Hey -

I ended up with a free Dimension 8200 (1.7GHz). I know I need to get a larger Hard Drive for it (or multiples). But I would like suggestions for the other hardware.

Would anyone out there be using one of these machines?

If so, can someone recommend a Video In / Video Out card? I am not sure, but I don't think I will need a sound card because I plan on sending sound directly to my receiver from my Directv and DVD player. If I add a DVD player to the PC I assume at that point I would need a Sound Card to get audio out.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Mike

If you plan on putting video into your mythtv box, then you will also need an audio device. Does the 8200 have onboard sound? And does it work with knoppmyth?

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

Hi,

Wish I had friends like that, 1.7ghz Anyway, I have installed KnoppMyth on several Dell's and for the most part it is usually pretty straight forward. Basicly unless you are one step above new to linux then start with R5C7 as you can always upgrade in the future.

You will need 256m ram, a cd to load with, video of some sort, and audio. Just to test and learn, a drive of tyipically > 10 gig should run. Not sure about your model but most Dell's have sound on board. There was one model that had a card for audio and it caused issues but that was a while back. If you have a card, then search the forum if it doesn't seem to work.

Somethings you may have to tweak as Dell is "slightly" different and it may need a simple setting change here or there. If it is a sata drive, it is a little more difficult but not much.

It will also give you something to do while waiting for what ever hardware you may decide to purchase.

Mike

Thanks for the replies.

Yes the 8200 does have audio not sure if it is onboard or not, but I was thinking of adding a new card which would give 7.1 surround to plug into my receiver.

Are the PVR 150 cards the best bang for the buck as far as capture cards go? I was also thinking about an FX5200 card for out to my television.

I have been using linux for sometime, but what I have done has required little modifications - out of the box fresh installs which have worked fine, some dhcp.conf changes, small stuff like that.

Thanks again for the replies -

Mike

Hi,

Check tier 1 & 2 for ideas. I have a 150 that doesn't even make a good door stop. The 5200 I have tried work well, agp was best for me pci wasn't quit fast enough for my needs. Haven't tried a pci-e yet... I am holding out for a sale or something.

Try what you have first, the 350 gives you tv out for standard video and should work with the onboard video.

Best of luck.
Mike

PVR 150 works, you jus' need to make a setting change. It's listed in the wiki and in several posts around here.

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KM R5E50; K8NGM2; A64-3800+; 1024MB PC3200; LG DVD-RW; Seagate 750GB; 6600 PCI-E; Onboard sound; Hauppauge PVR-150

I am currently using a Dell 8200 with a Hauppage WinTV-Go-Plus pci card that I got for $40 w/remote. I only have 256MB of RAM and have the original 30GB HD(I just got a 400GB today that I will install). I am a Windows guy and have had very little experiance with Linux but with a little digging I was able to get in running. I think I may still have some tweaking to do but MythTV is Awesome!

compo1 - Did you use the video that came with the computer? I am trying to watch ebay for a deal for a FX5200 with DVI. My television has expansion slots where I could add DVI later on and I just want to give myself that ability.

Can anyone offer insight on the advantages for using a 256MB version vs. the 128MB version would be? I could understand a lot of gaming, but I don't know about Myth. Its still heavy video, but it seems the capture card would be doing all of the hard work.

Thanks -

Mike

Hi,

Simple, if you plan on anything above the A series it will install, but can't run.

Mike

Does this mean that if I purchase a FX5200 256MB card, it will not run on Knoppmyth Release 5 D1? I just want to make sure I am understanding, I can get a 128MB card a little cheaper - just trying to get what is best.

Thanks - Mike

Hi,
Clarification of the statement. You were refering to the video card, I was refering to system memory. My error in how I read your reference

As for video card memory, don't know if more is better, maybe for HD? Most of the stuff I run uses the onboard video which is typical 16~32 meg stolen from the system or various old nvidia which go from 16meg and up.

Here is where some extra expert advice would be very enlightening.
Mike