[mythtv-users] Biostar ideq200n anyone- Don't use nforce?

[Eric Aversa]

Joe-

Did you really mean that nforce chipset is good for linux? I just got my
Asus A7N266-VM working with Myth, and it was a nightmare of an
experience. Granted it was my first experience with Myth, but I was
unprepared for the following:

While Nvidia is unusually nice about providing Linux drivers (their
binary graphics drivers seem pretty good), they are proprietary and
nforce seems to have issues. RedHat cannot provide them, so I was unable
to get network working as part of the install of the OS (or do a network
install- which was my original intention). Once I inserted a CD with the
nforce drivers, I found first that network performance was abysmal- 10 K
per second on my 100 megabit LAN, and that accessing the network would
cause Linux to hang hard. I abandoned using the nvnet altogether and
threw in a spare 3com card (3com seems to always just work with Linux!)

Nvaudio seems to make mplayer complain, whenever I do mplayer
/dev/video0 (my PVR250 card) the video will stumble from time to time
and mplayer complains about the audio interface- though I have not yet
had real problems with Myth- except while trying to watch a live channel
which Myth is recording. 

I specifically purchased this motherboard as it was recommended by Ars
Technica- and I am so ashamed of that decision in hindsight. Unless I
have done something wrong, or this is particular to the ASUS, or my
experience is unusual (which does not seem the case after trolling the
linux nforce mail list archives) I am wondering if the nforce is not in
fact really, really bad for linux. If I am wrong, I would really, really
like to be corrected.

While things are now working, I am not using the onboard video (using G4
Mx 440SE), not using onboard NIC, and am now looking at not using on
board audio.

Eric Aversa
eaversa at omnesys.com
Omnesys Technologies, Inc.
Phone : (845) 735-5000
Cell : (914) 629-5691 


-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org
[mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Joseph A. Caputo
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2003 4:35 PM
To: Discussion about mythtv
Subject: RE: [mythtv-users] Biostar ideq200n anyone?


> -----Original Message-----
> From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org 
> [mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org]On Behalf Of Rick Beebe
> Sent: Monday, August 25, 2003 4:04 PM
> To: mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> Subject: [mythtv-users] Biostar ideq200n anyone?
>
>
> I've been lurking here for quite a while, watching the progress of 
> Mythtv and searching for the 'ideal' box to run it on. There are 
> several contenders, including the mini-itx M10000 and the Asus Pundit 
> (space and noise are big cosiderations). One that's recently caught my

> attention is the Biostar IDEQ 200n. It's pretty reasonably priced 
> considering what it
> contains:
>
> http://www.biostar-usa.com/ideqdetails.asp?model=ideq+200n
>
> Is anyone using one of these? I'd be interested in hearing about it.
>
> --Rick

Unfortunately, it's only got 1 PCI slot, so I wouldn't be able to put
both my tuner card and my WLAN card in it.  Meanwhile, its got on-board
GeForce 4 MX, making the AGP slot a big waste of space...

Other than that, my first impression is that Linux-wise this is better
than a Pundit, because of the nForce chipset.  I wonder if it would
support a PCI riser card?

-JAC