[mythtv] System Plans

[Larry Matter]

> System as it currently stands:
>
> Athlon 1.2 Ghz

I also have an Athlon 1.2 Ghz.  Live TV is no prob.  I have not tried
recording one show while watching another previously recorded show.

> Maxtor 40GB D740X HD

Go for as big as you can.

> I/O Magic PC PVR (Supposedly a Pinnacle)
> Pac Bell remote
....
> and has
> anybody used the IOMagic (or Pinnacle PCTV) TV card?

I have a Pinnicale PCTV Pro, which so far I like very much.  It comes with
a nice remote that works from at least 15 feet away (and there are lirc
configs for it already).  I did have problems with it in an ASUS A7A266
mobo, but turns out it was an mobo issue (documented at ASUS site) and
changing to A7V266 solved it.

> As for which distro of Linux, I think I'll try Debian, since that seems
> popular here.  Any reason a newbie should pic another for a box that
> will be running MythTV and little else?

I would not recommend debian for a newbie (I've been using Linux for 10
years and I still shy away from it :-).   I have had no problems with
Mandrake 9.0; easy to install, automatically detected my TV card and
installed Xawtv, and everything compiled just fine.  The myth docs are
super for Mandrake as well.

I also have an SBLive, which has also worked just fine, no problems.

Good luck!
Larry Matter