Something cool to do with this PC (HTPC Here I come - Help?)

Optiplex GX110 with the following specs
[quote4469060bae]1 36XMT PRINTED WIRING ASSY, PLANAR (MOTHERBOARD), GX110, NETWORK INTERFACE CARD/CONTROLLERS, NOSND, OPPLX
1 67DXU PROCESSOR, 80526, 667, 256, 133, FIBER CHANNEL, B0
1 2879T GUIDE, SFTY/REG, GX200, GX300, DELL AMERICAS ORGANIZATION
1 5120P CORD, POWER, 125V, 6FT, SPT2, UNSHIELDED
1 463CD KEYBOARD, 104, 6P, UNITED STATES, NMB, RUBBERDOME, SMALL BOX
1 84191 MOUSE, PERSONAL SYSTEM 2, 6P, 2BTN, LOGITECH
1 1324P PAD, MOUSE, DELL AMERICAS ORGANIZATION
1 19418 DUAL IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE, 64, 100M, 8X64, 4K, 168
1 19418 DUAL IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE, 64, 100M, 8X64, 4K, 168
1 3196W CARD (CIRCUIT), MULTI-MEDIA, AUDIO, CRTV-1373, PCI64, FRONT AUDIO JACK
1 4889P KIT, COMPACT DISKETTE, CRTV, PCI64V, AUDIO, OPPLX
1 57589 CABLE, AUDIO, MOLEX TO MOLEX
1 18614 CABLE, DORADO/ATHENS/TUALATIN/ALMODOR, 40P, INTERNAL, ENHANCED INTEGRATED DRIVE ELECTRONICS
1 699YR COMPACT DISK DRIVE, 128K, I, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, 48X, REVISION, LENGTH/LONG, 8482B
1 2320V KIT, SPEAKER, 110V/60H, HARMAN KARDON LOW END
1 832DX DISPLAY, MULTISCAN, COLOR, 17, DUAL, E770P, NONGSA
1 9019C ASSEMBLY, CABLE, DORADO/ATHENS/TUALATIN/ALMODOR, 34P, FLOPPY DRIVE, 1DROP, HUNNICUT/MEDIUM DESKTOP
1 9886C FLOPPY DRIVE, 1.44M, 3.5" FORM FACTOR, 3MD, NO BEZEL, NEC CORPORATION
1 59PHV HARD DRIVE, 10G, I, 7.2K, ATA100, 3.5" FORM FACTOR, WD-INV
1 8751P ASSEMBLY, CABLE, ATA66, 2DROP, HTRP/EVT
1 76PFK KIT, COMPACT DISKETTE, OPERATING SYSTEM, DELL 98, SECOND EDITION, ENGLAND/ENGLISH
1 1424D PRINTED WIRING ASSY, RISER, M CHAS, 5PCI[/quote4469060bae]

I've thought about using it to play with Linux - is it powerful enough, as is? Also considered using it as a server (upgrading the HD with noe I have laying around) - what else would I need to do to it for that to work. Finally, I'd love to set it up as a DVR for my GF (but I think that may be too expensive to upgrade RAM and buy a PVR card...).

Is that a P2 with 128MB RAM? You can definitely run Linux on it since they demand less than Windows, but I think it would be tough to run a DVR. The main problem is that you'd want the PC to compress the video as it captures, and that requires some CPU power. If you really want to, you can capture to uncompressed AVI with no problems, but it would just consume an ungodly amount of disk space. You could then have it compress that large file after the recording but that would take a while too. I remember reading about someone who scripted something in Linux to do just that but it seems like a PITA.

Otherwise, I would think it would work fine as a server of some kind.

Start a website asking for donations and if you get enough donations, blow up your curent computer. Worked for the guy with a G4.

Looks like a 667Mhz PIII from the CPU spec.

I think it's a celeron (from the 80526). If it's really 667MHz, maybe you can do the capture and encode later thing I was saying...

http//www.streetprices.com/Electronics/SP1239671.html

Maybe you're right (I take it 67dxu is a dell P/N for p3), but 80526 means Celeron so I guess only doylnea can say for sure.

That code looks more like a "type" than a specific CPU.

Take a look

http//www.idhw.com/textual/guide/noin_cpu_intel_p6x_fcpga.html

On that page 80526 also corresponds to a Coppermine PIII.

Yeah, you're probably right then.

In any case, if it's 667MHz it can work as a dvr where you capture uncompressed and compress right after. You can buy a cheap pvr card for $40 and maybe some RAM which should also be cheap since it's older. You can also buy a more expensive PVR card that produces no load on your cpu and it can probably compress as it records (Hauppauge PVR-250).

Then again, for that cost and effort though, it might just be easier to get a dvr from your cable provider (if that's what you use) since they rent those out pretty cheaply.

EDIT If you use a low resolution to capture for a standard TV, maybe you can capture to a compressed video with a cheap tuner card but it's hard for me to say.

LOL, I should read my threads more often.

This is almost certainly a PIII, based on the past use of the computer.

RAM looks to be about $35 for 576MB (using one of the old sticks in there). The PC would be used solely for a DVR, and I'd probably use one of the free PVR software (any recs, also keeping in mind I'd like to use this for a linux sandbox?). As far as a decent PVR card I have a PVR-500, but can't see dropping $120 on a card for kind of larky computer - might have to grab one of the cheapo Leadteks for now.

I have a Leadtek (I think it was $40) and I can capture 640x480 in xvid in realtime on a Athlon XP 1800+ so I am thinking you should be able to capture at least in 352x240 (VCD) the same way. It's hard to say. Either way, if you can capture and compress afterwards, you will get the quality you want.

If you want to do it in Linux, I guess mythTV is the way to go. dmorris can probably help you out with that.

so, now that this thing has been sitting here for two weeks gathering dust...any new suggestions? With Balck Friday coming up (and this being an IDE box) I'm thinking about picking up a 500GB drive for $50 and putting this baby together...

I love my job - I was just told to dispose of this computer
[quotebf86ea61e5]
1 2R433 PRINTED WIRING ASSY, PLANAR (MOTHERBOARD), GX260, 845G, AUDIO/VIDEO, GIGAHERTZ NETWORK INTERFACE CARD/CONTROLLERS
1 9K795 [bbf86ea61e5]PROCESSOR, 80532, 2.0G, 512K, 400FSB, SOCKET N[/bbf86ea61e5]
1 5120P CORD, POWER, 125V, 6FT, SPT2, UNSHIELDED
1 4P608 MOUSE, UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS, 2BTN, WHEEL, OPTICAL, LOGITECH
1 4N454 KEYBOARD, 104, UNITED STATES, NMB, LOW COST, MIDNIGHT GRAY
1 5U607 PAD, MOUSE, DELL AMERICAS ORGANIZATION, X-LOB
1 3K113 DUAL IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE, 256, 266M, 32X64, 8K, 184
1 5N356 KIT, SPEAKER, 120, HK206, SAMSUNG
1 1P930 KIT, COMPACT DISKETTE, COMPACT DISK READ WRITE, ROXIO, V5.2
1 6J118 COMPACT DISK READ WRITE, 680M, I, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, 24X, NEC CORPORATION, CHASSIS 2001
1 4D025 DISPLAY, CATHODE-RAY TUBE, 17, DUAL, P793, MIDNIGHT GRAY, DELL AMERICAS ORGANIZATION
1 1T321 HARD DRIVE, 80G, I, 3.5" FORM FACTOR, 1N, 7.2K, WD-XL40S
1 7T281 FLOPPY DRIVE, 1.44M, 3.5" FORM FACTOR, 3MD, NO BEZEL, TEAC, V4, CHASSIS 2001
1 1F756 KIT, SOFTWARE, OVERPACK, WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL, SP2, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, ENGLAND/ENGLISH[/quotebf86ea61e5]

This one is definitely becoming a HTPC.

I'm putting this together as a gift and would like it to be as user-friendly as possible. Just picked up one of these tv tuner cards[=http//www.buy.com/prod/ads-technologies-mce-hardware-pci-tv-fm-tuner-card-upgrade-kit-with/q/loc/111/203386682.html]these tv tuner cards in part to get the remote and IR receiver for 'free.'

I could use a recommendation for a PCI or AGP video card that will output in SVideo (as this will be used with a SDTV).

I could also use a recommendation for software. The computer currently has XP Pro, and while I'll do a clean install for the PC, I'd like not use MCE, as I don't want to pay for it. I've read (but not closely read) that there are many HTPC software options. Which is the easiest to setup and use?

At first I was thinking mythtv but it doesn't seem like many people have this tuner card going with it yet so shelf that idea. Since it's a gift, you also don't want people unfamiliar with linux having a hard time if anything goes wrong with it.

I would try this one as it looks good and is open source (free)
http//lifehacker.com/software/media-center/download-of-the-day-mediaportal-windows-223194.php[]http//lifehacker.com/software/media-center/download-of-the-day-mediaportal-windows-223194.php

There are some other free ones but this one seems the most recommended. If it sucks, you might have to look into one of the paying beyondtv, sagetv, mce, etc...