Ok, so I decided to build a MythTV box (and install KnoppMyth) and purchased the following hardware that should be here next week:

Shuttle SN41G2 Nvidia barebones kit (svideo out and S/PDIF):
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... =S451-3040

AMD Sempron 2500+
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6819104211

512 meg RAM

Lite-on SHM-160P6S Dual layer DVD burner:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... u=L12-1076

BTC 9019URF Wireless keyboard with integrated joystick:
http://www.pcalchemy.com/product_info.p ... s-and-mice

Hauppague PVR-350

And I have two Seagate 200GB Serial ATA HD 7200/8MB/S-ATA-150 laying around that will go into the Shuttle barebone for this project.

Now for the questions:

1. I've noticed that SATA isn't very well supported with KnoppMyth. I was hoping to use my existing drives for this project without the expense of purchasing new PATA drives. I have been running two SATA drives with Suse (since 9.1, currently running 10.0) with no problems. Has anyone used the SATA drives in the same or similar Shuttle box and had success with KnoppMyth? I realize that I'll need to do the "manual install" using KnoppMyth.

2. I will want to use LVM for in my new setup. Has anyone successfully used SATA and LVM with KnoppMyth?

3. I just realized that my keyboard will be USB. I have used USB keyboards with other Linux distros. Is using a USB keyboard still an issue with KnoppMyth?

That is really the only questions that I have for now. I really don't want to purchase PATA drives since I have two SATA drives laying around. If I have to purchase PATA drives, then that will be fine, but I want to give the SATA a try first.

I wanted to give KnoppMyth a try before attempting a Fedora or Suse MythTV install.

Thanks for reading and looking forward to any feedback.

Wayne

The USB keyboard is still not a good idea. The unplug/replug trick may work for you or it may not.

SATA drives works for lots of people, but it's definitely not a sure bet, especially for a boot disk.

As for LVM on SATA, we had someone earlier this week with problems trying to do lvm on a sata disk, and they had an order of loading problem that requires some hacking. http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7840

I've been maintaining the: Sticky: Hardware to avoid - Read this BEFORE making a mistake! posting and while there is some progress I haven't taken anything off the list because they're all still problematic.

Cool, thanks for the reply. I'll give it a shot expecting problems but hoping for the best. No big deal if I need to not use USB keyboard and SATA. Good reason to purchase a couple 300gig hard drives!

I just received the USB BTC 9019URF Wireless keyboard with integrated joystick and it works with KnoppMyth 5RA30.1. Been using it for about a week.

The only problem I have with the BTC 9019URF is that the 'connect' button won't enable the keyboard to connect with the RF transmitter.

If I flip the keyboard over and remove one of the two batteries and put it immediately back in, the light on the RF transmitter starts to blink rapidly and the keyboard works, including the joystick/mouse!

I am using the batteries that came with the keyboard and have not tried 'fresh' batteries.

I suspect that there is a problem with the 'connect' button on the keyboard (i.e., not a software problem).

Dr. Hood

_________________
KnoppMyth: R5B7
Video Output: 27 inch TV (4:3)
Motherboard: Biostar K8NHA Grand mobo w/nForce3 250Gb
CPU: AMD Sempron 3000+ (1.8 Ghz)
RAM: 1024 Mb
Videocard: Radeon 9500 (64 Mb)
TV Tuner Card: PVR-350
Harddisk: WD160 Gb + Max 300 Gb

That is good news, thanks for the post! I can not wait to get my box put together, it'll all be here by Tuesday or so.

Quick update! The box has been built, and I purchased the original
Shuttle SN41G2 that does not have SATA. I purchased a 250GB IDE hard drive and installed KnoppMyth just for a trial run. I will do a "real" install as soon as I have all the necessary cables to connect to my home theater system and get IR blaster hardware. I'll keep posting on my progress.

I never cared for the S-Video outpt on that box even after I tuned it up. However the PVR-350 should cure that problem.

You aren't kidding! I got everything up and running, but the video quality from the built in s-video is sub-par.

Was it difficult to get the output from the PVR-350 working?

I've never set up a pvr-350. There's supposed to be a pretty good script for doing it however. A search of the forums should find it, it's a very popular thread...