Considering LinuxMCE

[ayster]

Hi All,

I'm considering re-installing my current Mythdora install as a LinuxMCE system.
Just a question really, the current system runs on a via epia M motherboard, using the inbuilt TV Out.
I read elsewhere on this forum, it seems that LinuxMCE doesn't include Unichrome drivers, I was just wondering if anyone else has attempted installing a hybrid with one of these motherboards and if it works out iof the box or needs some tweaking! 

The system has the EPIA VIA M10000 motherboard with 512MB RAM and a 160GB Hard Drive + DVDRW drive.

cheers,
A

[eloy]

If you're using your MythTV setup in production, i.e. you periodically record programs on it and your family relies on MythTV, then I would recommend that you first try LinuxMCE on a test box. In my opinion LinuxMCE is still rough around the edges and it may take some tweaking to get it to the level of a MythTV setup in terms of stability.

Having said this, I have not tried the MythTV side of LinuxMCE since my two TV capture cards are in my production MythTV box, and I can't touch that box unless I want to awaken the wrath of my family. Read the posts here and see what sort of success people are having with MythTV on LinuxMCE.

[ayster]

Thanks Eloy.

Unfortunatly I don't have a test pc, so its all or nothing!! My wife stands sentry on the front door to ensure I don't bring any more 'electronic friends' through it!

It was really more to see if the via epia was upto the job of being a hybrid core machine, and if the inbuilt unichrome display adapter was good enough, I was reading a few posts that say the unichrome driver isn't included, or the version included is actualy the openchrome driver.. just getting a little confused. I don't want to spend hours installing it only to find it doesn't work as well!

Cheers,
A.

[MarcoZan]

Hi Ayster

in the early Pluto days (the ancestor of LMCE) I started my testing with a VIA EPIA M 10000.
I also tried Mythtv but result were not brilliant, probably because at that time MythTv integration was very rough and unstable.

Then I moved my hybrid on a dedicated box, so my VIA box became (an still is) a regular diskless MD.
I had to tamper a bit to have decent video performances but in the end the result was good using Openchrome drivers.

With LMCE things are a bit different. Openchrome drivers (shipped with Kubuntu) are giving some problems. In my case they are crashing MD when watching divx files, so I had to move to Unichrome Pro drivers (you can easily find in this forum some useful pointers on this matter).

Note that with Unichrome Pro you cannot have UI2, as this interface is only supported by Unichrome Pro II drivers that have been licensed from VIA to Fiire.

As Eloy said, if your family is used to rely on MythTv I guess that killing you working system and reinstalling as LMCE would be a risky option.
I never used Mythdora, but from what I've read i think that in terms of "horse power" requirements LMCE tends to be more demanding that your actual system, and this may negatively impact on performances.

I don't mean to be discouraging, but I think you better find a way to introduce a new "electronic friend" to your wife 

Just my 0.02

Regards
Marco

[ayster]

Thanks for the info Marco.

Regarding Mythdora, the Mrs. doesn't really use it too much, its mainly me, so not too risky, I was just worried the the Via CPU wasn't powerful enough for LMCE. I'll probably give it a go anyway, and if it doesn't work I can always re-install Mythdora (its fairly straight forward!)

You mentioned the Unichrome Pro driver doesn't support UI 2, does the OpenChrome one?

Thanks,
A.

[MarcoZan]

Hi Ayster

the Unichrome Pro II drivers are (so far) the only drivers supporting UI2.

Unfortunately they are not public, so there's no option to have them unless you buy a Fiire hw.

HTH
Marco

[1audio]

The bigger problem with the Via platform is the slow processor. For some things its fine but anything processor intensive (rebuilding orbiters is a good example) its slow. About 5X or more slower than the recommended core. And even more of an issue if you are using multiple MD's, with limited throughput as a server.