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Single layer PCBs. The free copy of Eagle is much more useful.

Then don't use those supplied boxes. I live on the continent and thus can't get a legal Sky subscription, but I can get access thru softcam cardsharing. If you can figure out the boxid or your sky equipment belonging to your smartcard you can use your smartcard with a softcam/smartcard writer and hook that up to any receiver with softcam support (like a dreambox or a software setup like http://www.cadsoft.de/vdr/). If you keep it inhome my guess is that it is perfectly legal.

Crimson Editor

Good text editors for Windows are hard to find. I was looking for these features:

# White text on black background
# Syntax highlighting
# Tabs
# Spell checker (preferably a smart one which ignores HTML tags, keywords etc)
# Small and fast
# Hard word wrapping
# Preferably open source / free

CE is the only one I have found so far that meets those requirements. I checked JuffEd (no white on black), Metapad (no syntax highlighting), Notepad++ (spell checker is not realtime), Notetab Free, Programmers File Editor (pretty basic), Programmers Notepad (no spell checker). PSPad, RJ TextEd (good but slow), ConTEXT (no spell checker), gEdit (pretty good, a bit large due to being a Unix port, most plug-ins don't work on Windows), jEdit (Java based, need I say more?) and a few more, but none of the met the requirements.

Miranda IM (instant messaging client)
Hyrdra IRC (IRC client)
Cadsoft EAGLE (schematic and PCB layout)

FWIW, Cadsoft Eagle is a proprietary schematic capture/layout program that has a free version that anybody can use to view or print (but not edit) design files written by the full versions.
Also, Cadsoft has a much lower price (around $150) if you're using the full version for non-commercial activites. Eagle seems to be quite popular for the hobbiest market because of this.

A very, very cool project. I wonder if a similar project could produce colored lighting for artistic photography. Heh, by the scan of the schematic, it looks like he's using EAGLE for his PCB design. EAGLE is a very good program.

Mine is the original hush http://www.hushtechnologies.net/ with a VIA Epia-M10000.
I already have an external WD 250 Gb ieee1394 hard drive and a DVB-S card.

I would like an internal WiFi card and a slot-in DVD writer. And a 101cm Sony LCD TV capable of running at 1440x900. I would also like to trade my keyboard/mouse up to a Logitech Di-Nova wireless. Last of all I would like a PSP to use as a remote for VDR http://www.cadsoft.de/vdr/.

Sounds like fairly specialised stuff then, and not the kind of thing that would be run by the vast majority of corporate "grunts". On windows?

All of the specialized apps except one are for Windows. The one (Eagle CAD) is for Linux, but we don't use it any more (it's too simple for our needs.) Well, let me count who is locked in and who isn't. /me counting... Here is the result. 75% of our employees need a program that is available for Windows only. 25% can use Mac with Office and IE (if IE works - required for access to some government web sites, nothing else works.)

Some of our CADs may exist for Linux. For example, Xilinx ISE is available for Linux. But it has limitations; for example, MIG does not work on Linux, and we must have it. I have no idea if Linux native apps will work on Mac, under X or whatever. I don't even plan to try; games with a multi-thousand dollar tools are not something I am interested in, and the tools themselves are so fragile I'd have to be mad to even consider the possibility of trying it on an unsupported platform.

So what's the alternative? Now that Ubuntu is effectively productising Linux I suppose that's a possibility.

As soon as Win32 API for Linux is ready (in other words, WINE is out of alpha and into 1.x releases) then I will personally upgrade all our desktops to Ubuntu (or whatever other distribution is the best at the moment.) However considering that WINE development already took longer than MS needed to write Windows in the first place, I am unsure that I will live long enough to see it released.

http://www.cadsoft.de/Cadsoft Eagle

http://www.lis.inpg.fr/realise_au_lis/kicad/Kicad

You can get a 100mm x 160mm, 4 layer version of Eagle for $125, as long as you aren't making a profit using it.

Er, I'm not sure you're right about that. The $125 version of Eagle is a non-profit version, which means that you can't attempt to make money off it. It's not like you can use the non-profit license to sell stuff as long as you don't actually go into the black.

From the non-profit license:
With this declaration I assure that the non-profit license of EAGLE I bought under my name will be used exclusively for non-commercial purposes.

First of all, a full Eagle license costs $1200, but it still is a bargain for a real PCB layout package. Eagle is quite capable, the ULP (user language programs) and "scripts" rocks for advanced users with programming background. Eagle is close to bug free, I can't remember the last time I encountered a bug in Eagle. Eagle have its fair share of weak points, the user interface is quirky, and the router is unusable for serious work. The router issue can be solved by purchasing the Electra Autorouter. Connecteda have promised a linux version this year :-) Library handling have improved a lot, and I think the workflow with always consistent schematics and pcb is brilliant. (I believe you can still use the old "forward-/backannotation" workflow if you don't agree, although I have not tried this in years). I believe that if you want to create advanced PCBs on linux, Eagle is your best bet, although I would love be be proved wrong. The price ($1200) is comparable to what you will pay for a single prototype batch of boards, and if you are a productive PCB designer, you will spend 10-50 times that in a year in just prototypes.

Its called gEDA and it rocks! http://www.geda.seul.org/ You can also try Eagle PCB http://www.cadsoft.de/ The trial version is still very capable!

You'll get a Nexus-S DVB card and run VDR. Trust me, you won't find anything else more reliable, robust, extendable, and just plain awesome. And there's lots of great plugins for the Nexus-S card. Most of them are legal...

Just a couple...

http://www.cadsoft.de/vdr/
http://www.edafe.org/vdr/
http://www.j-pfennig.de/zapdvb/

...can't vouch for either. I use MythTV myself, on a spare parts box, and a discounted TV Card, as it reputedly won't work in XP ;-). Price; £19.99. Amazing stuff.

Building your PVR is much easier if you are using VDR with one of the numerous VDR distributions that are based on Debian, Gentoo or SuSE. Check out the English version of the VDR-Wiki for information on hardware, installations etc.

Lio

I built my own HTPC using a gutted out DVD player as the case. My recommendation to anyone doing this would be to get a DVB card (either DVB-S if you have Satellite, DVB-C if you have cable, or DVB-T for terrestrial broadcasts.) This way you can get the MPEG stream straight into your PC and onto your HDD - no horrible analog capturing and MPEG encoding to mess with! For those with a graphics card or MB with digital video output, you can cut the analog side of things all together.

There's another option on the software side of things if you go this way too, take a look at VDR (http://www.cadsoft.de/vdr/). There are no shortage of plugins, including support for using a remote copy of xine as an output device.

More info on Digital TV under linux is available at http://www.linuxtv.org/

Possible that some of the circuit design software for design tech might be missing...

Eagle is a great app for that and works fine in Linux.

spice is available, too (no pspice, though).

All technology has good and bad uses. The important thing is if the good uses outnumber the bad ones. If they do, then we tend to use it.

This applies to almost everything:

• Internet can be used to spread child pornography
• Cars can be used to kill/damage people

Especially in vocational skills, the computer/technology is very important. At school, I have to use EAGLE to draw schematics. It saves time, but more important, this is how it is done in real life. The problem many places is that schools have to use out-dated equipment, and that the children has only learnt half of what they should know whe arriwing in a work-situation. Education should be and is using technology.

the idea of posting an ISO of the completed system is really the antithesis of the Gentoo concept.

If you prefer to "compile a little longer", of course it works on Gentoo as well - which makes sense, since the goal for the living room should be an optimized, fanless PVR. (Of course, the ultimate challenge is porting this to a Mac mini with some USB or FireWire dongle receiver...)

So come July, (if the EU is spared from software patents - heed the call of your alpha geeks and join the campaign... Europeans now need all the help they can get to continue providing a refuge for otherwise patent-encumbered projects) chances are that the source is here to stay.

Just try and get a compatible card, i.e. one with open source drivers.

An American VDR site can be found at HoochVDR (need to register to see the forums), while the bulk of the discussion goes on at the VDR Portal - much of it is in German, but scrolling down the page, the International (i.e. "English only") section is not hard to find...

The king of Linux DVRs is not MythTV, but VDR. VDR is a complete Tivo replacement, with built in simultaneously multichannel recording, TV guide, etc. http://www.cadsoft.de/vdr/

Those of you who'd rather watch satellite programming, don't forget to check out VDR. Add a cheap PCI card to your PC and you can be time-shifting satellite programming in no time.

I have a cheap DVB-S card (skystar2), a hush Epia M10000 with onboard mpeg2 decoding and use http://www.cadsoft.de/vdr/VDR. There is a plugin to get EPG data. You can control it with a web based interface. A simple command line or a plugin writes recordings to DVD etc. etc.

Useful if you live in Europe

Basically, it's an approach to build a small, cut to the bone, ready and easy to install VDR Linux distribution.
LinVDR is a complete, breathing Linux system smaller than 128 MB with a complete digital Video Disk Recorder (VDR) / Personal Video Recorder (PVR) and several plugins -- listed seperately below.
For easy access we installed additionaly the browser frontend VDR Admin and a Samba share for up- and downloading music or DVD images with Windows clients.

The base system is Debian Woody compatible (only compatible, not Debian Woody itself!) with the DVB driver from Convergence and Klaus Schmidingers unbeated Video Disk Recorder Software VDR.
All this Tom has mixed smoothly together, and I made the install system and installation programme -- suitable for normal users without Linux knowledge.

OK, sounds good. I have a XYZ tv card and a GeForce 10 with TV out. Lets start.

That's nice you have such expensive hardware, but it won't bring you a step closer to a running LinVDR system. We're here at digital TV, there is no purpose for any analog TV cards.

VDR was designed to work with so-called full featured DVB cards. This is a Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) receiver card originally develloped from Technotrend. Hauppauge adopted these cards and labeled them WinTV DVB-s/C or Nexus.

The important point of this cards: Byside the receiving unit, where you can read a MPEG-2-Stream, they're equipped with a DSP chip working as MPEG-2 decoder and OSD creator. This DSP decodes the steam, overlays the menu and put the result to the composite video out of the DVB card.

This means: You don't need a graphic card with TV out, your full featured DVB card already has one (and only this one is used by VDR).

But you need only one of that expensive (> $150) full featured DVB cards. If you want to install a second one, e.g. to enable you to receive more channels at the same time, you can use a so-called budget card.

These buget cards have no TV out and no MPEG-2 decoder, making them a lot cheaper (around $70).

Type Vendor Model Class Price DVB-S Hauppauge WinTV Nexus-s Full Featured abt. $250 DVB-S TechnoTrend DVB-S Sat PCI
Rev. 1.3, 1.5, 1.6 Full Featured abt. $190 DVB-T TechnoTrend DVB-T Rev. 1.2 Full Featured abt. $250 DVB-C Hauppauge WinTV DVB-C Full Featured abt. $300 DVB-C TechnoTrend DVB-C Rev. 2.1 Full Featured abt. $230 DVB-S Hauppauge WinTV Nova-S Budget abt. $125 DVB-S TechnoTrend Budget DVB-S Budget abt. $90 DVB-T TechnoTrend DVB-T 1300 Budget abt. $110 DVB-C TechnoTrend DVB-C Rev. 1.0 Budget abt. $110

To cut it short: You need one full featured card with MPEG-2 decoder (Technotrend style, supported by the DVB driver of Kernel 2.6) and any number of budget cards (supported by the same drivers). No way to use your graphic adapter or analog TV card, if you're looking for an analog PVR, try e.g. MythTV.

VDR Version and Plugins VDR 1.3.17 with enAIO-Patch and this plugins:

• Autotimer-Edit 0.1.4 new
• DVD-Burn 0.0.5 new
• Clock 0.0.5b1 update
• Console 0.6 update
• DVD 0.3.5b06 (without CSS support)
• EPG-Search 0.0.3 new
• Femon (signal strength) 0.1.6 update
• Games 0.6.1 update
• GraphLCD 0.1.1 update
• GraphTFT 0.0.8 new
• Hello 0.1.0
• Image (Diashow) 0.2.2 update
• LCD-Proc 0.0.10 update
• Mailbox 0.3 update
• Manual 0.0.2 (german only) new
• Media-MVP 0.1.5 new
• Media-MVP-Server new
• M-LCD 0.0.4 update
• MP3 0.9.8 update
• MPlayer 0.9.8 update
• OSD-Demo 0.1.0
• Osd-PiP Plugin 0.0.7 update
• OSD-Teletext 0.3.1 update
• Pilot 0.0.7 new

Here are some links to some sites that teach you how to build a Linux PVR:

http://www.mythtv.org/
http://anandtech.com/linux/showdoc.aspx?i=2190
http://www.linuxprofessionalsolutions.com/pavlicek /tv.html
http://ozzzy.dhis.org/poorpvr-gtk.html
http://www.bluelightning.org/ebox/status.html
http://www.cadsoft.de/people/kls/vdr/

This distribution could prove very useful in recording videos such as these.

VDR

With a DVB (digital TV) card in my linux box downstairs, I've run video and audio (both analog and digital) cables to my TV & Surround Receiver upstairs. One serial line with an IR receiver on the end of it is the only visible part of this system in the lounge room.

The VDR software (GNU license) has built-in support for watching TV, recording, timeshifting, EPG, and editting (get rid of the ads in the stuff you want to keep). Thanks to lirc and IR receiver, it's all controlled with my TV remote control.

It has plug-ins for everything else, and I mean everything! DVD, (S)VCD, MP3, and mplayer plugins are just the stuff I have loaded, but just about anything is possible.

I have 600GB of disk in my box, loaded with recorded programs and ripped DVDs and CDs, which I can playback over the TV/stereo thanks to VDR, or from any computer in the house.

VDR

With a DVB (digital TV) card in my linux box downstairs, I've run video and audio (both analog and digital) cables to my TV & Surround Receiver upstairs. One serial line with an IR receiver on the end of it is the only visible part of this system in the lounge room.

The VDR software (GNU license) has built-in support for watching TV, recording, timeshifting, EPG, and editting (get rid of the ads in the stuff you want to keep). Thanks to lirc and IR receiver, it's all controlled with my TV remote control.

It has plug-ins for everything else, and I mean everything! DVD, (S)VCD, MP3, and mplayer plugins are just the stuff I have loaded, but just about anything is possible.

I have 600GB of disk in my box, loaded with recorded programs and ripped DVDs and CDs, which I can playback over the TV/stereo thanks to VDR, or from any computer in the house.

Dreambox is a set top box that has supported DVB for years, and it supports DVB-T (Broadcast), DVB-S (Satalite) as well as DVB-C (Cable).

http://www.dream-multimedia-tv.de/Bereiche/Produkt e/DM7000_featurelist.php/

VDR has aslo been available for years to support the same standards under Linux. It is a full featured PVR with a robust plugin interface.

http://cadsoft.de/vdr/

North American viewers on the East Coast can take advantage of DVB-S & pick up a number of satalites that cover the Atlantic region. There is a wide variety of FTA programming available. My dad used to be a ham operator, I guess this is the new `ham` hobby.

http://www.cadsoft.de

You can use the free Linux software "VDR" (http://www.cadsoft.de/people/kls/vdr/) and a DVB card to record from the radio in mp2 format. This works well in Europe, where there are lots of DVB sat and cable radio stations. I'm not sure about the situation in the US. Some mp3 players support mp2 format as well, so there is no need to convert to mp3 if you get the right player (or an alternative, free OS for it). Unfortunately, the most popular players, such as the ipod, and those from Sony, don't play mp2 format directly, for whatever reason.

With freeware programs like Eagle available and really cheap circuit board manufacturing options, there's no reason to get locked into a service like Pad2Pad.

Check out my Digital Design & Construction Wiki for lots of resources on do-it-yourself electronics design.

Cadsoft Eagle - With free as in beer version

A ton of boardhouses that do small runs

Cadsoft Eagle - With free as in beer version

A ton of boardhouses that do small runs

Uh no this vdr

-milkki

Linux (read: VDR) is the only solution that supports digital TV, a.k.a. MPG-DVB. Microsoft etc. do not. Plus it let's you record multiple programs at the same time using multiple DVB cards, cutting out ads and much more. Plus it is free :-)

That sounds a lot like VDR, except it's missing the ability to receive a satellite signal, and it's had way less development.

Also, another example (which I am now using) is VDR.

Fortunately, being open source, you can always keep using/improving it (although if it does break patent laws, you're not really allowed to).

Try the Video Disk Recorder. You can download it here.

This is a FREE and completely non-commercial project. Any information posted on these pages is freely available to anybody. All source code published here is protected by the GNU general public licence.

Features include (copy & paste):
* Operation entirely via DVB card's On Screen Display and infrared control (LIRC/RCU) or keyboard
* Support for multiple DVB cards (up to four, at least one full featured card with video out required) and "conditional access" (CICAM)
* Channel groups
* EPG display by channel or by time ("What's on now/next")
* Timers: Programming via EPG or manually, priority/lifetime model, single-shot or repeating timers which use EPG subtitle info as recording's title additionally
* Recording storage on disk: Automatically splitting of recording into files (2GB), support for multiple storage directories (may be spread over multiple disks), support for hierarchical storage
* Support for multiple audio tracks and Dolby Digital
* Instant recording
* Playback modes normal, pause, fast forward/backward (multi speed), jump to specific location, jump 60 seconds
* Support for editing recordings (with I-frame accuracy: ~1/2 second)
* Multiple language support
* Support for executing system commands and displaying output on screen
* Network support (SVDRP): Manage timers and recordings via telnet
* Automatic shutdown/wakeup (with certain mainboards)
* Support for automatically executing commands upon recording start/end and editing recordings

New in version 1.2

* Instant Time Shift
* Plugin interface (see the list of available plugins).
* Additional remote control keys
* Macros can be assigned to remote control keys
* Multiple recordings on the same device
* Simultaneous recording and replay on the primary device

Try the Video Disk Recorder. You can download it here.

This is a FREE and completely non-commercial project. Any information posted on these pages is freely available to anybody. All source code published here is protected by the GNU general public licence.

Features include (copy & paste):
* Operation entirely via DVB card's On Screen Display and infrared control (LIRC/RCU) or keyboard
* Support for multiple DVB cards (up to four, at least one full featured card with video out required) and "conditional access" (CICAM)
* Channel groups
* EPG display by channel or by time ("What's on now/next")
* Timers: Programming via EPG or manually, priority/lifetime model, single-shot or repeating timers which use EPG subtitle info as recording's title additionally
* Recording storage on disk: Automatically splitting of recording into files (2GB), support for multiple storage directories (may be spread over multiple disks), support for hierarchical storage
* Support for multiple audio tracks and Dolby Digital
* Instant recording
* Playback modes normal, pause, fast forward/backward (multi speed), jump to specific location, jump 60 seconds
* Support for editing recordings (with I-frame accuracy: ~1/2 second)
* Multiple language support
* Support for executing system commands and displaying output on screen
* Network support (SVDRP): Manage timers and recordings via telnet
* Automatic shutdown/wakeup (with certain mainboards)
* Support for automatically executing commands upon recording start/end and editing recordings

New in version 1.2

* Instant Time Shift
* Plugin interface (see the list of available plugins).
* Additional remote control keys
* Macros can be assigned to remote control keys
* Multiple recordings on the same device
* Simultaneous recording and replay on the primary device

Try the Video Disk Recorder. You can download it here.

This is a FREE and completely non-commercial project. Any information posted on these pages is freely available to anybody. All source code published here is protected by the GNU general public licence.

Features include (copy & paste):
* Operation entirely via DVB card's On Screen Display and infrared control (LIRC/RCU) or keyboard
* Support for multiple DVB cards (up to four, at least one full featured card with video out required) and "conditional access" (CICAM)
* Channel groups
* EPG display by channel or by time ("What's on now/next")
* Timers: Programming via EPG or manually, priority/lifetime model, single-shot or repeating timers which use EPG subtitle info as recording's title additionally
* Recording storage on disk: Automatically splitting of recording into files (2GB), support for multiple storage directories (may be spread over multiple disks), support for hierarchical storage
* Support for multiple audio tracks and Dolby Digital
* Instant recording
* Playback modes normal, pause, fast forward/backward (multi speed), jump to specific location, jump 60 seconds
* Support for editing recordings (with I-frame accuracy: ~1/2 second)
* Multiple language support
* Support for executing system commands and displaying output on screen
* Network support (SVDRP): Manage timers and recordings via telnet
* Automatic shutdown/wakeup (with certain mainboards)
* Support for automatically executing commands upon recording start/end and editing recordings

New in version 1.2

* Instant Time Shift
* Plugin interface (see the list of available plugins).
* Additional remote control keys
* Macros can be assigned to remote control keys
* Multiple recordings on the same device
* Simultaneous recording and replay on the primary device

Being that I live in Europe, I'd rather spend my hard earned money on building my own box for Digital TV (DVB) using this great, open-source, system:
http://www.cadsoft.de/people/kls/vdr/

The DVB standard also includes metadata, so the EPG (electronic program guide) is broadcast together with the actual TV-stream, and it allows for easy recording, editing and storing, as well as playback of mp3, mpeg (or anything else mplayer can handle) and loads of more interesting stuff.

AVR is indeed good. My first MCU was 8080, then some flavors of 8051; before that was just TTL, lots of it. Got to practice with them when I was repairing IBM 360/370 at school. Today I like AVR a lot, they are simple and easy to use, and AVR-GCC is fairly reliable (haven't failed on me yet, at least.) The C code translates into machine commands quite well - AVR was marketed as RISC optimized for high level languages. I can believe that.

PIC ... never worked with them; I treat them as dinosaurs of MCU world. But at previous job we had a portable device where a PIC (24-pin or something) was used. Why? Because the engineer knew PICs and had the tools. That's the only reason.

And with regard to Ford Pinto ... I am not *that* old, thank you :-) I just read a lot. But I don't own anything Ford anyway, just in case :-) Prefer to stay with something more reliable (being dirt cheap helps too :-)

But not here in North America. Nope, everything here has to be proprietary. We have to "let the market decide" (translation: "let the corps screw us over"). The result less competition and little innovation. I am guessing Europe is at least three years ahead on TV tech and they are pulling away because they picked ONE standard and ran with it.

I'll agree that it's not yet ideal, however it's really up to the develper/packager. RedHat and others deal with dependencies when you use their distro tools as intended, but downloading a random RPM and double-clicking is not yet foolproof.

The example RPM I used was actually firestarter, and being a well behaved GNOME app, I already had the dependencies I needed. A GNOME Menu item was added automagically by the packaging script too.

Another application I installed recently is CADSoft's Eagle. The only requirements were some very standard system libs. This is a good example of "how to do it" for commercial apps, and there's no reason that more common/open binary RPMs can't link statically either.

Personally, I thind PVRs are definitely worth hacking - if you don't prefer rolling your own with somethink like VDR, , or FreeVo.

TVs are still the most important medium to distribute information through (with the net gaining ground fast), and I, for one, would like to decide for myself what to do with the information I recorded from TV; I don't want some companies making these decisions for me.

Honestly, they are 1/4 the price of any of these machines, and do a much better job of archiving shows, as they record the raw MPEG-2 stream from the satellite.

That and most of the companies keep all their specs and libraries open.

Oh, and they usually work in Linux, too. Plus there's PVR software for them, and I don't think the authors are about to remove features like ReplayTV.

Something to think about...

Other than that I'd say CAT5 and SPDIF digital everywhere. Wireless is fine for stuff that moves, but you ain't going to move your home theater setup around the house, are you?

The most promising I've seen is the Linux Video Disk Recorder

I especially like the idea of installing multiple MPEG cards to record multiple channels at the same time.

Im not the hardware geeks that's able to finding the best and cheapest combination of hardware for a special purpose. Other can do this better and they did, so now I can start building my own media portal. Great!

But I would suggest another software for a all-in-one media box: vdr, a pvr software running under linux for digital satelite tv, very stable and complete.

ps: my first /. post, very exciting*g*

--
slug

a tivo-like device, another, and linuxtv.org. That should be enough to get you started...