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The GCT Allwell is a set-top-box type PC that has no moving parts. There are articles on how to use it with linux as a firewall. You can get a box for as little as $300 USD

• I have CAT5E in the walls,

• (this is wehre my AV Receiver and selfmade MediaServer is)

• another corner, where my DSL modem, switch and HomeServer is,

• IRDA, USB, AC97, TV & VGA-out and Linux. That is all you need.

• a system-HDD
• a swappable (not Hot, mind you) media HDD
• a DVD-Burner
• an M-Audio soundcard (want to have more than 48KHz on S/PDIF) for local sound with my 5.1 setup in the same room
• a DVB-s (that is European digital TV and radio broadcast over Sattelite) PCI card
• an analogue TV/Video card (to which my old VHS is connected and a terrestrial antenna)
• and soon an additional Matrox GH450
• all on a ATX P4 1,8GHz system with 256MB RAM

• C3 based Linux-STB (Allwell.TV)This system will connect to the small bedroom TV. It has an option for dual PCI riser, that also holds an MPEG4 chip (the Sigma Designs one). Its vidoe chip is even supported by DirectFB! It has SCART-out (for the European market), but also generic TV-out and S/PDIF

• LEX Thin EPIA client with MPEG2 accel, booting from DOM/DOC (or LAN) and running LinuxThis system will get a pair of active PC speakers with NXT technology (very flat). 64-128MB RAM is enough here, no HDD, instead DiskOnChip or as alternative: more RAM and LAN-boot. YMMV. As soon the LCD panels get cheap, I will add a touch-sensitive to this one, so I can have breakfast while reading /. (oh, my)
  
  As for the software...that still is not perfect. At the moment I have set up an icecast server and VideoLAN. This would allow for comfortbale media streaming to Windows and Linux clients, however I plan my own software, though based on these (as well as on Mozilla and DirctFB, maybe gstreamer)
  
  To say "Multiroom" in 2003 is the same to say "Ethernet". That simple.
  
  amix (not logged in)

Whoa...link got ate....must repost....

Allwell TV box

Cheers,
Ken

Migth want to give a try to allwell. From my understanding the UI is mozilla based and you can hack your own picture-in-picture menus via js !

I finally broke down and built a TV machine last summer.. I mainly used it to play Divx movies--both ones I ripped from my DVDs myself and ones I downloaded from Morpheus.

Remote Control:

1. I bought an IRman and got it working with Winamp's VidAmp..
2. At first, I kept no mouse or keyboard on the box. I opted instead to use the remote,
   TweakUI-configured auto-login, and VNC (from my laptop already wired-up in the living room.

1. I tore down a mid-tower case and buffered all of the metal joints with duct tape as I built it back up.
   This eliminated any inherent case rattle.
2. I layed the side and reconfigured my entertainment center's shelves to accommodate it.
3. The case had a interesting configuration of fans (combinations of Thermaltake "smart" fans and things)
   to try to keep the AthlonXP 1700+ and three Maxtor drives (one 30GB and two 80GB) cool.

What have I learned?

1. I *have* to have TiVo functionality and soon.
2. Morpheus/Kazaa and other online sources of movies are dying.
3. Drives fail quickly if not properly cooled.
4. Drives tend to fail anyway or have the remote possibility of very quickly losing 100 of your
   hard-earned movies in the event of failure.
5. Almost no matter what, a TV PC is going to be too loud to enjoy having in the living room.

What will I do differently next time?

1. I will build two different boxes--one bare and quiet set-top box or something in the living room and the other a
   nasty, tricked-out, noisy system to handle all of the grunt-work in another room.
2. IDE RAID. 'nuff said.
3. Linux--as much as possible. I will actually make the full effort to get away from Windows and build
   On-Screen Display menus and things.. One of the bottom lines of my experience is that Windows/FAT32
   *kills* drives.
4. I *have* to have TiVo/PVR/DVB/DVR/VDR functionality.. I could theoretically
   have one DVB card in the
   STB to add pause-live-TV functionality. For the setup and recording of other scheduled TV programs and movies, the "big box" in the other room that will have somewhere in the
   neighborhood of 4 or 5 DVB cards. This is fine for Digital Cable.. If I had a dish, it would
   likely be very different.
5. Rip, rip, rip. Get those DVDs archived onto file and quit letting other peoples' copies be sufficient.
   I really didn't do all *that* bad.. I had ripped somewhere around 60 of the DVDs myself.
   I've really got to say this--AVI-archived DVDs beats the friggin bug juice out of any multi-DVD player.

Here are some more related links..
LinuxDVB
VDR

The Allwell 1030n is a National Semiconductor Geode based machine, not the Celeron that he claimed he bought.

Go to the Allwell website and look up the STB1030N from the products pulldown. Right now, they're selling these things for "router appliances" and really cheapo set-top boxes. In the router appliance arena, they're not too bad; in the set top box arena, they're weak (though usable for many things.).

Why must people keep coming out with things that make me feel like I wasted the ~$600 I spent building a wireless to wired router/bridge out of one of these (the 1030N if you are wondering). Granted I could have saved some money if I had be brave enough to try to use a DiskOnChip instead of buying a 2.5" HDD...

Oh well, when I built it I still think it was cheaper than any of the other available solutions. Except of course for the P-133 box it replaced...but I wanted something that would sit on a shelf in the garage very unobtrusively.

BTW: here is the box sans hard drive.

So I guess I have to ask, "So, what's new?" This has been going on at Linux-Hacker.net for over a year. And they have a link to GCT-Allwell who offer a number of links to completed projects.

Several ways you could get the aldwell system up to spec:

1) there is a model STB3036N-CF(see bottom of page)that has CF
2) use the PCI slot for a multiport ethernet card; there's a bunch of these available, for example the ANA-62022 Two-Port Card by adaptec.
3)the STBII5012 has 2 ethernet interfaces integrated + 2 pci slots; this should easily give you all the options you need.

Several ways you could get the aldwell system up to spec:

1) there is a model STB3036N-CF(see bottom of page)that has CF
2) use the PCI slot for a multiport ethernet card; there's a bunch of these available, for example the ANA-62022 Two-Port Card by adaptec.
3)the STBII5012 has 2 ethernet interfaces integrated + 2 pci slots; this should easily give you all the options you need.