I am going to be putting a box in the bedroom that is a front end and hoping it is super quiet. Here is my plan.

Case
http://www.directron.com/c134bk.html

Power supply
Pico PSU 80 watt

HD
6gb laptop drive I have laying around

DVD
Slot load DVD-R drive

Ram
512mb

The only question now is what Mainboard to get? the unit will be used to watch live tv ... recorded tv.... play DVD's..... and stream divx all in standard def.

Here are my options for the MB
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-SP8000E
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-EN12000
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-ML6000E

cost is an issue so if I can do what I want with the cheapest board that would be cool.

If you are certain you won't be doign HD, then the ML...

_________________
cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

Surely you will need one with some form of TV-Out? Unless you plan to use the PCI slot.

I guess that rules out the 6000

I think I will do the SP8000 it is $50 less and should be plenty fast enough. the mpeg4 acceleration will help

Do we know much about this board?

http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/sc.8/categ ... /id.457/.f

seems like a good deal since the C7 seems to be a much better cpu than the Eden. I was hoping for fanless but I can't tell if the 1.0 is fanless. There is a $10 difference between the 1.5 and the 1.0. If both require a fan i can't believe anyone wouldn't spend the extra $10 for a 50% increase in CPU speed.

Quick note on the SP8000 that is a cn400 board, and the drivers are not built into knoppmyth for it yet. Read some threads here about cn400 or epia pro chipsets. Also the mpeg4 acceleration unless something has changed is not supported in linux at all yet.

_________________
Have a question search the forum and have a look at the KnoppMythWiki.

Xsecrets

How about an M2-6000?

This has tv-out as standard and the cle266 chip knoppmyth supports.

I went with the en1200e because I just couldn't stop thinking I would regret not having the extra power.

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-EN12000

how do I tell if the ram is the shorter ram that the case says it requires

Hi Kurto2021,
Did you have any luck with the EN12000?
I'm interested in getting one myself and would like to hear some tales of success first.

_________________
Paul Turpie
-------------
<--Is your location in your profile? Why not?

For pain-free knoppmyth you still want one with a cle266 graphics chipsets (ie. One of the older ones). Try a MII-12000. Plenty of case manufacturers doing fanless conversions for these too.

I'm also looking into switching to VIA EPIA for its low noise and power consumption. I'm currently using a PVR-350 for video capture and TV out. If I switched to an EPIA, would I continue using the PVR-350 TV out, or is the EPIA's onboard TV out supported in KnoppMyth?

Also, what kinds of cases are people using for their EPIA boards? Would I have to use a full-height case for my PVR-350? Should I switch to the half-height PVR-150? Would a PCI riser help?

Boris

Hi,

The riser makes a bigger foot print as it makes the card hang out over the edge. If you check the boards carefully, some have video out which would allow using the smaller 150

I did have a chance to throw my 350 card onto a ML6000A and it ran quit nicely Unfortunetly, I have to give that puppy back.

On a simular line, I discovered that there is a Packard Bell "Flexatxstc Essential933c" uses an MSI mobo that is very close. Older machine, still available ebay I see. However, in a 4"x12"x12.5" box, whisper quiet, single slow speed fan. Has two pci slots that will hold small boards. I had to cut the metal bracket ~1" to fit and a dab of plumbers goop for screw subsitute but that allowed me to add ethernet card and ATI tv tuner. No com ports, usb only. Wishing I had a 150 card

I have for the cost of $10, plus 6 capacitors and two drops of oil, one drawer handle, a 933mhz portable box I use for demos Dual boot, TrixBox and R5A30.2 with usb remote control ( I lied, told setup it was a Haupauge)

No, it can't do hd, card don't fit either. but look around as that is half the fun!

here are a couple of places for ideas and information.

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/
http://www.mini-itx.com/hardware.asp
http://damnsmalllinux.org/store/motherboards

Have a great day!
Mike

I have an Epia MII-12000 frontend that works very well for SD. I just use it as a frontend, so it has no cards. I have it in a Antec Minuet II case with a 20gb laptop drive. It's nearly silent. I toyed with the idea of network booting it to remove the HD but I've not gotten around to it yet.

The minuet looks pretty sweet, but if I remember correctly, it won't fit my full-height PVR-350 card. I was hoping to set up a single-box client and server system to keep things simple. Can anyone suggest a mini-ITX case that accepts a 3.5" drive and has a riser for a full-height PCI card? I'll keep digging on my own in case I'm venturing into uncharted territory...

I'm using a MII12000 sitting inside a gorgeous silverstone LC06 http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc06.htm case.
Its got room for 2 PCI cards (I have a PVR-350 and 250 inside).
Its got a full size HDD and DVD inside. It has composite and S-Video out plus digital audio and 5.1 out.

I'm using it as a combined front/back end.

I use the S-video out plus digital audio straight to my AV receiver/amp (*very* nice sound quality with DVDs and CDs).

It comes with an 80w external power supply - a brick. So immediately you have *no* power supply noise or heat. The CPU, on the other hand, does come with a noisy fan.

With the 2 cards, I was getting heat buildup, so here's what I did:

- I took the small CPU heatsink + fan off and put a bigger heatsink on.
- I cut a round hole in the case (sacrilige!) above the CPU and north/south bridge and put a slimline silent 120mm fan pulling heat up out of the case. I run that fan pretty slow and quiet. It had to be slim cause there isn't much room.

Lastly, I found that on boot, the machine would sometimes fail. Often the network would fail first. I had heard that the machine can hit > 80W on boot, so I built a 100W power supply (just a 240->12v transformer). There have been no boot issues since I did that. Idle seems to be 25W, full power at about 70.

Lastly I have added another two external disks (400 + 320) - one via firewire and one via USB2.

With the R5C7 release, this has been as solid as a rock (nice work cesman et al and the mythtv people).

If I was to do it again:
I'd look for a bigger case. I wanted small and silent. I've pretty much nailed the silent requirement but its been a lot of work. (you're only seeing the summary above). I've since realised that small isn't a good idea because:
a) its much easier to deal with heat in a big case
b) you can add more disks internally and cheaply
c) my AVR receiver/amp is much bigger than my PVR.

Silverstone has some equally gorgeous big cases, like their LC10 http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc10.htm

I really like the EPIA mobos - I like the incredibly low power usage and ability to run with minimal (or no) fans. But you need to make some comprimises:
- always store DVDs in full quality because you dont have the grunt to convert
- dont transcode tv programs
- mythstreamtv doesn't seem to work because it doesn't have the grunt to drive VLC fast enough.


Hope this helps.
Paul.