[mythtv-users] Alternative to Mac Mini?
Brian Wood
beww at beww.org
Mon Jul 26 16:39:58 UTC 2010
On Monday, July 26, 2010 09:24:38 am David Lasker wrote:
> On Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 11:15 AM, Ken Mandelberg <km [at] mathcs> wrote:
> > In another thread it was suggested that the Mac Mini was overpriced as a
> > Myth frontend/backend. I want something with a similar footprint.
> >
> > The atom/ion2 boxes won't do. As a backend I need firewire to get input
>
> from
>
> > a cablebox and the boxes I've seen don't have it. I also want enough cpu
>
> to
>
> > do efficient commercial marking, and the atom's are too slow.
> >
> > Is there really a box with similar size to a Mac Mini that is at least a
> > core2/nivida and cheaper (or more powerful).
>
> If you are willing to go for a slightly larger case, and are up to the
> challenge, then I would recommend you build your own.
>
> You could do something like this (prices are in US looking at
> components from newegg.com):
>
> - uATX case with power supply & fan - $50
> - low-end uATX motherboard - $50
> - 2.4 ghz dual-core AMD or Intel CPU - $50
> - 2 GB RAM - $50
> - 500GB hard disk drive - $50
> - VDPAU-compatible video card - $45
> - Firewire card - $10
> - Wireless network card - $15
>
> Total: - $320
>
> You still need to add a TV Tuner card and remote control or keyboard, same
> as you would with Mac Mini. You also have lots of budget to upgrade the
> case or other components, and still come in way under the Mac Mini price.
>
> If you go this route, check on-line reviews carefully, and do lots of
> Googling to verify compatibility of your components with each other, and
> with Linux and MythTV.
All good advice, but if you don't feel like building a machine Polywell seems to have a lot of mini-ITX offerings. Other
than ION, I don't see many VDPAU-capable graphics setups.
Firewire might be a problem, you may need to go for an add-on of some sort. I see several can accept low-profile or even
full-height cards.
The ITX-6100 looks promising.
I don't know much about them, but I've seen a lot of advertising for them in Linux publications.
http://www.polywell.com/us/oem/enclosure.asp
I was at a used Mac store in Colorado yesterday, they had several used Minis at attractive prices:
http://www.themacshack.net/index.php
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