[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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