[mythtv-users] CPU for dedicated backend

[Joseph Fry]

> Hoi Joseph,
>
> Thursday, September 11, 2014, 11:21:25 PM, you wrote:
>
> >> I have a little question about it. I have a ION board frontend and the
> >> backend in the same place, is it a good idea to join both frontend and
> >> backend in the same machine? This CPU could manage both service very
> >> good, I could add a dedicated GPU.
>
> >     I would keep the frontend separate. You are bound to do things with
> > the backend that are likely to generate heat and noise and be disruptive
> > to your playback environment.
>
> >     If the backend is somewhere else entirely, you can let loose with it
> > and do whatever you want.
>
>
>
>
> > He said that he has the backend and frontend in the same place...
> > he wasn't proposing to move the backend elsewhere.  If the backend
> > is going to be there anyway, why have a separate frontend  right next to
> it... just combine them.
>
> While his machine should be powerful enough to do both I don't like
> them to be in the same machine.


I respect your opinion, and while we all wish we had unlimited resources
where we could dedicate a computer to single purpose, you must admit it is
a bit wasteful.


> Mythfrontend can sometimes be unstable
> needing a reboot.  If the backend is in there you have to wait till

the backend is idle or disturb ongoing recordings.
>

I run a frontend on my server... never once had to reboot the server due to
a frontend related issue.   Even if I did, it's only a secondary frontend,
not my primary viewing system... if the frontend broke and needed a reboot,
I could wait until a safe time.  And seriously... this is TV.  If I had to
reboot during a recording I would miss what, 1 minute or so of everything
that was recording at the time... hardly a tragic loss.


> Also in essence the demands for both are different. A frontend needs
> to be quiet and have powerful enough graphics and sound and it is nice
> if it looks nice. A backend just needs enough power to do what it must
> and before most it needs to be stable. You could even leave out the
> graphics and the sound.
>

None of this makes a bit of difference when the OP clearly stated that his
backend is sitting right next to his painfully slow ION frontend.   The
combined noise of two machines will be louder than one... the ugly backend
appearance is not somehow improved by setting a pretty frontend computer
next to it.

Essentially your arguing that he would be better keeping the frontend on
hardware that he said he is no longer happy with rather than utilizing the
overpowered backend sitting right next to it.

In an ideal world we would all have our backends hidden away in a closet
somewhere... but in the real world we sometimes have to put them wherever
we can... and if I have to have my backend anywhere it would be convenient
to also have a frontend... then it would be just plain stupid not to have
it do double duty.

Believe it or not, most mythtv installations are combined Backend/Frontend,
or at least they started that way.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/attachments/20140911/c7653bcf/attachment.html>