I'm quite comfortable with Windows but definitely a Linux Newbie. That said, I'm ready to take a shot at building a PVR using KnoppMyth.

I have an old P3 with a GB of processing speed and 250 MB of ram that I'll use for my PC. I just picked up a used Hauppauge PVR-350 Model 990 that plan to use for my tuner.

Perhaps my biggest concern is the physical location of the TV I plan to support. It's about 30 feet from my cable modem and the rest of my hard-wired network. Stringing network wire to a PC on that side of the room simply isn't practical. My hope is to connect a D-Link DI-524 wireless router to an empty slot on my Belkin router (not wireless) in order to connect my P3 PC to the internet wirelessly. I'm hopeful that Knoppix will recognize the wireless USB adapter. There should be no problem hardwiring my tuner.

Will this approach work or am I off base? I would welcome advice before I begin. TIA for your comments.

In theory it should work...

I've not much experience myself but i think you need to research which usb wireless adapter to get quite carefully. Some of them are a pain to get working.

I run a Mythbox on a 1 ghz IBM Netvista ($50 ebay special...)
It's a workhorse and fully capable of SD TV. You might use the TV out from the PVR-350, but a nvidia FX5200 would probably be better & easier to get running.
As for the wireless, D-link DWL810+ es are going for around $20 on ebay for your receiver end.
Bump your RAM up to 512.

I'm assuming you're in the US. If you're going to record analog cable or S-Video output from dish you should be fine. If you're going to record OTA your system won't work in 18 months because all analog will be shut off then, and your system isn't strong enough to handle HD.

Maybe replace the existing router with the wireless router instead of using both. And use a wireless access point that will connect with the existing ethernet port on your computer. I'm reluctant to involve the USB port.



Since you asked for advice....

Honestly, I'd start from scratch with the hardware. Get a proper case like Antec NSK-2400 that looks like an A/V component and is easy to work with. For hardware get (minimum) an Athlon 3000. Many people really like the HyperThreaded Pentium. You can search the forums for motherboard recommendations. For a hard drive get a 250gb minimum. If you're going to keep a lot of recordings get 320 - 500gb. To create a library get a pair of 500gb. Ram get 1gb, better yet 2x512 since it will be DDR. Get a PS/2 wireless remote keyboard with built-in pointer at directron.com.

For OTA recording make sure your tuners receive ATSC. For cable you'll want QAM and/or S-Video inputs. For dish you need s-video input or firewire if you really want to get hacking with HD. So your tuner may be OK.

I recommend a graphics card. I use a PNY brand with NVidia GeForce 6200 chip. It has component out for HD. If your TV has VGA inputs you can spend the money on a faster CPU and maybe come out about the same.

My setup is the above mentioned case, keyboard, and graphics card, Sempron 2800+ overclocked, 250gb disk, 1gb ram, air2pc tuners (OTA ATSC only). It works well but I'd call it the bare minimum for OTA HD recording.

I appreciate the input from everyone above. Thanks for taking the time to share from your experience and expertise. Wish me, good luck...