[mythtv-users] Thanks to developers, plus a few tips from someone who finally got it working

[Micah.Wedemeyer at gtri.gatech.edu]

Hi,

I've been a regular here for a while now, and I just wanted to thank the
developers and contributers (especially Jarod) who have helped me get my
Myth system up and running.

It's been a difficult road, but I think I've finally got it stable.

To anyone out there looking for some quick and dirty advice, here's what
I've found:

1) Heat is your enemy!  PVR-250 cards get pretty hot and heat up the
rest of the system.  Solution: good cooling (can be noisy) or a
well-cooled remote backend (preferrably in a place where noise is not an
issue).  I think heat was my number 1 problem, causing all sorts of
other issues.

2) Don't mess with wireless!  I know this will probably start some
flames, but to be honest, I never had much luck with 802.11g under
Linux.  I got it to work sometimes, but it was always flakey and would
stop working randomly.  Save yourself a headache and go with
tried-and-true 10/100.  Believe me, it's much easier than reading serial
numbers off of boxes at Best Buy trying to find the one magic revision
of some wireless card that is rumored to work 85% of the time.

3) Unless you love troubleshooting, shamelessly copy someone else's
working configuration.  For me, I (eventually) tried to stick as close
as possible to Jarod's hardware when building my frontend.  nForce
motherboard, GeForce FX 5200, PVR-250, etc.  Striking off the beaten
path might be fun for some, but it's hard for me to explain to my wife
that we can't watch TV because I decided to cut a few corners or go with
some exotic setup (*ahem* EPIA *ahem*)

Anyways, this is mainly a thank-you to all who have helped me so far.
I'll probably be back with more problems immediately after I send this
and declare victory.

Until then,
Micah