Fiire Invisible Replacement

[qkerby]

Since Fiire is no longer in business, what are some good alternatives that replace the Fiire Invisible?

I'm trying to break into the Linux MCE scene with as little effort as possible (expecting to run into roadblocks but need a good starting point).  In order to get hooked, I need to find a tiny form factor box that can fit behind a LCD TV that can serve a HDMI connection.  Once I am able to piece that together I can build a decent Core.  Oh, and I'm in the U.S. in case that makes a difference to those of you across the pond.

WiFi is not necessary, and no HDD or optical drive is needed; just need the ability to get a decent NVidia card with HDMI or DVI output and have some sort of network connectivity to connect to a Linux MCE Core.

If the Acer AspireRevo ever comes out, would it make a good candidate or is it a POS?

I plan to write a blog about my journey in order to help others along.  This site is informative, but daunting to the neophyte.

[alx9r]

Welcome,
I'm using the eee box b202.  You can read my experience here:
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7805.msg50797#msg50797

Regards,

Alex

[totallymaxed]

Since Fiire is no longer in business, what are some good alternatives that replace the Fiire Invisible?

I'm trying to break into the Linux MCE scene with as little effort as possible (expecting to run into roadblocks but need a good starting point).  In order to get hooked, I need to find a tiny form factor box that can fit behind a LCD TV that can serve a HDMI connection.  Once I am able to piece that together I can build a decent Core.  Oh, and I'm in the U.S. in case that makes a difference to those of you across the pond.

WiFi is not necessary, and no HDD or optical drive is needed; just need the ability to get a decent NVidia card with HDMI or DVI output and have some sort of network connectivity to connect to a Linux MCE Core.

If the Acer AspireRevo ever comes out, would it make a good candidate or is it a POS?

I plan to write a blog about my journey in order to help others along.  This site is informative, but daunting to the neophyte.

ACER Revo ships here on the 18 May... and we should have a unit here on test next week...

Andrew

[Dale_K]

Anybody have any news on the release of the eee B206?

Last I heard it was to be somewhere around April/May.

[totallymaxed]

Anybody have any news on the release of the eee B206?

Last I heard it was to be somewhere around April/May.

The B206 is available now in the UK

Andrew

[tricky_dicky]

Is it worth the cost difference between the B202 and B206?

Regards

Richard

[totallymaxed]

Is it worth the cost difference between the B202 and B206?

Regards

Richard

Well on paper it is...but on the other hand the ATI GPU is still a bit 'bleading edge' so you might want to take that into account when deciding which one to go for.

Andrew

[krys]

Andrew,
did you get your Revo yet?
-Krys

[extremeshannon]

Hello qkerby I have been doing some research on this since I wanted to buy a fire system myself. there are lots of good alternatives but if you want the fiire invisble the company that makes the hardware is Polywell. They do see all the hardware you might be looking for her is the link to the invisible.

http://www.polywell.com/us/oem/ThinSlimCX700M1.asp

They also sell the Fiire engine that I am buying form them this month myself. I plan on using EEE b202 for my first MD.

Cheers

[totallymaxed]

Andrew,
did you get your Revo yet?
-Krys

Hmmm... no we didn't :-(

I'll post here as soon as we do though with some early reactions & info ;-)

Andrew

[Pnuts]

Hello qkerby I have been doing some research on this since I wanted to buy a fire system myself. there are lots of good alternatives but if you want the fiire invisble the company that makes the hardware is Polywell. They do see all the hardware you might be looking for her is the link to the invisible.

http://www.polywell.com/us/oem/ThinSlimCX700M1.asp

They also sell the Fiire engine that I am buying form them this month myself. I plan on using EEE b202 for my first MD.

Cheers

nice find, i only wish it didnt retail for $899

[purps]

Hello qkerby I have been doing some research on this since I wanted to buy a fire system myself. there are lots of good alternatives but if you want the fiire invisble the company that makes the hardware is Polywell. They do see all the hardware you might be looking for her is the link to the invisible.

http://www.polywell.com/us/oem/ThinSlimCX700M1.asp

They also sell the Fiire engine that I am buying form them this month myself. I plan on using EEE b202 for my first MD.

Cheers

nice find, i only wish it didnt retail for $899

That is a lot of money........ especially for something that overheats all the time. Might be ok if it was sat in the middle of a field, but the whole point of this thing is that it is meant to fit behind your screen (where it will get a bit warm).

I also understand that the VIA graphics are a pain.

[purps]

Andrew,
did you get your Revo yet?
-Krys

Hmmm... no we didn't :-(

I'll post here as soon as we do though with some early reactions & info ;-)

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

Did the Revo arrive in the end?

[totallymaxed]

Andrew,
did you get your Revo yet?
-Krys

Hmmm... no we didn't :-(

I'll post here as soon as we do though with some early reactions & info ;-)

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

Did the Revo arrive in the end?

Hi Krys,

Yes we have several on test now....and with updated drivers they work great I am pleased to announce.

We have updated the nVidia & alsa packages;

- alsa-modules-1.0.20
- nvidia-glx_1.0.9639 (ie 180.51)

We have also updated/extended the avWizard to allow you to choose more output connectors (ie HDMI-2 as in the revo) and also to allow you choose to route the audio (PCM, 5.1 surround, DTS) over the HDMI connector if you wish to. These updated packages will all be in the 0810 trunk in the svn shortly...I hope next week...so will then be available in subsequent builds.

So far the Revo has performed really nicely. It has some minor limitations such as no S/PDIF out but now we have enabled HDMI Audio this really is not an issue. It has very simple and easy to fit VESA mounting bracket so that it can be mounted either directly onto the back of your TV screen or onto the wall behind your TV. The physical shape of Revo is well thought through for when its rear mounted - the power on/off button points upwards, making it easy to get to and all the USB/HDMI/VGA/eSata/Memory Card connectors are easily reached too (this is much better than on the Eee Box as they are more spaced out). The Revo has a very quiet fan that is barely audible even in a quiet bedroom (in non scientific tests I would say its as quiet as the ASUS Eee Box). We are testing the 2gb RAM/160gb model but there is also a 1gb RAM/8gb SSD model that comes with Ubuntu on the SSD and no Vista license...this looks to be the perfect model for LinuxMCE (you might need to add more RAM for 1080P though).

The above driver changes should also benefit other nVidia based motherboards & graphics cards (we have tested the HDMI audio on an ASUS P5N7A-VM http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/ASUS_P5N7A-VM )

All the best

Andrew

[Viking]

Yes we have several on test now....and with updated drivers they work great I am pleased to announce.

We have updated the nVidia & alsa packages;

- alsa-modules-1.0.20
- nvidia-glx_1.0.9639 (ie 180.51)

Have you done your testing on 0710 or on the alpha 0810 ?
If 0810, will they also run on 0710 ?

I am thinking about dropping my Gigabyte mainboard as it does not work satisfactory and I would like to buy something that is working out of the box or maybe with small changes like adding the network driver, upgrading ALSA and the Nvidia driver and then it's that No stuttering and such things.

Have you got instructions for setting up the Audio over HDMI on 0710 ?

Greetings
Viking