Addendum to my last post, after reading a couple of other things. And remembering about TV-in as well as out.
XBox as TV box would pose problems, unless you can get a USB capture card. The VIA boards only have one PCI slot, but support two cards. A 1-2 PCI riser card is available for an extra $25 or so. This wont fit in the slimline case _I_think_ as it has a 1-1 riser card anyway. Getting a case that this fits would be the trickiest thing. I've lost the address of the place that makes the cases used with the FIC Falcon. A google for CK-1010 should turn up something if you're dedicated though (case model number) Procase will sell the PSU on its own if you're looking to build your own case, (read: hide it inside a box of weetbix.) or get some other case. So maybe get a version 2 of the FIC Falcon, replace the PSU for the quiet factor, put a tv tuner card or capture card in the pci slot, use the onboard video out and tv out. Should work nicely. On Tue, 2003-08-19 at 12:27, Sascha Beaumont wrote: > Procase (www.procase.co.nz) sell a box with a 12V DC 55W PSU for the > EPIA, EPIA-V or the EPIA-M boards. They're a *slightly* different form > so minor acse layout changes. There is an external 240V adaptor, and > they only take slimline CD/DVD drives. They will sell to the public > direct I beleive, or there are some resellers around NZ. > > This means the best solution IMHO would be an external USB casing that > you can stick a normal cdrom in (why oh why did I only think of this > now!) > > The FIC Falcons are not bad, I've got one myself (100% linux of course), > but the PSU is _NOISY_ (even with the "noise reducer" sticker on the > PSU) - My girlfriends P4 is slightly quieter. I've since moved my falcon > case inside the cupboard of my desk in an attempt to quiet it. I use a > low profile GF2MX PCI video card in my falcon for Video, and TV-Out and > I'm waiting on Dove to get some of the low profile GF4 PCI cards in so I > can upgrade to one of those. The original falcon didnt ship with TVOut > but the new one does (not sure if Dove is stocking it yet though) > > Theres a lot more support for the EPIA boards in the 2.6 kernel, > especially with some of the more fanciful features such as cpu power > saving. > > Although its all nice and good, modding an XBox to run with the linux > bios is definetly a cheaper option if its just for TV/PVR. I dont know > how fast it would be though, if you put in an evolution-x bios then you > can run both XBox Media player (all dvd, cd, vcd, formats), Linux and > XBox games too. > > The other option is a Shuttle PC, an IR remote control is available for > these as well, I havent looked at it but presumably its going to be USB > so could run on any PC not just the shuttle. You've got more flexibility > with these than the VIA solution, but also higher power consumption and > price. > > A quick search on pricespy for EPIA-M gives Ascent and SmartPC Hamilton > the best pricing, depending on your choice of the 1Ghz in PC133 or DDR > you'll pay something like $250-$350. Check www.ascent.co.nz for pricing. > Procase slimline case and PSU will set you back $160-200 depending where > you get it from. Direct from procase is the cheapest. The EPIA-V10000 is > slightly cheaper, and takes PC133 instead of DDR. > > Overall I'd have to say the VIA boards are very nice to use, I've had no > real problems with them at all and we've sold a few Falcons through work > as desktops, and I use a Falcon as my own desktop. The brilliance for me > in them is the portability of a laptop (fits in a backpack) at a much > cheaper price. I cart mine to work, friends places with no problems. > > Video performance of the 933Mhz is acceptable with a GF2 (_just_ > bareable with the onboard video), but the increased cache in the new > Nehemiah core, and the DDR option should speed things up considerably. > And getting the hardware decoder chip to work would be a bonus as well. -- Sascha Beaumont <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
