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| − | * ATX power connector
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| − | *BIOS • Award BIOS
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| − | • 4/8Mbit flash memory
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| − | *System Monitoring & Management • CPU voltage monitoring
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| − | * Wake-on-LAN, Keyboard Power-on, Timer Power-on
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| − | *System power management
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| − | *AC power failure recover
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| − | *Operating Temperature • 0~50°C
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| − | *Operating Humidity • 0% ~ 93% (relative humidity; non-condensing)
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| − | *Form Factor • Mini-ITX (6 layers)
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| − | * 17 cm x 17 cm
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| − | ==Notes==
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| − | So, that's about $2,214.00 CDN not including shipping, taxes, import fees, and mail-in rebates.
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| − | I purchase a lot of my equipment from:
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| − | -tigerdirect, See [http://www.tigerdirect.ca/indexca.asp?]
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| − | -future shop, See [http://www.futureshop.ca/home.asp?newlang=EN&logon=&langid=EN&dept=0&WLBS=fs-web1]
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| − | -ebay stores like:
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| − | X10 Warehouse, See [http://stores.ebay.ca/X10-WAREHOUSE]
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| − | LU Computers, See [http://stores.ebay.ca/LU-COMPUTERS-INC]
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| − | Mayco Estore, See [http://stores.ebay.ca/Mayco-Computer-Electronics-eStore_CAT-5e-CAT6-Network-Cables_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ3QQftidZ2QQtZkm]
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| − | BTE Computers, See [http://stores.ebay.ca/BTEcomputer]
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| − | Once I do move the new core into place and set up the two media directors, I'll include details on each of the setups with pictures, describing the TV and A/V equipment used.
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