[mythtv-users] dual use box, MythTV & parents PC

[Mark Edwards]

Chad,

as long as you can leave the Mythbackend process running, then it wouldn't
really matter if usage of the box changed for a short period of time. you
could happily shutdown mythfrontend off the TV and let them use the PC for
documents/emails etc. It sounds a little like you are trying to get
concurrent dual use going seamlessly. This could possibly be difficult
considering the keyboard issues you mentioned. Suggest that sequential dual
use will be much easier to implement. I would consider that using runlevels
is the ideal way to go... use runlevel 4 (inittab) for myth and runlevel 5
for 'home computing'. I have a similar setup where I autoboot into myth via
runlevel 4. Runlevel 3 for me is myth machine maintenance mode...

regards,

Mark.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chad Vogelsong" <cvogelsong at intellimation.cc>
To: <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2003 1:37 AM
Subject: [mythtv-users] dual use box, MythTV & parents PC


> I'm looking for some advice on whether this setup is possible, how
> difficult it will be and any advice or programs I might need.
>
> My parents current Linux PC is about 4 feet away from their TV and it is
> due to be upgraded in the very near future.  They like the idea of a
> MythTV box to replace their DVD player and to be able to play my
> downloaded movies / DVD rips / music / etc.  I was looking at combining
> their MythTV box and their PC into one machine to save on hardware cost
> / space / power consumption / etc.
>
> What I'm thinking for hardware:
> --Desktop case
> --Motherboard with Linux supported onboard LAN, video and sound for the
> general purpose PC.  Also an AGP slot & 4 PCI slots.
> --Sound Blaster Live 5.1 PCI sound card for TV sound
> --GeForce4 MX440 PCI w/TV out for MythTV.
> --256 MB RAM
> --80 - 160 GB HDD (large for when I move out and take the media server
> with me, they can still be able to record & watch shows)
> --When I move out, they will get 2 tuner cards (probably 1 bttv driver
> card & 1 PVR-250) put into their system, but not at initial
> construction.
> --Athlon XP 1900+ or above
>
> What I want to do is use GeForce4 & SB Live 5.1 card for MythTV on
> display "localhost:0".  "localhost:1" will use the onboard video card &
> sound for my parents to use as a normal desktop PC.  I have read some
> HOWTO's on tldp.org for using dual video cards as a starting point and I
> have read through some archived posts on MythTV about dual displays.
>
> One of the problems that I thought about was a control issue.  How to
> use a keyboard on the PC and a remote at the same time with 2 different
> displays?  This is one of the things I'm stumped on.  Their PC use
> averages maybe about 20-30 minutes per day, basically to check e-mail
> and eBay and write the occasional document.  I don't even think they
> would mind if they couldn't watch TV and be on the computer at the same
> time.
>
> Maybe somebody could offer some direction or even if this is possible or
> not.  All advice, ideas and constructive criticism are greatly
> appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Chad
>
>


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