[mythtv-users] Fedora or RH9.0 for a new Myth installation ?

[pvrman at xemaps.com]

I am going to build a MythTV machine for the first time and was wondering if I should go ahead with the new Fedora core or stick to the tried and true RedHat 9.0. I would appreciate your suggestions in this regard.

In a nutshell, I want to stick with RH9.0 unless there is any distinct advantage in going with Fedora (for MythTV usage). If you think one has an advantage over the other, I would like to know what it is.


Here are some of my thoughts/backgrounds ... please feel free to provide any feedback.

1. I have fair amount of experience building PCs and playing around with Windows, but I have very little experience with Linux. I have used RedHat 6.0 and 7.3 before, but I can just barely get my way around Linux Land :(

2. Given this, I am looking for a way to make the whole installation process as simple as possible. However, at the same time, I don't want to use KnoppMyth or some myth bundled distribution like that which will do the entire thing for me without giving me a chance to understand what's going on internally. So basically I want a installation process as simple as possible, yet I want to have some idea of what's going on so that I can at least attempt to fix it later if/when it breaks. Now how's that for a contradiction ;-)

3. Based on 1) and 2), I have decided to use Jarod's step-by-step guide to start my Myth adventure :) I think this provides fair amount of hand holding, yet provides an opportunity to peek insode and understand what the heck I am doing ;)

4. Now the question is, whether I should follow Jarod's new Fedora based instructions at http://www.wilsonet.com/mythtv/ or the old RH9.0 based instructions at http://pvrhw.goldfish.org/tiki-page.php?pageName=rh9pvr250. The key factor in choosing one over the other seems to be whether I want to go with Fedora or RH9.0. I would really like to stick with RH9.0, just because it has been around for longer and several people have had great success using Jarod's old guide under RH9.0 ... so it is tried and true and well debugged at this point. However, I would first like to know from this group if there are any compelling reasons to use Fedora instead of RH9.0 (from MythTV usage point of view only). Does Fedora provide any unique feature over RH9.0 that is critical to a good MythTV experience ?


5. Here is the hardware I have decided to go with, in case this helps you in recommending Fedora over RH9.0 or vice versa.

- Chaintech 7NIF2 nForce2 based mobo with Athlon XP 2000+ CPU
- 512MB PC2100 Crucial RAM
- Hauppauge 350 (TV card 1)
- Hauppauge 250MCE (TV card 2)
- 80GB HDD
- Onboard GeForce4 MX video of 7NIF2 (I can use a separate GeForce3 Ti200 or a GeForce4 Ti4200 card if necessary)
- Onboard Realtek Sound
- Onboard Realtek Ethernet
- Hauppauge Remote (that comes with the 350)


pvrman