[mythtv-users] dual use box, MythTV & parents PC

[Chad Vogelsong]

I'm looking for some advice on whether this setup is possible, how
difficult it will be and any advice or programs I might need.

My parents current Linux PC is about 4 feet away from their TV and it is
due to be upgraded in the very near future.  They like the idea of a
MythTV box to replace their DVD player and to be able to play my
downloaded movies / DVD rips / music / etc.  I was looking at combining
their MythTV box and their PC into one machine to save on hardware cost
/ space / power consumption / etc.

What I'm thinking for hardware:
--Desktop case
--Motherboard with Linux supported onboard LAN, video and sound for the
general purpose PC.  Also an AGP slot & 4 PCI slots.
--Sound Blaster Live 5.1 PCI sound card for TV sound
--GeForce4 MX440 PCI w/TV out for MythTV.
--256 MB RAM
--80 - 160 GB HDD (large for when I move out and take the media server
with me, they can still be able to record & watch shows)
--When I move out, they will get 2 tuner cards (probably 1 bttv driver
card & 1 PVR-250) put into their system, but not at initial
construction.
--Athlon XP 1900+ or above

What I want to do is use GeForce4 & SB Live 5.1 card for MythTV on
display "localhost:0".  "localhost:1" will use the onboard video card &
sound for my parents to use as a normal desktop PC.  I have read some
HOWTO's on tldp.org for using dual video cards as a starting point and I
have read through some archived posts on MythTV about dual displays.

One of the problems that I thought about was a control issue.  How to
use a keyboard on the PC and a remote at the same time with 2 different
displays?  This is one of the things I'm stumped on.  Their PC use
averages maybe about 20-30 minutes per day, basically to check e-mail
and eBay and write the occasional document.  I don't even think they
would mind if they couldn't watch TV and be on the computer at the same
time.  

Maybe somebody could offer some direction or even if this is possible or
not.  All advice, ideas and constructive criticism are greatly
appreciated.

Thanks,
Chad