[mythtv-users] ECS Liva for frontend - brief report

[Karl Newman]

On Thu, Dec 11, 2014 at 8:52 AM, Ozzy Lash <ozzy.lash at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Sat, Nov 15, 2014 at 2:54 PM, Roger Heflin <rogerheflin at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> If you are using a mce remote you will need to replace fedora's
>> kernels and compile a kernel.org (or mod fedoras kernel) to fix an
>> usb3 issue around the mce receiver, since that device does not have a
>> bios option that will allow you to downgrade usb to 2.0.
>>
>> Other that that trouble mine worked fine, and same as you I had it
>> fail to boot after initial install, I rescue booted and modified the
>> dracut conf file so that the modules needed for the internal storage
>> were built into the initrd before I did my initial updates.
>>
>> I did have to put tape over all of its little lights (power on, and
>> network lights) as it is annoying in a dark room.
>>
>> Mine is working fine with both the 1080i mpeg and 1080i x264 recordings.
>>
>> Given everything else on the market I still might buy it at its
>> current price given its tiny size, and the fact that it works on
>> everything I have tried to play.
>>
>> On Sat, Nov 15, 2014 at 2:35 PM, Calvin Dodge <caldodge at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > When I saw the 2G/32G (RAM/SSD) model on sale at NewEgg for $109.99,
>> > it seemed like it was worth a try to replace the used Dell in the
>> > living room.  So far it's working fine, with about 40% CPU usage (dual
>> > core) while playing HD video (MPEG 2 from HDHomerun).
>> >
>> > I had only one install glitch - it couldn't find the disk partitions
>> > on reboot after I installed Fedora 20.  So I just booted from the
>> > install flash drive, went to rescue mode, chrooted to /mnt/sysimage
>> > (where Fedora mounts filesystems for a rescued system), then ran "yum
>> > update".
>> >
>> > Now it's doing great as a frontend system, and it should pay for
>> > itself in a couple of years due to the power savings.  My wife will be
>> > happy that it can be hidden behind the TV, rather then sitting on the
>> > floor for all to see.
>> >
>> > Unfortunately, the sale is over, and the price is back up to $179.99
>> > (the 2G/64G model is $199.99).  But some may still find it worth it
>> > for the ease of setup (no playing around with nonfree kernel modules
>> > or weird settings).
>> >
>> >
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856501007&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-
>> >
>> > Calvin Dodge
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>>
>
> I got one of these a few weeks back at $129.  I'm using debian unstable,
> and really didn't have too many problems.  The kernel was already 3.16 so
> the mce remote problem had already been fixed.
>
> I've got to say that it is very snappy compared to my first gen ION
> frontend that it is replacing.  I see they are back to $109.  Might have to
> get another to replace an aging frontend in the bedroom (or at least to
> have as a hot standby).
>
> There are a few "wish it hads".  An SPDIF output would be nice for hooking
> to older recievers.  Built in IR would be nice, or an internal USB header
> so you could de-case a mce remote an mount it in the box. And my eyes and
> hands are not good enough to connect the antennae to the wireless card.  I
> had to solder them under a magnifying glass.
>
> Bill
>

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the tip on this, I picked one up. However, I'm having a heck of
a time getting it to boot from the MMC flash disk. I ran grub-install with
the i386-pc target but the BIOS doesn't recognize it as a valid boot
target. Also tried x86_64-efi but still no luck. My partitions are as
follows (recommended per Gentoo):

Number  Start   End     Size    File system     Name    Flags
 1      1049kB  3146kB  2097kB                  grub    bios_grub
 2      3146kB  137MB   134MB   ext2            boot
 3      137MB   674MB   537MB   linux-swap(v1)  swap
 4      674MB   31.3GB  30.6GB  btrfs           rootfs

Any tips?

Thanks,

Karl
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