[mythtv-users] EPIA support questions

[Jim Kusznir]

My curiosity was aroused by the SolarPC thread, so I went and checked
out SolarPC's line.  It looks quite impressive, but have some questions
with respect to video support under linux.  Since they use the EPIA
boards, I thought its more general and approprate for posting on the list.

I know the choice of the video card is quite important.  I also noticed
that the user who posted who is using a SolarPC (EPIA V-series board, I
believe) is using a PVR-350, so I would assume using the 350 as the
output card.

What about using the system as a frontend-only (i.e., using the onboard
video as the output video device)?  Do good drivers exist for these
video devices?

I noticed that there's an EPIA MII-series board that uses:
Integrated VIA Unichrome AGP graphics w/MPEG-2 Accelerator

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about video hardware to know how the
MPEG-2 accelerator is accessed and used.  Would a Myth frontend take
advantage of this?  If so, would one just set it up as a "normal" video
card, and the mpeg acceleration will kick in when mpeg is being played,
and ignored otherwise?

What about some of the other EPIA boards, such as the "V" series video
boards (it lists only "Integrated AGP 4X Graphics" as its video
"card").  Is it well supported?

Also, I'm curious what the minimum and recommended EPIA CPU
configuration would be for a frontend-only system.  I don't think I
understand how these VIA CPUs map power-wise to Pentimum and similar CPUs.

Thanks for your help!!

--Jim