[mythtvnz] Hardware recommendations for new front end?

[Tortise]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Phillip B
To: MythTV in NZ
Sent: Sunday, April 18, 2010 3:26 PM
Subject: [mythtvnz] Hardware recommendations for new front end?


>Am just about to embark on building my first front end, and would really appreciate any advice on hardware components and config??

>Based on some previous posts it looks like I should be considering a Zotac ION ITX A Series 330(?), with 2GB of DDR2 800MHz.  Is 
>2GB enough?

2 G is likely to be more than ample, 1G is sufficient, however some additional consideration ensuring the Graphic chip has 512M may 
also be relevant.  (Others may comment here also as I do not have a ION board.)

> Would prefer not to have any hard drive so I've either got to boot from a USB stick or over the network.  Any comments on which is 
> easier?  My googling suggests booting over the network requires reconfiguring DHCP which sounds a bit painful, so as I want to 
> keep this as simple as possible I'm thinking a USB drive might be simpler way to go.

My understanding is that some CF cards are significantly faster than most USB drives.  In my view the current FE HDD sweet spot is 
the 8GB 133x CF cards, I have three performing well here now.  They may crash at some point, which I await with interest.  By the 
time they do I expect SSD prices and speeds will be much sweeter also!  You'd need to confirm the interconnection though, I use IDE, 
however IDE may not be present for you, in which case seeking a fast 8G USB drive (or SATA / CF interface card - see trademe) might 
be best for you.