[mythtv-users] Looking for a Media PC system

[Russ]

David wrote:

> My plans are to get my new system in stages. First, get the PC (big 
> enough to do the the job). Then when that is paid off, I was going to 
> get a 23' Wide screen LCD tv/monitor (the BenQ FP231W looks great). I 
> am willing to spend a bit on it but I do not have a bottomless barrel 
> either. Therefore I need a video card capable of  dealing with 
> resolutions of 1920x1200.
>
> Is this going to be a dedicated Myth PC for the lounge? Or a desktop 
> that you watch the TV on?
> You probably don't _need_ very high resolutions unless you are going 
> HDTV.

It is going to be mine (all mine, just mine. In my room. No kids. 
mine,mine,mine). I want it to be my everything (PC, TV).  Complete with 
a huge monitor. It will be set up in my bedroom for my viewing and 
computing purposes. Violators will be politely shot.

>
>> Anyway, advice, suggestions, warnings, recommendations, all would be 
>> greatly appreciated.
>
>
> One suggestion is to read the archives for the list - this subject 
> comes up a *lot*.

I am currently going through the HOW-TO's, looks like a job.

>
>> My think-so's so far.
>>
>> I have narrowed it down to the new HP m1050y series. However, it has 
>> an ATI Radeon video card (the new PCI x16). Probably not a good 
>> choice for Linux eh? The HP m1000y has NVIDIA GeForceFX(TM) 
>> 5700/5500/5200.
>
>
> There's things to be said for buying a complete PC - they're often 
> good value and of course you don't need to build them.
>
> There are things to be said for buying bits - you know _exactly_ what 
> you've got.
> The main thing about building your own is that you can make sure that 
> each and every component is supported.
> You can also upgrade bits here and there more easily.
> OTOH you have to put it together (pretty easy, especially if you have 
> a friend who's done it) and you won't get 'shop' support - but if you 
> install Linux then that's probably out the window anyway :)

I am that friend that people come to for the free tech support (well, 
actually I did get a bag of blue berries yesterday, and some york 
peperment patties last week). I do not consider myself an expert but I 
do know enough about it to usually fix whatever problems they are 
having. I do not even run WinXP (however I have it on here as a dual 
boot - the kids use it) but I can usually fix what they break. If 
something goes haywire, I can usually tackle it myself if I am pointed 
in the right direction (Usually from an appropriate mailing list that 
covers the specific problem).

I notice in the HOW-TO's that my distro of choice (SuSE) is not covered 
(bummer). I did start out with Mandrake but the latest version I tried 
(9.0) was broken and I couldn't get it working. I never have gotten Red 
Hat/Fedora to work (ever). SuSE 9.0 worked out of the box with very 
little tweaking (sound was a small issue).

Russ