[mythtv-users] New to building computers and MythTV

Stroller linux.luser at myrealbox.com
Thu Mar 22 13:47:42 UTC 2007


On 21 Mar 2007, at 16:08, Jon Sustar wrote:
>
> I've never built a computer before, but I'm really interested in  
> building my own DVR that will run MythTV.  MythTV sounds great, but  
> I'm not sure what type of hardware configuration I should use.  I  
> know it doesn't take much to run MythTV, but I'm still not sure  
> about what tuners are compatible with which motherboards, whether I  
> need a graphics card, etc.

You don't mention your general computing experience here - I'd have  
thought that most experienced Linux users had built a PC at one time  
or another, or had upgraded one sufficiently that they wouldn't have  
to ask this question.

Linux is the platform upon which MythTV resides - if you haven't used  
Linux before buy yourself a secondhand $50 pc NOW, download Ubuntu  
and install it. Linux is difficult & confusing, even before the added  
complexity of installing & troubleshooting MythTV. Use Linux for an  
hour a day, surf the web, use your distro's help forums to work out  
why the sound doesn't work and to install the flash browser software  
- just generally tinker.

$50 will probably get you a Pentium III of 600mhz - 1ghz speed, quite  
adequate for learning the ropes. Search eBay for "SFF compaq" or post  
on your local freecycle "wanted: pc for installing Linux".

I am sorry if I have incorrectly made assumptions about your  
experience - you may be the BOFH for all I know - but we see many on  
this list who have no experience of Linux (MythTV is obviously so  
good that it's the "killer app" for many people!) and this makes life  
quite difficult for them. Posts here, HOWTOs and articles on the wiki  
tend to take for granted a basic knowledge of Linux, and I think you  
will find it impossible to follow them if you have none.

Stroller.




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