[mythtv-users] Mac Mini Core Solo as FE/BE Combo?

[Jarod Wilson]

On Mar 22, 2007, at 12:58, Byron Poland wrote:

> On 3/22/07, Jarod Wilson <jarod at wilsonet.com> wrote:
>> On Thursday 22 March 2007 11:02:13 Todd Ignasiak wrote:
>>> Also - did you jump right to 2GB, or did you try 1GB?  My Mini works
>>> well with 1GB..  more memory is always better, but for others  
>>> looking
>>> to get a new mini they may be able to get buy with a less expensive
>>> configuration.
>>
>> My current frontend with 1GB swaps from time to time when using the
>> blootube-wide theme, so I just went straight to 2GB. Only $68 per  
>> 1GB stick
>> from newegg, though I believe my mini's warranty is now null and  
>> void... :)
>
> I ended up picking up a 1.83 duo mini, and put 2GB of memory in it.
> (What a PITA to get to).  I put ubuntu on the machine.  I'm outputting
> to a 1366x768 display.  The machine has no problem keeping up with HD
> content, but my 1080i playback isn't perfect there is a very minor
> "Jerk"  (kind of like watching tv drunk).  I have a feeling it's the
> driver, I need to give the intel driver a shot.  But I just set it up
> over at my girlfriends, so the tinker time is now significantly
> reduced.  Over all I'm really happy with the machine though.

Okay, soooo.... I've got my 1.66 duo mini outputting to my hdtv at  
1920x1080p, 60Hz refresh, digital audio passing through to my amp,  
etc. For the most part, playback is about as perfect as it gets. No  
noticeable difference from my GeForce 6200TC, anyhow. However, every  
once in a while, I'm seeing X spike up to 99% cpu usage for a bit,  
which leads to a bit of jitter in the picture. Appears to only be on  
720p stuff, so maybe an Xv scaling issue -- should note that I'm  
running the bleeding-edge intel driver code from the Fedora  
development tree (which matches more or less identically from hg tip  
in xorg's mercurial repo). But for the most part, schweetness. And  
damn, you can't beat the silence. Oh, and on the memory usage front,  
while playing back HDTV, top shows ~33% memory usage for mythfrontend  
and another 33% for X, so it would seem 2GB is definitely better for  
a mini than 1GB, since that's roughly 1.33GB there...

Left on my todo list:

- Get non-digital audio outputting correctly (oops, just noticed this  
wasn't working, but I think I know what's up here)
- Get the internal IR receiver working with lirc (still using my usb  
mce receiver atm)
- See if there are any open bugs and/or debugging I can do to  
eliminate the occasional hiccups (helps to have someone in the office  
who is actively working on the driver... :)
- Figure out what to do with my prior frontend

-- 
Jarod Wilson
jarod at wilsonet.com