[mythtv-users] SheevaPlug for a master Backend?

[Brian Wood]

On Monday 26 October 2009 09:48:09 Jason Weida wrote:
> I heard about the SheevaPlug back in Feb, and I thought that there would be
> a *lot* of people on the list jumping on it.  It seems like it would be a
> really good master backend if one uses an NAS or USB storage and an HDHR.
> But only one mention of it on here that I could find, and some googling
> only got me one
> site<http://computingplugs.com/index.php/Sheeva_Plug_as_a_MythTV_master_bac
>kend>that had anyone actually using it (and he's using it to wake up a slave
> BE during recording).
>
> Is anyone doing this?  My setup is a MBE (old P4 1.3GHz w/ half gig of RAM
> and 3 IDE drives), two Frontends, and an HDHR.  MBE is dedicated to Myth
> only, I don't run a website or even use it as a print server, but it's on
> 24/7.  I've not had any issues with this setup.  Commercial flagging takes
> a while, but for my viewing habits, it's not an issue.
>
> With the release of 0.22, and an impeding HD TV purchase (when my CRT
> finally goes out), I'm thinking of taking that opportunity to completely
> re-design the Myth system.  Is there any reason I shouldn't get one of
> these SheevaPlugs as my master backend (I'd like to reduce the power, noise
> and clutter around my workspace)?  With no video support, is setting up
> Mythbackend going to be difficult?  How about storage, do you think I could
> use a USB hub with two USB hard disks (one small one for the OS/database,
> and another large one for recordings)?  Obvously, the HDHR and MBE would be
> connected through my router, as I currently have.  What am I missing?  11W
> max draw sure sounds nice compared to probably >80W idle of my current
> system!

I suspect you mean an "impending" HD TV purchase, not an "impeding" one :-)

I haven't played with the SheevaPlug units, but I have done a lot of work with 
the NSLU2s, which are very similar. The problem is the USB subsystem is very 
slow, and using USB drives may result in inadequate preformance.

The NSLU2 has no floating point unit, I'm not sure about the Sheeva, but the 
lack of an FPU might also preclude some B/E functions.

My guess is you want a somewhat beefier computer. The Sheeva looks 
interesting, but very limited.

-- 
Brian Wood
beww at beww.org