Difference between revisions of "User:Charlie1953"

Latest revision as of 20:48, 4 July 2010

Core (Hybrid)

This was my desktop - didn't have to buy anything:

• Motherboard: ASUS P5NSLI v1.XX
• CPU: Intel Core2 Socket 775
• RAM: 1G
• Graphics card: NVidia G7 [GeForce 7600 GS]
• Digital Stellite Receiver: SkyStar 2 (Technisat)
• HDD: 1T
• LMCE_CORE_u0710_i386 runs in UI2 with alpha blending

R&D Media Director when booted off the LAN

This is my current desktop running Ubuntu Hardy when booted off the HDD

• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-7N400
• CPU: AMD Athlon XP 1800+ 1.49GHz
• RAM: 1G
• Graphics Card: GeForce 6200 (AGP 8X)
• runs in UI2 overlay (alpha blending not supported)

Requirements

Need to build a diskless MD with the following characteristics:

• Compatible
• Silent
• Reasonably Priced
• Available in New Zealand
• Not 'out of production' (September 2008)

Status

Ordered the following from Eden Computers for delivery on 20 September 2008:

• Motherboard: ASUS M2N SLI NVIDIA nForce560 SLI ATX
• CPU: AMD Athlon64X2 5000+ 2.6GHz HT2000FSB 512KBx2
• RAM: Corsair PC2-6400 DDR2-800 2X1GB C5 TWIN2X
• Graphics card: ASUS EN8400GS Silent 512MB PCI-E HD-TV DVI-I HDCP
• Case: Silverstone LC13 HTPC Black
• PSU: Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 550W V2.6
• CPU Fan: Cooler Master GEMINII S CPU Cooling Fan
• DVDRW: Samsung SH-S223F 22X SATA DVD-RW Black

Setup experience

Setup begins Sep 22, 2008

Connect PS2 keyboard and USB Mouse, 22" LCD screen (Philips 220WS) using DVI cable, a pair of crappy $20 PC speakers.

Boots from LAN successfully, installation begins but stops with a blank screen before the wizard starts. I connect using the DVI plug not the VGA so the "known bug" shouldn't be a problem ([1]) Anyway, I read somewhere that pressing 1, 2, 3, etc changes the output so I press "1" and I get a picture.

This lets me go through the setup wizard - and I have working MD. But I can't select the native res for my display (1680X1050) and have to go with the closest match. Plug in a Fiire Chief dongle and Fiire Chief kicks in automatically. Remove the mouse.

Not sure it is 100% successful though.

Here are the immediate problems I have noticed:

• The Launch Manager window and the KDE Desktop are in such poor resolution that I cannot read the text
• KDE desktop crashes with a message XDesktop - ????? ?????? Crash Handler (can't read the message due to the poor resolution)
• Pictures and video display OK but I suspect I am not getting the full res capability of my card and screen (not sure how to test this)
• Fiire Chief volume control doesn't work - have to adjust volume manually using the speaker's volume knob
• Fiire chief cursor sometimes freezes and sometimes drifts - very annoying - didn't have this problem with my other MD
• Copy protected DVDs will not play. Message says need to install libDVDCSS but web admin shows it is installed

24 Sep 2008 Setting resolution to 800X600 in the AVWizard gives a usable kde session. Rodercot solved my driver problem with this link [2] But I did have to use a VGA connector for the command line stuff - the DVI interface was dead. Moved the box to the living room and connected via DVI to HDMI cable to my Sony Bravia KLV-40V300A (40-inch LCD TV). I needed a VGA screen during the AVWizard setup but managed to get 1080P through DVI - looks fantastic!!!

28 September Fiire Chief freezing problem solved - it needed new batteries (after only about 2 weeks and not being used very much) Hope this is not normal!

30 September While trouble shooting the CSS problem the other day I uninstalled libDVDCSS. It seemed to take forever and I got distracted. Anyway, I noticed yesterday that it showed in the webadmin as uninstalled so I selected install. Again it was taking forever and I got distracted but today I see it says it is installed and it works :-). I did the ripping tools and the W64codecs at the same time.