LinuxMCE on Wal-mart's $200 gPC, is it possible??? it really is affordable

[blackoper]

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

[blackoper]

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

[tkmedia]

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

Are we talking about the same boards here ??

complete 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.

[Matthew]

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

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

[blackoper]

created wiki entry please edit as you work on it:
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.

[Matthew]

I found the V21G V1.0C mobo sold by a variety of vendors starting at $60, but the first with a quality rating (60%) was at $67.80, 90% rating at $75.94.

[jvizueta]

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   

Thanks a lot in advance

[tkmedia]

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

After 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/

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.

[jvizueta]

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

(http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7754614 VS http://fiire.com/fiire-station.php)

This might seem to some of you like comparing apples with pears but well, here it goes anyway

Processor: Via 1.5 Ghz RAM: 512 MB Audio: VIA Vinyl Audio 6-channel AC’97 surround sound Video: VIA UniChrome Pro IGP graphics core integrates a 128-bit graphics engine, hardware MPEG-2 decode acceleration and an AGP8X interface. Network: 10/100 Mbps Ethernet USB connectors: 2 DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive 80 GB hard disk drive	Processor: Via 1.5 Ghz RAM: 512MB Audio: Via Vinyl 6 channel audio.  SPDIF coas and tos-link for digital audio Video: Via UniChrome Pro II PC graphics plus hardware-accelerated alpha blended open gl and MPEG 2 decoder using licensed drivers and codecs Network: Gigabit Ethernet USB connectors: 4

Please, if you see I'm missing something feel free to say so

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
gPC:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7754614
http://www.via.com.tw/en/initiatives/empowered/pc2500_platform/index.jsp

[Matthew]

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.

[Hagen]

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

[jvizueta]

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 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  )

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

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

[Hagen]

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

[blackoper]

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?

[blackoper]

$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.