LinuxMCE Forums

Hi, as most of you may already know, there is a new $200 PC that a few weeks ago sold out on Wallmart called gPC (gPC Specs: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7754614 (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7754614), Reviews: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/allReviews.do?product_id=7754614 (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/allReviews.do?product_id=7754614)),  that comes with g0S (http://www.thinkgos.com (http://www.thinkgos.com), an Ubuntu based linux distro) installed, and the first thing that came to my mind was that maybe (and forgive me for being so optimist, that's exactly why I'm writing this post, because I'd like to know your opinion about it), and just maybe there could be a way to build a $300 or $400 HTPC with only essential cheap but quality-acceptable hardware (excluding the front-end of course) that could be attractive to masses (as gPC is trying), and increase LinuxMCE popularity vs. Windows MCE.

Searching on this forum I found this thread: http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=3204.0 (http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=3204.0)  (I was about to reply to this thread with this post you're reading but I didn't think the name of the original post "Possible thin client?" would get to the point I'm trying to make) that talks about the $60 all-in-one motherboard (http://clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A4842001 (http://clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A4842001)) that is used to build the gPC as an option to build a LMCE PC. Maybe with a Hauppauge PVR-150 tuner or even a cheaper Linux-compatible one cost wouldn't go so high.

The thing is that I would like to know if someone has already tested this gPC or at least it's motherboard with LinuxMCE indeed or if somebody knows or has a better idea for a low-cost HTPC and would like to post it here. The problem is that reading some reviews on clubit's motherboard page I found something I already expected but I don't take it for granted before I get to know some LinuxMCE specific stories about this hardware or test it on my own:

Quote
Buy this for its economy and low power consumption. This is a 5 rating for my needs. wouldn't rate higher than a three for multimedia or games. There are better options (I wonder how much those options would get to cost).

Some other reviewer wrote this:

Quote
Strengths: Low power. Using PicoPSU and Maxtor 160GB EIDE, LiteOn DVD writer the system runs 24-40Watts. The DVD kicks it up to 40. Idles at 24.
Weaknesses: Display sucks and no upgrade slot for AGP or PCIe.
Summary: Using a Dell 1905FP LCD display there are blurry areas splattered around the screen. Other MBs with better built in GPUs do not have this problem. The GeForce 6100M and AMD 690G work excellent. Using the same hardware on a GeForce 6100M the power usage is 30-55 Watts with a BE2300 CPU.

Just ordered one will let you know how I make out.

I've got one showing up on the 30th according to fedex's site. I'm just going to use it as a nonvideo playing oribiter/md that will run a touchscreen access panel and do bluetooth detection near my door entry to my house. I'll put it through it's paces though and see what i can get the graphics to do and what kind of video it can handle. I've already know how to get unichrome graphics working so it shouldn't take me long once I have it in hand. For $60 it's about impossible to beat for a low power system.

Thank you for your replies, I'll be expecting impatiently for your test results.

For those of you who haven't read about gPC I leave you some links here to articles written about the topic

"gOS PC Sells Out: People Like A Google Focused PC"
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/12/gos-pc-sells-out-people-like-a-google-focused-pc/

"gPC $199 C7 powered PC at Wal-Mart":
http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2007/11/gpc-199-c7-powered-pc-at-wal-mart.html (http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2007/11/gpc-199-c7-powered-pc-at-wal-mart.html)

"Is Wal-Mart's gPC The Linux Version Of The Mac Mini?":
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/11/is_walmarts_gpc.html (http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/11/is_walmarts_gpc.html)

"La gPC se agota en poco tiempo" (spanish):
http://www.orlandoalonzo.com.mx/tecnologia/la-gpc-se-agota-en-poco-tiempo/ (http://www.orlandoalonzo.com.mx/tecnologia/la-gpc-se-agota-en-poco-tiempo/)

"El Google PC es factible: el gPC se agota en las tiendas, fotos y vídeo del gOS" (spanish):
http://google.dirson.com/post/3740-google-pc-video-gos/ (http://google.dirson.com/post/3740-google-pc-video-gos/)

Thanks a lot for reading and I would love more replies from you all.

I have had my board for a few days but havn't had any time to test it. I may just wait for the new linuxmce release. I won't have time to spend to review it until the 4th and 5th

any news about this topic?

Id like to know more too.

I nearly purchased 1 of these the other day for $399 from walmart (ripley,wv).....so glad i didnt the cradle robbing....walmart associates.

I just got my picopsu the other day. I'm pretty much not messing with it until 710 comes out. I'm certain it won't run UI3 but I'll see how it does on 720p and 1080i content and the UI2.
For a temporary test I may just install ubuntu 710 and see how it works with myth as a client. I'm off work for the next two days so I'll mess with it later on this morning and let you know

What is UI3 ???

the linuxmce user interface 3

what people call UI3, is actually UI2, with compositing (blending).

It is incorrectly called UI3.

-Thom

ohhh we have one of those people that like to correct everyone else  :P

Well... he's correct, and when others ask just what UI3 is... there's really no choice...

so I've been messing with it for about an hour and I can't get it to post.. power kicks in, fan comes on and nothing. It may be very picky and not like my ram no idea.. checking to see if there is a support site. So far I've tried 2 different psu's and 4 brands of ram

just found the board's support site
http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWebSite/Products/ProductsDetail.aspx?CategoryID=1&TypeID=19&DetailID=384&DetailName=Feature&MenuID=1&LanID=2 (http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWebSite/Products/ProductsDetail.aspx?CategoryID=1&TypeID=19&DetailID=384&DetailName=Feature&MenuID=1&LanID=2)

Thanks blackoper for all your interest about the topic

May this help you?:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=609034 (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=609034)

complete specs of the motherboard from via's website:
http://www.via.com.tw/en/initiatives/empowered/pc2500_platform/index.jsp (http://www.via.com.tw/en/initiatives/empowered/pc2500_platform/index.jsp)

Sorry I didn't find much to help but I'm really busy right now

thanks I've been looking all over the place for help with it.. so far there really isn't much. Downloading the manual for the board now from the pcchips site but it's the slowest server in the world :)

3rd power supply worked.. go figure... what are the chances that the pico wouldn't work and neither would the other power supply I just pulled out of working computer..

that is just weird. now the power supply that didn't work seems to work just fine.. ok well on to the os install

bios has a lot of options suprisingly... network boot is there pxe you can choose local first then network or vice versa.
Power usage is right around 25 watts with an efficient psu (so far)

installing kubuntu 7.10

Quote from: blackoper on December 11, 2007, 03:53:53 PM
just found the board's support site
http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWebSite/Products/ProductsDetail.aspx?CategoryID=1&TypeID=19&DetailID=384&DetailName=Feature&MenuID=1&LanID=2 (http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWebSite/Products/ProductsDetail.aspx?CategoryID=1&TypeID=19&DetailID=384&DetailName=Feature&MenuID=1&LanID=2)

Are we talking about the same boards here ??

Quotecomplete specs of the motherboard from via's website:
http://www.via.com.tw/en/initiatives/empowered/pc2500_platform/index.jsp

I have one of the pc2500's
I haven't been able to get it to run under LinuxMce (Locks when drawing orbiter screen ) I have installed the drivers per adding unichrome drivers thread.

I have installed kubuntu 7.04 to a hd on this pc and  it runs fine.

Currently I am trying to install this as local install of MD.
I am having problems connecting to the dce router and problems doing a test to the MYSQL

Could not find doc on setting up a HD install of MD.

Install found an existing core/hybrid and I selected to install as MD seemed fine. Just did not connect to router and I noticed the mysql settings in the manager where empty.

Quote from: blackoper on December 11, 2007, 06:58:57 AM
ohhh we have one of those people that like to correct everyone else  :P

I like those people. I'm here to learn - and to teach when I can.

created wiki entry please edit as you work on it:
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Via_PC2500e-gOS (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Via_PC2500e-gOS)

the company pcchips appears to be manufacturing the gOS boards. The bios and name precisely matches the one on my board and other places have linked to that manufacturer's site for bios and driver support. It's an oem board so no manufacturer names on it but the board underlying hardware is the same as the gOS board I bought from clubit.

I found the V21G V1.0C mobo sold by a variety of vendors (http://google.com/products?q=V21G+V1.0C&scoring=p) starting at $60, but the first with a quality rating (60%) was at $67.80, 90% rating at $75.94.

I can't find a way to get one of these mainboards (Via_PC2500e) in my country (Ecuador) here in South America   ???, if someone knows about a web store (anyway to get it will do) that does send their products here please I'm all ears   :o

Thanks a lot in advance

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/11/hands-on-with-e.html (http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/11/hands-on-with-e.html)
From above link

QuoteAfter more digging I think I found out exactly what this mobo is and who made it. A company called "iDot" is VIA's motherboard arm and they make both the 2500E (the original reference model) and the 2500G, which is this board. Google search "iDot 2500G" and you'll find them.

This is the one I got from club-it
http://www.idot.com.tw/en/products/mb-pc2500e/ (http://www.idot.com.tw/en/products/mb-pc2500e/)

The only thing difference from the Pc chips one that I saw was the white lettering On the PCCHIPS "V21G"
where as mine from club it has "ID-PCM7E PC2500" but it sure looks like the same board.

From some posts I've read gPC comes with keyboard and mouse too (I see some speakers on the picture also), but I'm not sure about that
Sources:
fiire station:
http://fiire.com/fiire-station.php (http://fiire.com/fiire-station.php)
gPC:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7754614 (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7754614)
http://www.via.com.tw/en/initiatives/empowered/pc2500_platform/index.jsp (http://www.via.com.tw/en/initiatives/empowered/pc2500_platform/index.jsp)

Quote from: jvizueta on December 13, 2007, 04:48:36 PM
Please, if you see I'm missing something feel free to say so

First - useful direct comparison, and nice formatting :).

The main difference for $300 extra for Fiire is that LMCE is preinstalled and supported, including upgrades. But I'd like to see the specifics of the two different support models. Eg. Ubuntu support costs $275 for a year from Ubuntu.com . IDK whether Fiire's support includes any KDE Desktop support, or just what support it does offer - and they're supporting mostly appliance users.

if only:
The gPC would come in a smaller set top box
it would ship to Europe

Please, I encourage you all guys to keep up the work with gPC's mainboard wiki entry http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Via_PC2500e-gOS (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Via_PC2500e-gOS) started by blackoper, I think it's really worth it, this mainboard seems like a very viable choice and could be the core for a low-cost entry for LinuxMCE newbies (like me  :D)

Quote from: Matthew on December 13, 2007, 06:59:49 PM
First - useful direct comparison, and nice formatting :).

The main difference for $300 extra for Fiire is that LMCE is preinstalled and supported, including upgrades. But I'd like to see the specifics of the two different support models. Eg. Ubuntu support costs $275 for a year from Ubuntu.com . IDK whether Fiire's support includes any KDE Desktop support, or just what support it does offer - and they're supporting mostly appliance users.

Thank you for commenting it

Quote from: Hagen on December 13, 2007, 08:39:37 PM
if only:
The gPC would come in a smaller set top box
it would ship to Europe

As you can see in the picture below, the gPC mainboard is really small (Micro-ATX 225mm x 190mm), they put it in such a big case because people  relate size with capabilities when buying it in Wal-Mart
(http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/images/2007/11/06/picture_2.jpg)

Quote from: jvizueta on December 13, 2007, 09:12:23 PM
As you can see in the picture below, the gPC mainboard is really small (Micro-ATX 225mm x 190mm), they put it in such a big case because people  relate size with capabilities when buying it in Wal-Mart

bigger isn't always better

so I've tried installing Fedora 8 and Kubuntu 710 on my gOS board and neither work (multiple tries with each). Fedora 8 fails to see anything attached to the ide drives once the install program loads in the beginning so it cant' find the install medium. Kubuntu fails install at the Creating Users part. It just drops to the desktop with no message. I had it go through installation once but it gave me some grub error thing and wouldn't boot when restarting. I think the drives may need a full reformat and partition removal or it could be the ide channels. I'm going to test with sata hard disk and a usb dvd drive when I get home from work in the morning and see what happens.
I suspected it could be my memory, but Memtest 86+ shows no errors after a full pass (5 hours). I've also got a brand new psu so it's not a psu issue.
If someone has correctly installed ubuntu/kubuntu or fedora, do you know if the bios settings need to be a certain way? Maybe some of the settings are screwing with it? I'm going to try installing it in Failsafe mode and then after install reactivating everything maybe that will work.
I've never had this many problems with install... guess it could always be a faulty board.. if nothing else works I'll eventually rma it for new one

also who has removed the annoying little fan it has and put on a bigger heatsink? If so, what's the product/cost that will work?

Quote from: jvizueta on December 13, 2007, 04:48:36 PM

$200 Wal-mart's gPC vs $500 Fiire Station (set top box)

• Video: Via UniChrome Pro II PC graphics plus hardware-accelerated alpha blended open gl and MPEG 2 decoder using licensed drivers and codecs

[/b]

Makes the fire the clear winner with features vs cost for a full blown media director. Those drivers are not out in the wild and make a massive difference. Also it has gigabit ethernet which is a plus.
All I'm wanting to do with my gOS dev board is to run a touchscreen and bluetooth detection near my back door. So it will work perfect in UI1 as a minimal use md that at most may be asked to handle music duties in my living room.

Quote from: blackoper on December 14, 2007, 09:08:27 AM

Quote from: jvizueta on December 13, 2007, 04:48:36 PM

$200 Wal-mart's gPC vs $500 Fiire Station (set top box)

• Video: Via UniChrome Pro II PC graphics plus hardware-accelerated alpha blended open gl and MPEG 2 decoder using licensed drivers and codecs

[/b]

Makes the fire the clear winner with features vs cost for a full blown media director. Those drivers are not out in the wild and make a massive difference. Also it has gigabit ethernet which is a plus.
All I'm wanting to do with my gOS dev board is to run a touchscreen and bluetooth detection near my back door. So it will work perfect in UI1 as a minimal use md that at most may be asked to handle music duties in my living room.

But in the "Fiire Station 2.2" Review/Specs (http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=3280.0)" topic, Fiire's official response says (http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=3280.msg17951#msg17951):

Quote from: fiire on December 11, 2007, 09:53:00 PM
**FIIRE'S RESPONSE**

All the FiireStations, 1" and 2.2" and STB, use the same graphics engine, based on an embedded Via solution.  Neither the standard Via Linux  drivers, nor the OpenChrome drivers support alpha-blending.  Only nVidia does, but nVidia has problems with video tearing.  So, special drivers were developed just for LinuxMCE for the Via engine.  Fiire licenses those drivers.

These drivers do support alpha blending and high-quality video playback.  The alpha blending is done in a non-standard way.  It doesn't use Xorg's composite extensions, and the popup portions of the menu are not alpha blended.  However the menu itself is.  So is the media file browser screen.

The big problem with these licensed drivers is that MythTV doesn't work with it, nor does Kubuntu 0704 or 0710, or the KDE desktop.  So, the FiireEngine ships with a special diskless image for the FiireStations based on Kubuntu 0610 without KDE.  It works fine for media playback, and you can record Myth shows on the FiireEngine, but you cannot run Myth locally.

We're currently trying to get the OpenChrome and/or Via stock Linux drivers to work with the Fiire Stations and Kubuntu 0710.  When we do, FiireStation users will have the choice of using those standard drivers with the latest LinuxMCE, Myth, and KDE, but without alpha blending, or continuing to use the proprietary drivers which we licensed which do alpha blending, but don't run Myth or KDE.

So which LMCE features exactly (in LMCE terms, not OS/MythTV terms) will work with UI2/alpha, and which will work with only UI2/nonalpha?

From this post I read someone has been able to install Ubuntu on gPC:
10 Minute Review Of The Everex Green gPC TC2502
http://smert.net/2007/11/27/10-minute-review-of-the-everex-green-gpc-tc2502/#comment-1426 (http://smert.net/2007/11/27/10-minute-review-of-the-everex-green-gpc-tc2502/#comment-1426)
And I quote from this post:

QuoteSince then I've reformatted and put the latest version of Ubuntu on it.

The most complete set of pictures about the gPC I've seen so far:
$200 Green PC (gOS GNU/Linux) - What's inside the case?
http://healthysystem.blogspot.com/2007/11/200-gos-gnulinux-photo-review.html (http://healthysystem.blogspot.com/2007/11/200-gos-gnulinux-photo-review.html)

well no go on using a usb dvd drive and usb hard drive.. failsafe settings didn't work either.
I'm going to try installing xubuntu and kubuntu alternate in text mode and see what happens also have yet to try using sata harddisk

Strange, I haven't had any problems with the mobo from the Wal-Mart PC.... Ubuntu installs and runs fine...

Don't kill me for saying this, bu I was just wondering if a KDE installation on gOS (gOS is a distro based on Ubuntu) would be enough for LinuxMCE installation instead of installing Kubuntu from scratch.

QuoteI've since installed the KDE based kubuntu-desktop (sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop) just to see how it works - works great

That quote was about kubuntu-desktop installation on gOS from http://healthysystem.blogspot.com/2007/11/200-gos-gnulinux-photo-review.html

This is Everex Forum for gPC: http://www.everexforum.com/forum/index.php?a=forum&f=40 (http://www.everexforum.com/forum/index.php?a=forum&f=40) just for you to know

Quote from: jvizueta on December 14, 2007, 05:39:02 PM
Don't kill me for saying this, bu I was just wondering if a KDE installation on gOS (gOS is a distro based on Ubuntu) would be enough for LinuxMCE installation instead of installing Kubuntu from scratch.

QuoteI've since installed the KDE based kubuntu-desktop (sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop) just to see how it works - works great

That quote was about kubuntu-desktop installation on gOS from http://healthysystem.blogspot.com/2007/11/200-gos-gnulinux-photo-review.html

no, you'll have dependency problems.

-Thom

so I finally found my issue... the very last thing I tried... seems my working dvd drive was the culprit. It works fine in other pcs but for some reason it is giving faulty data to the via chipset.. I swapped it out with a nec 3500a now the kernel panics I was getting in the alternate cd installs are gone.

doing my 13th install atempt of kubuntu :)

From my research this is info I think may be useful for the topic:

Quote from: totallymaxed on August 25, 2007, 12:29:28 PM
we are testing a number of fanless Via based clients using the C7/CN700 or CX700M chipsets at 1Ghz to 1.5Ghz. We just add a stick of memory, and optical drive if needed and thats it. Out of the box currently Kubuntu 7.04 and lmce-0704 do not have the Via driver support so you would need to build the Unichrome or Openchrome drivers to get the best graphics performance. These are low cost, energy efficient (as low as 9W) motherboards with excellent graphics.

Quote from: DeadPenguin on December 17, 2007, 02:56:52 AM
I just got this back from VIA.

Dear Blair,

The source code to the CX700M/2 drivers for Linux can be downloaded here:
http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=420&OSID=25&CatID=2580&SubCatID=184 (http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=420&OSID=25&CatID=2580&SubCatID=184)

Those are useful with the CN700 UniChrome Pro integrated graphics too (that's wath says in the page).

From the linuxMCE Wiki I got the info below: (http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/Convergenthome#Model:_MM400)

Quote

Convergent Home Technologies - LinuxMCE Systems ... Model: MM400 The MM400 is a totally fanless, silent design that is compact enough to be located almost anywhere. Its discreet black finish, range of features and affordable price make it a very popular choice for many of our customers. Price £225.00 (Excluding 17.5% VAT & Shipping)     * Includes Installer CD with Via Unichrome Pro Video drivers for LinuxMCE-0704 / LinuxMCE-0710 Features     * Software: LinuxMCE 0704 or 0710     * User Interface: UI1     * Processor: Via C7 1Ghz Fanless. Low power under 25W     * RAM: 512MB     * Internal Optical drive: None     * Network: 10/100 Ethernet     * Video: Embedded Via CN700 - External via VGA port ; 85Hz Refresh Rate:1600x1200 pixels, up to 32bit Colors     * IO: 1 x keyboard - generic - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style), 1 x mouse - generic - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style), 1 x display / video - VGA - 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15), 1 x serial - RS-232 - 9 pin D-Sub (DB-9), 1 x parallel - IEEE 1284 (EPP/ECP) - 25 pin D-Sub (DB-25), 6 x Hi-Speed USB - 4 PIN USB Type A ( 2 in front ), 1 x network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - RJ-45, 2 x audio - line-out - mini-phone 3.5mm ( 1 in front ), 1 x audio - line-In - mini-phone 3.5mm, 2 x microphone - input - mini-phone 3.5mm ( 1 in front )     * Power: External 65W power supply     * Dimensions: 234 (h) x 64 (w) x 213 (d) (all dimensions in mm)     * Weight: 1300g Product Details The MM400's compact, low energy fanless design coupled with its affordable price make it perfect for many situations where cost or low-noise solutions are essential. While not as sleek or stylish as some other Media Directors in our range the MM400 is still compact and discreet and due to its silent operation can be located in locations like bedrooms where its silent operation is ideal.

(http://wiki.linuxmce.com/images/thumb/1/1c/Convergent-mm400-front.jpg/180px-Convergent-mm400-front.jpg)

This system kind of looks like gPC, and it says its video drivers are for LinuxMCE-0704 / LinuxMCE-0710

Quote from: jvizueta on December 18, 2007, 09:33:09 PM
From my research this is info I think may be useful for the topic:

Quote from: totallymaxed on August 25, 2007, 12:29:28 PM
we are testing a number of fanless Via based clients using the C7/CN700 or CX700M chipsets at 1Ghz to 1.5Ghz. We just add a stick of memory, and optical drive if needed and thats it. Out of the box currently Kubuntu 7.04 and lmce-0704 do not have the Via driver support so you would need to build the Unichrome or Openchrome drivers to get the best graphics performance. These are low cost, energy efficient (as low as 9W) motherboards with excellent graphics.

Quote from: DeadPenguin on December 17, 2007, 02:56:52 AM
I just got this back from VIA.

Dear Blair,

The source code to the CX700M/2 drivers for Linux can be downloaded here:
http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=420&OSID=25&CatID=2580&SubCatID=184 (http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=420&OSID=25&CatID=2580&SubCatID=184)

Those are useful with the CN700 UniChrome Pro integrated graphics too (that's wath says in the page).

From the linuxMCE Wiki I got the info below: (http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/Convergenthome#Model:_MM400)

Quote

Convergent Home Technologies - LinuxMCE Systems ... Model: MM400 The MM400 is a totally fanless, silent design that is compact enough to be located almost anywhere. Its discreet black finish, range of features and affordable price make it a very popular choice for many of our customers. Price £225.00 (Excluding 17.5% VAT & Shipping)     * Includes Installer CD with Via Unichrome Pro Video drivers for LinuxMCE-0704 / LinuxMCE-0710 Features     * Software: LinuxMCE 0704 or 0710     * User Interface: UI1     * Processor: Via C7 1Ghz Fanless. Low power under 25W     * RAM: 512MB     * Internal Optical drive: None     * Network: 10/100 Ethernet     * Video: Embedded Via CN700 - External via VGA port ; 85Hz Refresh Rate:1600x1200 pixels, up to 32bit Colors     * IO: 1 x keyboard - generic - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style), 1 x mouse - generic - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style), 1 x display / video - VGA - 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15), 1 x serial - RS-232 - 9 pin D-Sub (DB-9), 1 x parallel - IEEE 1284 (EPP/ECP) - 25 pin D-Sub (DB-25), 6 x Hi-Speed USB - 4 PIN USB Type A ( 2 in front ), 1 x network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - RJ-45, 2 x audio - line-out - mini-phone 3.5mm ( 1 in front ), 1 x audio - line-In - mini-phone 3.5mm, 2 x microphone - input - mini-phone 3.5mm ( 1 in front )     * Power: External 65W power supply     * Dimensions: 234 (h) x 64 (w) x 213 (d) (all dimensions in mm)     * Weight: 1300g Product Details The MM400's compact, low energy fanless design coupled with its affordable price make it perfect for many situations where cost or low-noise solutions are essential. While not as sleek or stylish as some other Media Directors in our range the MM400 is still compact and discreet and due to its silent operation can be located in locations like bedrooms where its silent operation is ideal.

(http://wiki.linuxmce.com/images/thumb/1/1c/Convergent-mm400-front.jpg/180px-Convergent-mm400-front.jpg)

This system kind of looks like gPC, and it says its video drivers are for LinuxMCE-0704 / LinuxMCE-0710

Hi all,

We have built the standard Via Unichrome Pro drivers using the standard sources available from the Viaarena site (search this forum for my numerous other posts about this and how to build the sources ;-) )

The drivers we have work fine but have the following limitations;

- They currently will only work reliably under lmce-0704
- They will only support lmce-0704 & UI1
- They do not support UI2 + Overlay or UI2 + Alpha Blending

The drivers however do work under lmce-0704 and will run the KDE desktop and all other standard features - unlike Fiire's drivers which do not currently.

Thanks a lot totallymaxed, those comments did clear up my way indeed

Quote from: totallymaxed on December 19, 2007, 02:17:03 AM
We have built the standard Via Unichrome Pro drivers using the standard sources available from the Viaarena site (search this forum for my numerous other posts about this and how to build the sources ;-) )

This is the post totallymaxed is talking about: Adding the Via Unichrome Pro drivers (http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=2519.msg11991#msg11991)

Another important thread about the topic: Via Integraded Unichrome Pro Graphics pc-1 2500 anyone tried? (http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=3269.0)

just an update. I had a bad pc2500e board. It is on its way back for an exchange.

With the small Via stuff there are big differences in the capabilities of the chipset. The Fiire uses the CX700M which support the video acceleration. The other one may have a CN700 which has different features. And it doesn't come with CE connectors (RCA connections for audio and component video) making it much less of a living room product. The Via CX700M is their most expensive MB. Usually lists for over $350.

My first post, and I'm a real newbie, both to Linux and LMCE. I bought one of the PC2500 boards and have installed Kubuntu 0704 in a dual boot with windows XP. It seemed OK with 0704 until I tried to install a better driver than VESA. I tried the GUI install and installed openchrome, which it suggested. The next boot ended up dumping me into the command line, and I don't know enough to do anything from there. I think my next move is to just reinstall 0704 and then try the via driver, if I can figure out how to do it. This is my first try at Linux, and so far it hurts, but I'll get it! The good news here is that the board takes an 0704 install and seems to work.

Would someone mind summarizing what's been said so far? Does the gPC chipset work? I was thinking about picking it up at ClubIT for $60:
http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=CA4842001
But obviously if it won't work then I won't get it.

Now Im confused,
So what I have gathered from this thread is that you can not get UI2 overlay or Alpha blending using the Unichrome Pro drivers, and if you use the nVidia, you get the UI2 overlaying and the Alpha Blending, but you then have a problem with video tearing...  ???? 

So, what driver are we suppose to use to get LMCE to work correctly, as is shows in the "promotional" video??? 

Being new to the forum, I have to admit that Im getting a little nervous about designing my new total home theater, security, light system around LMCE.  I have based my choice for LMCE over Microsofts Media because of what I saw in the video that details the "features" of LMCE.  It seems the more I do my research, the farther I get from the idea that is promoted in the video that this software will work just like they say it will  right "out of the box". 

Have I gotten the wrong impression or mis-interpret what has been said in this thread??? 

Junior
jhill1023@gmail.com

I very rarely notice the tearing, and it only affects small bits... If you use the Masking version of UI2, then the problem completely goes away.. This has to do with the fact that the NVIDIA drivers in LinuxMCE are not synchronising to the vertical blank.

If you wish, use the masking version of the UI, to completely get rid of the anomaly, or see how it views from your perspective using UI2 with Blending.

I think you may be a little too worried over a small known anomaly.

-Thom

So, I found some other Unichrome Pro drivers available at http://www.openchrome.org (http://www.openchrome.org), they include CN700 (VIA PC2500 chipset) among their supported chipsets
I would like to know if anybody has heard of those before, and how good are they compared to Viaarena's drivers (http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=420&OSID=25&CatID=2580&SubCatID=184), I'm talking about LinuxMCE here, I would really appreciate your opinion

Thank you  :)

Quote from: jvizueta on January 05, 2008, 05:39:36 PM
So, I found some other Unichrome Pro drivers available at http://www.openchrome.org (http://www.openchrome.org), they include CN700 (VIA PC2500 chipset) among their supported chipsets
I would like to know if anybody has heard of those before, and how good are they compared to Viaarena's drivers (http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=420&OSID=25&CatID=2580&SubCatID=184), I'm talking about LinuxMCE here, I would really appreciate your opinion

Thank you  :)

Don't expect anything beyond UI1.