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If you are going for cheap, you can get a USB thermometer for like 9 bucks. I'm sure you can find them locally for a bit more.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.7003

The included software is win-only. Several people have coded some linux tools of varying usefulness. You'll probably want to do your own calibrations, mine is consistantly off, but I've seen others complain of nonlinear responses.

http://err.no/personal/blog/tech/2008-07-22-10-17_kernel_patches_TEMPer_thermometer.html
http://www.roaringpenguin.com/products/temper-tools

As for IR, um...
cheap
not so cheap

Or you could go to irblaster.info and buy a superior product that comes with a nice long cord, and is small and inconspicuous. The blaster product, in particular, is very attractive and non-intrusive, and the receivers are tiny and perfectly suited for installing inside an HTPC case.

BTW, this *isn't* a shameless plug. I'm just a happy customer, having purchased two of their blasters and a receiver.

In general it is pretty good at changing the channels, there times when it does not change the channel correctly.

Then it's not set up terribly well. I have a pair of DCT2524's controlled by my Myth box using a pair of blasters from here, and I have never, repeat, never missed a single tune.

I felt the same as you do for several weeks and I also consider myself pretty well acquainted with linux. And, contrary to some of the testimonials I'm reading, KnoppMyth did not do it for me and my pcHDTV 3000 card.

Now I'm in pretty good shape with a simple, single broadcast tuner system. I'm not using MythGame, MythFlix, or MythPhone but I am using MythStream, have all the other modules working whether I'll use some of them or not, and have only one significant bug to squash (for which I _do_ have leads) before I would declare my setup perfect for open source.

If I could put my finger on one key to success, I would say documentation. I blew away the KnoppMyth and installed Fedora 4 because a guy who has used various versions of MythTV with various versions of Fedora has the best documentation I found on the net. But not _comprehensive_ documentation. All-in-all, I have an expandible two-ring cover binding about an inch of hints, tips and other documentation printed single- and double-sided. Whether that is encouraging or discouraging depends upon the reader I guess. It _can_ be done. Some key links from my bookmarks:

http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/fcmyth.php#hw
http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/tips.php
http://www.irblaster.info/
http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-23.html
http://yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/LinuxTutorialMySQL.ht ml
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/User_Manual:D aily_Use
http://www.opensubscriber.com/message/mythtv-users @mythtv.org/1654163.html
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users /170450

where the only way you can record digital cable or HDTV is to connect the cable box to your video in, and hit play and record on two remotes.

Uh, you do realize that it's not only possible, but rather easy, to set up MythTV to work with cable boxes?

Hit play and record on two remotes? What is this, 1980?

Video card: Model "e-GeForce FX5200(128-A8-N304-LX)"

chris at beefstew dot net

You can get it working with DishNetwork. You'll need to get an IRC blaster and a second customized version of lirc running to control it. This is required with either digital cable or satellite tv. Here are the links:
http://www.irblaster.info/
http://losdos.dyndns.org:8080/public/mythtv-info/M ythTV_DISH_IR_LED_TX_via_Modified_LIRC.html

I currently have my Myth box connected to analog cable and it works fine. I plan on moving down to the living and hooking it up to my dish network receiver pretty soon. The quality of the show is only as good as your input. Good luck!