[Cialug] media center

[Matthew Steven]

My favorite pet project.

I set a MythTV box up about 6 years ago on Gentoo and have maintained it
ever since.  It took about 2-3 months of my spare time back then to get
it going properly on a Via C3 mini-itx setup.

It was a driver nightmare back then. Still can be, so you'll want to
evaluate your ability to withstand frustration before going down that
path. But it's not bad at all.

These days I'm running Mythbuntu on an Atom 330 mini-itx board embedded
in the wall cavity/closet behind my TV, so it looks like there are no
wires involved.  Runs very cool, extremely easy on the electricity bill,
and virtually silent.  The Intel GMA onboard is adequate for 720p at
least, somehow.

A compact standalone DVD drive is connected via a USB extension cord to
the motherboard for playing.  I don't rip dvds much, but this sort of
system would do the job, although it would not be as good for doing more
than one dvd at a time.

It also handles security cams, non-critical server monitoring, print
serving, acts as a wifi master node (bandwidth controlled and
firewalled, but open for guests web surfing), file server, remote
backups... you name it. I can't imagine a home without a central
computer to manage everything.

The tuner records OTA signals via a USB dongle attached Hauppage
HVR-950, the drivers are in the main kernel now and it's been a very
stable tuner for me.

The wifi card is an Atheros AR5001X+ which works great in master (AP)
mode, scales down as low as 1dbm txpower and I think it was $15 with
shipping on Ebay used.  Needs the Madwifi drivers to work like that.

I use an ATI Remote Wonder (first version) RF remote that is almost
totally dead at this point from button wear. Anyone have a
recommendation for a similarly versatile, and preferably cheap, RF
remote for Myth?

Best,
Matt

-- 
Matthew Steven
http://www.geniusweb.com/
(515) 999 0842