A64 mobos for $80

Yousuf Khan wrote:

There's some programs that don't give episode descriptions, but instead have
a single general series description that it repeats week after week.

Not sure how it handles that, actually. I believe if you set it up to
record a particular timeslot every week, for example, it'll always
record the show.



So the MythTV box can control your digital tv box too?

Yup. With an IR blaster, the MythTV box sends the appropriate signal
to your digital tv box. Or, as mentioned in another post, some boxes
have serial ports and that would be the preferred method.


-WD

On Mon, 22 Dec 2003 18:00:52 GMT, Yousuf Khan wrote:
"Ray" wrote in message

It can run an external script for changing channels. If you're lucky as
I was your box has a serial port and the command set is known. Otherwise
you need to build/buy an IR transmitter and use LIRC to change the
channels.

What was your tv box make? We get Scientific Atlantas here from our local
cable company.

It is a Directv receiver, RCA model DRD502RB which I think makes it a
"series 2". I also (temporarly) have a series 5 that has an RJ45 connector
in place of the serial port. Hopefully I can just use an adapter cable and
the commands will be the same but I'm not counting on it.

--
Ray

"Yousuf Khan" wrote in
message ble.rogers.com...
"KMS" wrote in message
news:cxnFb.12507$VB2.22294@attbi_s51...
Yes... I thought that this would be good... and it actually was too good
to
be true! Buyers beware!

I did purchase that board couple days ago. Here are my thoughts and
experiences with it:

Well, looks like you had a "learning experience" with it.

Yousuf Khan

I agree... that is even written outside the box: "Enriching your PC
experience"... Can't arque with that... ; )

Today I got the RMA number and will send the board back.

"KMS" wrote in message
news:BG3Gb.184767$_M.840108@attbi_s54...
Well, looks like you had a "learning experience" with it.

Yousuf Khan

I agree... that is even written outside the box: "Enriching your PC
experience"... Can't arque with that... ; )

Today I got the RMA number and will send the board back.

Did the thing at least come in a box? :-)

Yousuf Khan

On Mon, 22 Dec 2003 00:55:57 -0500, stacey wrote:
The little lost angel wrote:

On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 20:38:32 GMT, "KMS" wrote:

Tomorrow I'm going to RMA the ECS board back to the vendor. The price was
cheap, about half of the MSI board, but even if the ECS board was free I
do not think I'd use it...

It sounds like the average ECS/PCChips experience :PPppPp


PCChips?!?! What a POS those are!

And guess who manufacture's the bulk of PCChips motherboards? If you
said ECS, you win the prize! (what prize? Why a whole crate full of
RMA'ed ECS/PCChips motherboards that no longer work! : ).

The quality and quality controller of ECS leaves much to be desired.
Occasionally you can find a winner, but they are very hit and miss,
with most boards being more of a miss. FWIW Asrock (Asus' el-cheapo
division) is supposed to have a similar motherboard to the ECS one and
it should sell for a similar price but hopefully with slightly better
quality.

-------------
Tony Hill
hilla underscore 20 at yahoo dot ca

"Tony Hill" wrote in message
.com...
And guess who manufacture's the bulk of PCChips motherboards? If you
said ECS, you win the prize! (what prize? Why a whole crate full of
RMA'ed ECS/PCChips motherboards that no longer work! : ).

The quality and quality controller of ECS leaves much to be desired.
Occasionally you can find a winner, but they are very hit and miss,
with most boards being more of a miss. FWIW Asrock (Asus' el-cheapo
division) is supposed to have a similar motherboard to the ECS one and
it should sell for a similar price but hopefully with slightly better
quality.

Been running an ECS K7S5A for going on three years now. Still solid. My
brother has been running on one for almost two years now.

However, one friend had his for 1.5 years and then all of a sudden one day
it died (I assume capacitor failure). However, this friend has a bad history
of unexplained component failures on his systems. He is an ex-smoker at one
time and I think that has stayed in his carpets and stuff and clog up his
computers.

Yousuf Khan

On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 21:45:08 GMT, "Yousuf Khan"
wrote:

"Tony Hill" wrote in message
t.com...
And guess who manufacture's the bulk of PCChips motherboards? If you
said ECS, you win the prize! (what prize? Why a whole crate full of
RMA'ed ECS/PCChips motherboards that no longer work! : ).

The quality and quality controller of ECS leaves much to be desired.
Occasionally you can find a winner, but they are very hit and miss,
with most boards being more of a miss. FWIW Asrock (Asus' el-cheapo
division) is supposed to have a similar motherboard to the ECS one and
it should sell for a similar price but hopefully with slightly better
quality.

Been running an ECS K7S5A for going on three years now. Still solid. My
brother has been running on one for almost two years now.

However, one friend had his for 1.5 years and then all of a sudden one day
it died (I assume capacitor failure). However, this friend has a bad history
of unexplained component failures on his systems. He is an ex-smoker at one
time and I think that has stayed in his carpets and stuff and clog up his
computers.

What, his computers get lung cancer from years old ETS?........ hilarious!

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

"George Macdonald" wrote in message
...
However, one friend had his for 1.5 years and then all of a sudden one
day
it died (I assume capacitor failure). However, this friend has a bad
history
of unexplained component failures on his systems. He is an ex-smoker at
one
time and I think that has stayed in his carpets and stuff and clog up his
computers.

What, his computers get lung cancer from years old ETS?........ hilarious!

It's the only explanation I can find for it. When he used to smoke, I'd
constantly show him how clogged up his computers were with that icky brown
stuff, and that this was what was going into his lungs daily. That visual
demonstration wasn't enough to make him quit, but a heart attack finally
did.

Yousuf Khan

On Mon, 29 Dec 2003 19:57:40 GMT, "Yousuf Khan"
wrote:

"George Macdonald" wrote in message
.. .
However, one friend had his for 1.5 years and then all of a sudden one
day
it died (I assume capacitor failure). However, this friend has a bad
history
of unexplained component failures on his systems. He is an ex-smoker at
one
time and I think that has stayed in his carpets and stuff and clog up his
computers.

What, his computers get lung cancer from years old ETS?........ hilarious!

It's the only explanation I can find for it.

OK... ummm.... I see.

When he used to smoke, I'd
constantly show him how clogged up his computers were with that icky brown
stuff, and that this was what was going into his lungs daily. That visual
demonstration wasn't enough to make him quit, but a heart attack finally
did.

And you think that all that "icky brown stuff" is lurking in his carpets
and furniture and coming out to attack his computer? Wow.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

Yousuf Khan wrote:

"George Macdonald" wrote in message
...

However, one friend had his for 1.5 years and then all of a sudden one

day

it died (I assume capacitor failure). However, this friend has a bad

history

of unexplained component failures on his systems. He is an ex-smoker at

one

time and I think that has stayed in his carpets and stuff and clog up his
computers.

What, his computers get lung cancer from years old ETS?........ hilarious!

Most of the dangerous chemicals in tobacco smoke are acids
or solvents. The same stuff that etches those yellow stains
onto a smoker's teeth, in other words. Their corrosive or
solvent properties are as bad for your computer as they are
for your lungs.

When I clean out smokers' computers, not only do those computers
tend to have a lot more dust in them than a non-smoker's computer,
the smokers' dust also usually leaves permanent stains behind.

As well, things that are corrosive are also by nature highly
conductive and easily ionized. All those electrical fields
in your computer encourage ionized (AKA "static charged") smoke
particles to deposit in the worst possible places - so it is
easy to get dust buildups that can cause short circuits. Plus
the smoke dust is typically mixed in with other gunk that makes
it light and fluffy and hence a great thermal insulator.

The reliability of a smoker's computer usually goes up dramatically
when his office is declared a smoke-free zone. In my experience
CRTs are even more susceptible to tobacco smoke than are computers -
and it is usually a *lot* harder to open up a CRT monitor to clean it
out. Come to think of it, the only majore CRT shorts/fires I've
ever had to deal with came either from liquids spilled into the
monitor or a smoker's office.






It's the only explanation I can find for it. When he used to smoke, I'd
constantly show him how clogged up his computers were with that icky brown
stuff, and that this was what was going into his lungs daily. That visual
demonstration wasn't enough to make him quit, but a heart attack finally
did.


I've got a friend who is a pathologist. He once showed me and
my girlfriend the lungs of a smoker and the lungs of a non-smoker.
I'd seen photographs before, but the impact of seeing those two bodies
side by side was *huge*. I've never smoked, but my girlfriend
quit cold-turkey right then and there. Amazingly enough, the
pathologist was and still is a heavy smoker.