User:Freymann

First, a brief history:

Hello. My name is Gerald Freymann and I live in Ontario, Canada.

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.

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: [1]

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: [2]

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.

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.

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!

I thought I would take this opportunity to document what equipment I am using, and what worked, and what didn't.

Prices are in CDN Funds and most don't include shipping, taxes or mail-in rebates.

Hybrid/Core -- June 2008 -- WORKS! (Still Testing today)

$279.99 -> AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4600+ Socket AM2

-> AMD Original AM2 CPU Fan (a little noisy, not too bad)

-> ECS nVidia GeForce6100SM-M Motherboard

-> 2GB DDR II 667 Memory 240 Pin (Kingston?)

-> Western Digital 160GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA II (this was replaced by the Hitachi 500GB)

-> LG 20X IDE DVD RW + Dual Layer optical drive

-> disabled on-board nVidia GeForce 6100 as I couldn't use VGA output

-> Realtek ALC660 6-channel HD Audio

-> Onboard 10/100 Network Card (connected to my main wired/wireless Linksys Router, which is connected to DSL modem)

-> 6 USB 2.0 Port, 1 Parallel, 1 Serial

-> 1285 Deluxe Black Tower Case

-> 450 Watt Power Supply

$ 99.99 -> Hitachi 500GB Serial ATA HD, 7200/16MB/SATA-3G

$ 24.99 -> D-Link DGE-530T 10/100/1000 Mbps PCI Network Adapter (for the inside Network)

$ 48.99 -> EVGA GeForce 7200 GS 256MB (will take up to 512MB) PCIe Video card

$ 45.00 -> TP-Link TL-SG1008D 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch (connected to internal nic in Core, rest of the internal LAN connects here)

-> various additional network cabling

$17.99 -> 2 x 25 FT CAT5e 5e Computer Ethernet Network Internet Cable

$ 6.99 -> 50 FT CAT5e CAT 5e Computer Ethernet PS3 Internet Cable

$ 6.99 -> 25 FT 8M CAT 6 Network Patch Cable

$ 3.99 -> 10 FT CAT5e 5e Computer Ethernet Network Internet Cable

-> various X10 equipment

$46.09 ->RCA X10 ActiveHome PC Interface (CM11A) ->6 dimmable lamp modules (LM465) ->2-way transceriver module (RR501)

$42.70 -> KR22A, LM15A, AM466, WS12A

-> Newly ordered, but not yet here

$117.66 -> 2 x USB-UIRTS (sold my original 2, had to buy 2 more)

$139.18 -> 2 x Gyration Motion Sensing Remote Control

MEDIA DIRECTOR -- March 2008 -- WORKS! (Still Testing today)

$169.99 -> AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ Socket AM2

-> AMD Original AM2 CPU Fan

-> ECS nVidia GeForce6100-SM-M Motherboard

-> 1GB DDR II 667 Memory 240 Pin (Kingston)

-> nVidia GeForce 6100 2D/3D Graphic Engine, up to 256MB Memory (disabled in favour on PCIe Video card)

-> Realtek ALC660 6-channel HD Audio

-> Onboard 10/100 Network Card (connected to Gigabit Ethernet Switch)

-> 6 USB 2.0 Port, 1 Parallel, 1 Serial

-> 1285 Delux Black Tower Case

-> 450 Watt Power Supply

$121.99 -> Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-150 MCE BNDL MPEG2 w/REMOTE

$39.99 -> Logitech Cordless Desktop EX110 (keyboard/mouse)

$54.99 -> EVGA GeForce 72000 GS 256MB (will take up to 512MB) PCIe

Hybrid/Core -- March 2008 -- FAILED TERRIBLY!

$34.91 -> Diablo X-Man Silver Gamer Case, Coolmax 400W V2.01 Power Supply

$360.06 -> EVGA nForce 650i Ultra Socket 775 Motherboard

-> EVGA GeForce 8400 GS, 512MB RAM, PCIe w/DVI-TV-OUT

-> Samsung 18x DVD RW SH-S183L SATA LS OEM

-> Seagate 250GB Serial ATA w/NCQ 7200/8MB/SATA-3G

-> Crucial 1024MB PC5400 DDR2 667 MHZ (2 pieces, for 2GB RAM)

-> Intel Pentium D 925 3Ghz DT 800FSB Socket 775

$102.02 -> Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-150 MCE BNDL MPEG2 w/REMOTE

$79.99 -> WD Caviar 500GB Serial ATA HD 7200/16MB/SATA-3G (will be moved to new core)

$29.99 -> Sony DRU190A 20X DVD Burner EIDE

$39.99 -> Logitech Cordless Desktop LX310 (keyboard/mouse)

$48.99 -> Gyration GO 2.4 Air Mouse, Refurbished (now on new core)

$30.99 -> Linksys Etherfast 10/100 5-port Switch

Items that didn't work:

$ 9.99 -> Trendware 32 Bit 10/100/1000 Copper Gigabit PCI Network Card.

MINI ITX Media Center PC/Car PC FULLY LOADED -- March 2008 -- Didn't Work with 7.10 B4

I will be trying this again shortly under 7.10 RC2

$210.00

• Complete system with power adapter

• Via EPIA-SP 1GHZ with TV output

• 512MB DDR Memory

• 80GB Western Digital Scorpio HD

• LG DVD-ROM Slim

• 2 additional USB 2.0 ports (4 total)

• Dimensions: 12” x 10 ½” x 2”

Motherboard Specs: Model Name • VIA EPIA SP13000G VIA EPIA SP8000EG

Processor • VIA C3™/ VIA Eden™ EBGA processor

Chipset • VIA CN400 North Bridge • VIA VT8237R-Series South Bridge

System Memory • 1 DDR266/333/400 DIMM socket • Up to 1GB memory size

VGA • Integrated VIA UniChrome™ Pro AGP graphics with MPEG-2 decoder /MPEG-4 Accelerator

Expansion Slots • 1 PCI

Onboard IDE • 2 X UltraDMA 133/100 Connector

Onboard Serial ATA • 2 SATA Connectors

Onboard LAN • VIA VT6103 10/100 Base-T Ethernet PHY

Onboard Audio • VIA VT1617A 6channel AC'97 codec

Onboard TV Out • VIA VT1623M TV Encoder

Onboard 1394 • VIA VT6307S IEEE 1394 Firewire

Back Panel I/O • 1 PS2 mouse port

• 1 PS2 keyboard port • 1 RJ-45 LAN port

• 1 Serial port

• 2 USB 2.0 ports

• 1 VGA port

• 1 PCA port (SPDIF or TV out)

• 1 S-video port

• 3 Audio jacks: line-out, line-in and mic-in (Smart 5.1 Support)

Onboard I/O Connectors • 3 USB connector for 6additional USB 2.0 ports

• 1 1394 connector for 1 1394 port

• 1 Serial port connector for a second com port

• 1 VIP connector

• 1 Front-panel audio connector (Mic-in and Line-out)

• 1 CD audio-in connector

• 1 FIR connector

• 1 CIR connector (Switchable for KB/MS)

• 1 LPT port connector

• 1 Wake-on-LAN connector

• 2 Fan connectors: CPU/Sys FAN

• 1 I2C connector

• 1 LVDS/TTL module connector (Optional)

• 1 +12V power connector

• ATX power connector

BIOS • Award BIOS • 4/8Mbit flash memory

System Monitoring & Management • CPU voltage monitoring

• Wake-on-LAN, Keyboard Power-on, Timer Power-on

• System power management

• AC power failure recover

Operating Temperature • 0~50°C

Operating Humidity • 0% ~ 93% (relative humidity; non-condensing)

Form Factor • Mini-ITX (6 layers)

• 17 cm x 17 cm

So, that's about $2,214.00 CDN not including shipping, taxes, import fees, and mail-in rebates.

I purchase a lot of my equipment from:

-tigerdirect, See [3]

-future shop, See [4]

-ebay stores like:

X10 Warehouse, See [5]

LU Computers, See [6]

Mayco Estore, See [7]

BTE Computers, See [8]

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.