2007-11-30, 20:01
Ben doing som emore research... I'd pretty much decided on a nice CHEAP Intel based board that had GMA X3000 onboard until I looked more closely at the Wikipedia regarding it's capabilities http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_GMA#Linux
It seems only the LATEST GMA chipset will handle OpenGL 2.0 So back to the drawing board. Still more research and I found that some Myth users are having issues with overscan on the 8x series of cards and that supposedly it wasn't adjustable as it was with the 7x series of cards. From what's been posted here perhaps that has changed but being a neophyte I'm not willing to go too far off the beaten track for an unknown and possibly mythical performance gain. It would seem that a 7x series card is the way to go for me.
Integrated NVIDIA video is interesting but honestly their chipsets always seem to have some weirdo' quirk that bites me in the ass when I'm not looking. I've had this mostly on Windows but the poking around I've done has indicated that yeah they are supported but occasionally you have to "tweak" things. Tweaking is what I'm trying to avoid! Intel stuff seems to be pretty rock solid and while I might be able to do a system cheaper using such a board I'd prefer to just spend the money and skip any potential hassles - an extra $100 or so won't break the bank. Oh and it did seem interestnig to me that so many of the UbuntuMyth guys run AMD CPUs, from what's been posted here and elsewhere I'd think a C2D would be preferred for HD. They do say 3Gig minimum though
Personally I REALLY look forward to when this is more finely tuned and we can just buy a specific hardware setup and install it ala KnoppMyth Until then I'm willing to work with what's available. I realize this is forging into uncharted\unsupported territory but I need something and this project is moving forward faster than I'd imagined with an interface I've come to love, I'm willing to spend some cash and try it.
Oh and as an aside, I and some friends finally managed to get an AppleTV to try and play some HD MKV files. Nope, not enough power on that puppy so I think that's dead as a hardware alternative. <sigh>
It seems only the LATEST GMA chipset will handle OpenGL 2.0 So back to the drawing board. Still more research and I found that some Myth users are having issues with overscan on the 8x series of cards and that supposedly it wasn't adjustable as it was with the 7x series of cards. From what's been posted here perhaps that has changed but being a neophyte I'm not willing to go too far off the beaten track for an unknown and possibly mythical performance gain. It would seem that a 7x series card is the way to go for me.
Integrated NVIDIA video is interesting but honestly their chipsets always seem to have some weirdo' quirk that bites me in the ass when I'm not looking. I've had this mostly on Windows but the poking around I've done has indicated that yeah they are supported but occasionally you have to "tweak" things. Tweaking is what I'm trying to avoid! Intel stuff seems to be pretty rock solid and while I might be able to do a system cheaper using such a board I'd prefer to just spend the money and skip any potential hassles - an extra $100 or so won't break the bank. Oh and it did seem interestnig to me that so many of the UbuntuMyth guys run AMD CPUs, from what's been posted here and elsewhere I'd think a C2D would be preferred for HD. They do say 3Gig minimum though
Personally I REALLY look forward to when this is more finely tuned and we can just buy a specific hardware setup and install it ala KnoppMyth Until then I'm willing to work with what's available. I realize this is forging into uncharted\unsupported territory but I need something and this project is moving forward faster than I'd imagined with an interface I've come to love, I'm willing to spend some cash and try it.
Oh and as an aside, I and some friends finally managed to get an AppleTV to try and play some HD MKV files. Nope, not enough power on that puppy so I think that's dead as a hardware alternative. <sigh>