[mythtv-users] Diskless backend?

[Tupshin Harper]

Ben Davis wrote:

> On Sun, 2003-06-22 at 16:51, Tupshin Harper wrote:
>
>>/I haven't done a diskless myth-backend, but my frontends are diskless, 
>>and I've done plenty of other diskless implementations. /
>>
>
> I was curious, what does a diskless frontend setup consist of?  How 
> much does it cost for all the parts (minus the TV-card)?   I've been 
> trying to come up with a frontend setup for under $300 and I've been 
> having a hard time figuring out the right way to make a diskless 
> frontend.  I'd appreciate any tips!
>
> Thanks

First of all, note that I don't yet have my ideal setup. I have diskless 
front-ends working, but I'm actually quite new to myth, and haven't 
invested in proper hardware for the front. Software wise, I had already 
being running some machines diskless using the debian diskless packages, 
so it was trivial to add mythfrontend to the installed software. 
Hardware wise, I did most of my initial testing using my regular 
desktop, booting off the network (which it was doing already), and 
outputting to a regular monitor. I have also succesfully used a Dell 
Inspiron 7500 laptop, that can do a network boot after being 
bootstrapped off the floppy drive (to load pcmcia drivers). This laptop 
is a 650mhz P3 with built in S-video out, and after many contortions, 
incantations, and prayers to the most obscure gods, managed to get its 
tv out working using the gatos drivers(gatos.sourceforge.net). This is 
actually going to be my primary frontend until I spring for some new 
hardware. Ultimately, I would like to use a mini-itx box, and the 
Nehemia EPIA M10000 will hopefully be just about right. I wouldn't try 
to use this as a backend, but as a frontend, it should be adequate.
I see a rough costs of:
$95 for a case w/ps http://www.mini-itx.com/reviews/2688R/
$165 for MB/CPU http://www.mini-itx.com/reviews/nehemiah/
$40 fo $256 MB low profile PC133 memory

For a grand total of exactly $300. For that you get a small, nearly 
silent frontend.
You would also want to add in an IR-receiver, and in an ideal world, a 
slimline CR-RW/DVD combo

I haven't followed all of the discussions on the current state of linux 
support for the nehemiah hardware, but I believe the tv-out works fine, 
and even without the MPEG2 decoder, that CPU is supposedly fast enough 
for good quality divx playback, and should certainly handle mythtv 
decoding. YMMV...I haven't done this yet. ;-)

-Tupshin