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Good Morning

I'm planning on building a couple of MDs with the following components:

• M350 enclosure with PicoPSU-80 $69
• ASRock Atom 330 $125
• 2GB Kingston memory $24
• External slot-loading dvd drive (for movies) $46

One tv will be controlled by USBUIRT, the other with a USB-serial cable (feels a bit strange not putting in a hdd).  Have I overlooked/forgotten anything?

Thanks
Bryce

Good Morning

I'm getting ready to hook up the bedroom tv with a MD.  The tv is an LCD with all cables hidden in the wall.  SWMBO would like to occasionally watch DVDs on this tv.  For aesthetics, this DVD player needs to be either part of the mini-itx case or a small USB slot-load dvd player that will also hide behind the tv.  I would mount either solution such that the DVDs would be loaded towards one side of the tv.  So my questions: 

• Does anybody have a mini-itx build the includes a slot-load DVD player that works with lmce? or
• Does anybody have an external USB slot-load DVD drive that works with lmce?

I don't have a preference, other than price.  I'd like to get the whole shebang setup for less than $400 ($300 would be awesome), and I'm fine with building my own system.  Just looking for component help.

Thanks
Bryce

Good Morning

I've been looking over my components' documentation, and I can't figure out if I need the 56kHz add-on for the USB-UIRT.  Are there any guidelines (ie: you need it if you're in the UK, or if you're trying to control a cable box, or if you have a Samsung anything.)?  Or is it just a matter of some things need it, some don't, so the cautious person buys it with the upgrade rather than buy it without and risk having to upgrade?

Lil' help?
Bryce

Good Morning

I got a bead on a VistaICM.  I thought this was fully working, but looking back through the documentation on this, the wiki says:

When the panel is set to Armed - Stay the VistaICM does not send zone trigger information.

Does anybody know if this bug has been fixed yet?

Thanks
Bryce

Has anybody used an emitter splitter with 2 dual emitters to get 4 components hooked up to one USB-UIRT?  I'm curious if it works okay, or if some sort of amplification will be needed.

Bryce

I'm looking for alternatives since the VistaICM is no longer available.  I was updating the wiki pages to reflect that the VistaICM is discontinued and I stumbled across the only non-Honeywell alarm panel wiki-page, the GE NX-8E.  The fact that it's in our wiki tells me somebody tried it at some point.  I'm curious if anybody has it working.  I'm a little troubled by the line: "--still trying to get the alarm panel to work so if anyone has LinuxMCE configuration help, please include it here.-- "  But from the history, it looks like it's an edit from the Pluto days.

brake16

Something else to wish for, since the Crunchpad is such a disappointment ($500 and it's still not shipping?  what the...).

http://www.pcworld.com/article/185764/an_affordable_199_tablet_for_everyone_and_its_not_from_apple.html

Still at the concept stage, and no producer, but intriguing (BT and wifi).  And you gotta love the $200 price point.

b

Good Morning

It looks like it's been a while since this question was asked, and I'm in the market, so I'm asking if there's any updates/experiences in the last year(ish):  Does anybody (US-based) have recomendation for/against Vonage, ITP, ViaTalk, and/or Broadvoice?  They all look pretty good to me, so I'm curious what anybody's experience is integrating any of these into lmce.

Thanks
Bryce

Good Morning

I've been trying for the past couple of weeks to fix the overscan on my KDE destktop (Orbiter displays fine).  I'm out of ideas, and I could use some help.

My 1080p Samsung DLP TV is connected by HDMI to the hybrid.  Orbiter displays nicely.  KDE desktop is overscanned by a couple percent on all sides, top & bottom: on the bottom, I can't see about half of the panel.  I've customized the modeline ad nauseum to no avail.  Here are some of the websites I've looked at
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7732.0
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1003099&page=2
http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/Display_Drivers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modeline
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Working_with_Modelines
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Modeline_Database
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Configuring_TV_output

I've tried various EDID settings, with no effect.

I've tried countless different "customized" modeline settings using calculators, the MythTV Modeline Database, and Google + Samsung + Modeline.  When I tried making my own tweaked modeline using the instructions found here (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1003099&page=2), I was able to change the size of the screen, but not the position.  Some background numbers:

148.5 1920 2008 2052 2200 1080 1084 1089 1125 (This is my default 1080p setting, slightly overscanned on all screen edges).
148.5 1800 2008 2052 2200 980 1084 1089 1125 (This makes the display region smaller, so that I can see the right & bottom edges of the generated display...ie: the mouse pointer stops moving at the black edge on the right & bottom)
148.5 1800 1887 1931 2200 980 1084 1089 1125 (This should have moved the "screen edges" to the right, but nothing changed(?!?).  Very confusing).
148.5 1800 1886 1930 2200 980 1084 1089 1125 (This gives an unusable display)

Also, using or excluding +/-hsync or +/-vsync made no difference to the result (yes, I tried all the iterations on several of the modelines.  I even tried using HSync & VSync, since there's a disparity on some of the MythTV pages about capitalization).

My PS3 displays 1080p content on the TV without problem, so the issue should be in the hybrid somewhere.

I'm running 7.10 on the hybrid.

Any help?  My head's starting to hurt from this wall it keeps banging on.

Bryce

Good Morning

I'm curious if the following would work:

I currently have an 80GB SATA hard drive in the hybrid for the LMCE system.  I'm going to add more hard drives for media.  I'd like to eventually setup a RAID 5 using multiple 1.5 TB disks.  To spread out the cost and to minimize the chance for a 2-drive RAID5 failure (due to similar aged drives), I'd like to purchase and install the drives about 4-6 months apart.  I'm aware that I'll be running "at risk" the first 4-6 months with only 1 drive, but that's also the least likely age-related-failure window.

So, I know I can put in the first drive and LMCE will use it just fine.  When I add the second drive (4-6 months later) is it possible to then setup both drives as RAID1 without data loss on the first?  Then again, when I add the third drive, is it possible to setup all 3 drives as RAID5 without data loss?

Please note, I'm aware of the risk of messing with drive structure when you want to preserve data.  Again, I am aware the I could lose my data during the upgrades.  But before I start down this road, I'd like to know if it can work.

I've found that it is possible to expand the RAID5 after it's setup (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Grow_Raid, and http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4377.0).  Is it possible to grown into a RAID5?

Thanks
Bryce

Good Morning

Well, I was just reading the wiki entry for Outside Access (http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/Outside_Access), and it mentioned that setting up an SSL certificate would be costly and complicated.  So I Googled "buy SSL secure certificate", and found that GoDaddy.com offers several different SSL certificates, starting at $12.99 (http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/compare/gdcompare_ssl.asp?isc=sslqgo008b)  So my questions:

• Would the $12.99 certificate be sufficient, or what kind of certificate is needed?
• How would it be complicated?
• Does anybody have this sort of setup?  Would you be willing to explain what you did?

Bryce

Pardon my ignorance, but I haven't seen a slingbox or squeezebox in action.  From what I've read it makes your audio/video available throughout your network.  But doesn't lmce already do that?  What's the use/benefit for adding the sling/squeeze to lmce?   

Thanks
Bryce

Good Morning

Just a tip for newbs setting things up and/or paranoids who worry that a Core problem will cause loss of internet.

Put a second wireless access point in front of the core (outside of the lmce network).  Then set all the household computers (you know, the one your wife surfs on?) to use this as the backup/2nd choice for internet connection.  Voila.  If your core drops out because you've made some silly change, the rest of the house still has internet.  And you get to test out your lmce network without worry.

Bryce

BTW, for those of you who enjoy Freudian slips, I accidentally typed "Tip: Redundant Wife = WAF" in the Subject line.  Almost posted it that way, too.  I'm thinking that would be a "no".

Good Morning

Well, silly me.   I have 2 old hard drives waiting to be used, and my choice of an old CD-ROM drive or a DVD-RW drive.  Unfortunately, none of them have SATA connectors, which seem to be required by the ECS mobo I was considering (according to the wiki).  As a second choice, the ASUS M3A78-EM mobo is well documented here (thanks to Sethj), requiring only a separate nVidia card to achieve UI2 with alpha.  I know the ASUS board has a single IDE connection, so my question for the masses is this:

Does anybody know if the ASUS board will function with IDE-connected hdd & optical drive?

To my way of thinking, I'd rather get the ASUS board and have to pick up a video card, than get the ECS board and have to pick up a SATA hard drive & a SATA optical drive.

Thanks
brake16

Good Morning

I'm looking at getting this mobo for my hybrid/core:
ECS GF8200A (V1.0) ATX AMD Motherboard
NewEgg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813135085
LinuxMCE hardware wiki: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/ECS_GF8200A

For now, I plan on playing around with it without using the HDMI jack.  I'll just keep my fingers crossed that that will have support when 8.10 comes out.  I'm sure I'll be configuring at least until then!  I have a few video performance questions:

• The hardware wiki profile for this mobo recommends at least 2 GB of RAM if using the onboard video card.  I don't have any problem doing that, and I'd go to 4 GB in a heartbeat if I thought that would give me smooth UI2.  Would I be better off loading up RAM or buying a separate video card?  Assume for now that fan noise is not an issue.
• I'm assuming for now that Nvidia's hybrid SLI setup is a no-go in any linux distro.  Any experience or knowledge either way? (Hybrid SLI: http://www.nvidia.com/object/hybrid_sli.html)  If this is an option, I'd be more than willing to try out something like this: Galaxy GeForce 8400 GS 84GEE6HDFEXN Video Card (Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16814162026) or any recommendations.

Here's the rest of my intended setup (open for comment/criticism/random smackdown):

• AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200 2.7GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor
• 2 to 4 (or 8?) GB of 1066 RAM
• Intel PWLA8391GT 10/ 100/ 1000Mbps PCI PRO/1000 GT Desktop Adapter - OEM
• I have an 80GB hdd and a 250 GB hdd lying around to throw in.  I'll probably start with the 80 and use the 250 to "start" a NAS down the road.
• I have a Sony DVD-RW also lying around.  I'll have to double-check the model#.

Any thoughts?  I appreciate the experiences here (I've been lurking for about 16 months), and I'm looking forward to contributing my (successful?) setup someday.

Thanks
brake16

Good Morning

I've been looking to put a Core together for a while now.  I'm finally getting serious enough to look into nitty-gritty mobo details.  I've tried the suggestion of narrowing mobo's down to desired features, NVidia chips, and supported audio/LAN chips.  I kept coming up dry against the HDMI feature.  Everytime I found a mobo I thought would work, one of two things would happen:
  1. Someone on the forums would post an unresolved "HDMI audio doesn't work" or
  2. Someone (on the forums, or in the Hardware wiki) would state: mobo works, but I didn't test HDMI audio since I don't use it.

Next, I went to the Mainboards wiki and clicked on each listed mobo, one by one.  I couldn't find one that definitively stated that audio through HDMI is a working feature with 710.  So, long story short:

Does HDMI audio work in lmce 710?

Thanks
brake16