[mythtv-users] Re: Via vt-310dp and c146

[Andrew Plumb]

Hi Eliot (and mythtv-users),

I haven't finished the installation yet; still in dabbling mode.  With
Fedora Core 4 the VT310DP will boot with the single-CPU kernel but not the
default SMP kernel, but I was able to compile and install a custom SMP
kernel reasonably easily using the FC4 kernel source.  Because of the custom
kernel I might not be able to use the pre-compiled kernel modules from
atrpms for things like ivtv (which I have compiled and installed from source
successfully) and/or lirc device drivers, but compiling and installing those
is straight forward.  I am trying to install the rest of MythTV from yum/rpm
repositories though; that could get painful if I have to do all that
manually as well.  On the other hand it may make more sense to build from
scratch so I keep it simple and only get the mythbackend parts.

With respect to the C146, my PVR500 dual-tuner card was a shade too long to
install in the first (PCI2) slot of the dual-slot PCI riser card AND fit
back into the case; neither of the cards work if you put them in the second
(PCI3) slot.  The PVR350 fits and works.  What I haven't tried (yet) is to
install a "dummy" PCI card (like an old network card) in the first slot and
the PVR500 in the second.  The problem is most likely with the riser card,
an active versus passive circuit design; the descriptions at this site are
what lead me to suspect that this is the issue:

http://mini-itx.com/store/?c=8#p1902

The case itself is probably not quiet enough to be in close proximity to
your entertainment environment without some acoustic treatment/cabinet to
contain the noise.  You want to get as fanless as you possibly can,
particularly with respect to the power supply and any case fans; the CPU fan
noise on most VIA Mini-ITX boards is minimal when it's in the case.

One board I've toyed with the idea of using as a front end is the EPIA TC
series because of the onboard 12VDC power socket instead of AC.  It remains
to be seen what can be done with the Nano-ITX, but in theory that would be
an even better option for lower-power/remote front-end use because it also
uses laptop memory (SO-DIMM) and mini-pci wifi network cards.

That's all for now; gotta work my day-job!

Andrew.

On 11/30/05, Eliot Phillips <eliot.hackaday at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I found your posts in the MythTV mailing lists archive. I'm
> considering putting together a MythTV box and really want to use the
> c146 case. How has it been working for you? Have you gotten your DP
> board off the ground yet? The only thing that is holding me back is
> the limited number of boards with DVI output. I should probably bite
> the bullet and assume that sometime in the future I'll build a
> frontend box with DVI for HDTV.
>
> Eliot Phillips
> Hack-A-Day
> http://hackaday.com
>



--

If you don't know what to do, do something.
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