Hello KM community,

My father has asked me to help build him a new KnoppMyth machine. He previously had one based on an old beige box system that I threw together and dropped a PVR 250 in.

The challenge is that he lives open air in a tropical climate, so its high humidity and some salt in the air. In short, it eats components. The second challenge is that getting to the island requires a short flight in a very small aircraft (six seater) or a ride on an old ferry, so he needs the system to be relatively small so he can carry it with him.

I'm hoping the community can make recommendations on components to help build a small form factor system, at a reasonable cost.

His big requirement is that he wants dual tuners and a reasonable (300GB or more) of disk space. I realize this is a bit of a challenge in the small form factor cases without using the dual tuner card (he needs a remote, so I think two X 150s would be better than 1 x 500?).

Suggestions for a barebones system, and what to put it in would be greatly welcome. Is the Nvidia 6150 onboard TVout well supported now?
How much RAM and processor do I need these days to run the latest release well?

Thanks in advance,

-Jeff

My initial thoughts are...why not an old laptop with the USB tv tuners, a big Hard drive (perhaps even an external) for the /myth partition.

I am using HP 530 SFF (small form factor) machines for several installations. I have one with dual HD tuners and a half height nVidia 5200 connected to an HD panel. The only problem that I have is heat so I modified the case slightly and added a fan (actually removed the floppy drive to make room - works fine). These machines are small and well built - puts up with a lot of abuse. The power supply is good and plenty to run what you need.

With respect to the climate - there is very little you can do to protect the machine from the elements if you are around salt air. The good news is that these machines are cheap on the used market (less than $200) so buy an extra...

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nbdwt73

Hi,

I have put a couple of Compaq Evo (older & used) SFF together and think it might be something in tune with your needs. There isn't much for information for model number however one was a 1.7ghz and the other was a 2.2ghz.

It also has a built in speaker but the best part is it will take two normal sized cards (pvr-350 - 500?) I paid $100 each plus memory to bring it to 512.. Came with a 20gig drive which allows me to record a couple of shows and still have room for tunes

As for sea air, put it in a box that can be closed when not in use should help extend its life a little. While it is running it will be warm and should stay dry. The slower cpu's will take more heat than one might think. I have a machine in a "hostille" environment and it keeps working even in 118f enclosure.

Mike

Salt water is hard to protect against. A military-spec ruggedized laptop is the best way. Next would be a fanless machine (Mini-ITX in a heat-pipe and external heatsink) with all the seams, and the cables, sealed in with a silastic sealant. But those are all very expensive.

Cheapest would be to build a few of something simple, and spray everything except the fans with a waterproof lacquer. This will hold off corrosion (spray the underneath of the motherboard before you install it in the case).

http://buy.maplin.co.uk/Free_UK_Deliver ... 345_v2.htm

(sorry, I couldn't find a USA link)

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| Nigel Pearson, nigel.pearson.au@gmail.com
| "Things you own end up owning you" - Tyler, Fight Club

Hi,
nigelpearson is very correct about Salt water is hard to protect against. I just offered what I though might be a satisfactory system and a basic way to protect it a little. Assuming (always a troubled path) that being on an island that is rather isolated based on the description for access, the useage would be quite limited and probably generator power for x number of hours per day.

And then there would be the issue of the monitor / tv display. It's exposure to the elements would be even more difficult to protect against, maybe a big "Glad" bag?

If one were to build a Mini ITX, then a maybe a solor package could be assembled to enable battery operation for a couple hours per day. I haven't had much success with the EPIA working well with my tuner cards but others may have had better mileage.

Maybe the laptop path would be the most practical however without knowledge of viewing plans, number of people viewing, power available, and other general information, it is impossible to be more specific for suggestions.

It does make for a topic with potential for some interesting discussion. I do hope jac1d shares his final results

Mike

Good suggestion. I have used Compaq SFF machines before. Cheap and reliable. Keeping a spare SFF in a plastic bag, with some dessicant, should just mean a quick hard-disk swap to get going again.

I hadn't thought about the machine only being on a few hours a day. Less salty air being blown through the PC will definitely help.

The problem with any circuitry in salty air is that the solder connectors on the motherboard and cards corrode fast. That means salt bridges between the tiny pins on some of the chips. You open the PC a few times and brush/blow those off, but eventually it gets damaged.