Any info on best hardware?

[matouka]

Hi there,

I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing this project progress. One thing that really makes me take a lot of time before I try any Linux Distro or program is Hardware..

With a project such as this is there any chance of a hardware database. Where someone looking to build a system could select say "TV Tuner" and see a list of TV Tuner cards, with them marked if they work out of the box, and also marked if they work with some tweaking (some tweaking tips and instructions would be great too). Same goes for stuff like "Appliance Modules", could have something like X10 and the model number. I think you get my drift. I imagine the db would be straight forward and boy it would raise my confidence levels and simplify moving over.

See I currently have a PVR 150 and this SHOULD, I imagine, work out of the box, but I will have to kill my current MythTV box to find out. Also I'd love to know what automation hardware I can/should buy. Will my Nokia N73 (3rd gen Symbian60) work? Because it currently doesn't on Pluto.

I know this is really in it's infancy, 1 week old, just thought you might like to know the sorts of thing that held me back from installing Pluto before.

Good luck, I would love to help, but I'm pretty much a Linux Novice. 

Kind regards,

Paul Russell

[thynk]

If your PVR 150 is a linux based computer, things should work out of the box.  There are a couple of ways, depending on your comfort level to experiment.  You could pick up another harddrive and swap it out with the one you have and do a fresh install.  You could resize the current drive you have and make it a dual boot system.  Both of them have some risk of data loss if things go bad.

Since I'm new to the pluto and linux mce setup, I can't speak for what automation hardware works best with this system, but by and far the most common and cheapest HA hardware is X10.  You also get what you pay for, the equipment can be flaky and a huge headache to deal with... that being said I have about 50% of my house running on it being controlled by another open project called mister house (http://misterhouse.net).  I know there is some work being done on making the projects work together, it was a link on the misterhouse mailing list that brought me here.  Used X10 equipment can be picked up cheaply on ebay and it has the bonus of being tested - most of the x10 failures I've had have been in the first month of use. 

I hope this helps

Stu

[r_a_s_robin]

Will my Nokia N73 (3rd gen Symbian60) work? Because it currently doesn't on Pluto.

I don't think your N73 will do the job. I tried it myself with my own N73, and the installation file that will be send to your phone (PlutoMO.sis) can't be installed. The N73 says something like "PlutoMO.sis installation not supported". (in dutch on my phone). No symbian s60v3 for now i guess. Maybe a developer or other users can confirm this to make sure i didn't do anything wrong?

[DeadPenguin]

With a project such as this is there any chance of a hardware database. Where someone looking to build a system could select say "TV Tuner" and see a list of TV Tuner cards, with them marked if they work out of the box, and also marked if they work with some tweaking (some tweaking tips and instructions would be great too)

I like the way linuxquestions has their Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) setup. I wish this forum had something similar.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/

It makes it easy to rifle through the hardware I got and see what works out the box and what takes some config. Also good for planning purchases.


Regards,
Blair

[Zaerc]

You mean something like this?: http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/Category:Hardware

Not much there yet though, but it's a start.

[DeadPenguin]

Yeah I have seen the wiki. I am not as big a fan of it. Its not just because its not populated yet. I was just wishing for a www.linuxmce.com/HCL