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Cycovision - PC helper |
govigov
Joined: Jul 30, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Back home - Cochin
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Hi mate, you there? Got something to talk about pc's.
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Cycovision
Joined: Nov 30, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: England
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Hi Govi, fire away 
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govigov
Joined: Jul 30, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Back home - Cochin
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Cool. Buying a tv tuner card the coming tuesday. Which is better pinnacle or mercury?
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batesie
Joined: Feb 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: London, UK
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whats the most user friendly Linux based OS?
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Kwiksta
Joined: Jul 17, 2004
Posts: > 500
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oh me too! what's the cheapest way to play my ps2 on my pc's monitor?
Previously --> tempsonyfreak |
Cycovision
Joined: Nov 30, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: England
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@Govi
Depends what you mean by better, I suppose. Most TV tuners still use a variant of the Hauppage RF unit and associated chipset (except the newer UK digital recievers) and so are pretty similar in terms of driver installation and usage / compatibility with third party apps etc.
Reliability is the key issue here, for which I'd go with Mercury, but that's just my personal opinion, I'm open to debate on this  Besides, so many companies make bits for each other nowadays that Manufacturer's branding is becoming more and more irrelevant anyway.
Just don't get one that's TOO cheap, that'd be my advice L-)
@Batesie
I prefere Mandrake Linux because it has a very good installer application that is not unlike the Windows XP installer. It partitions the drive for you, gives you a huge choice of customisation in terms of which components and third party apps you'd like to install and it's very good at auto-detecting hardware and installing the appropriate drivers automatically.
Most seasoned Linux users would probably say RedHat is best, but the proper version isn't free anymore, which kind of defeats the object in my view.
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batesie
Joined: Feb 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: London, UK
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cheers, ive used suse and redhat myself. looking for one thats for a beginner
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Cycovision
Joined: Nov 30, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: England
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@tempsonyfreak
Console VGA box, about £43 but you might get one on ebay every now and again:
http://www.easygameshop.com/playstation.htm
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govigov
Joined: Jul 30, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Back home - Cochin
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I see. As i know mercury sells at 20 pounds, but has compatiblity issues with xp(sound reproduction) but pinnacle sells at 35pounds which is supposedly bug free. I'm lookin at mercury for now, and hope they have had their bugs fix'd. Is it ok? Or any other card should i look at as per your suggestion.
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Cycovision
Joined: Nov 30, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: England
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@batesie
Yeah, Mandrake is for you
The only downside is that ideally you have to download and burn off three CDs worth of OS, but the end results are worth it. You can just get the one main CD if you like and it'll work, but I wouldn't recommend it because you don't get the full driver support and the excellent extra free applications such as 'open office' (MS office clone) and 'The Gimp' (Photo editing app that isn't far off Paint Shop Pro 8 standard).
http://www.mandrakelinux.com
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djpowelly
Joined: Jun 07, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: The UK!
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Seeing as I cantget an answer from you elsewhere, what are the system requirments?
 djpowelly |
Cycovision
Joined: Nov 30, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: England
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@Govi
I thought about this one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/[....]br_lf_ce_6/026-6855950-1602834
(For Wap users, it's a pretty standard Hauppage PCI TV Tuner card that retails for around about £40 GB)
Until I read the negative comment regarding XP compatibility! See what I mean about different manufacturers using the same chipsets?
It's a tough call really, but if your fairly sure that the pinnacle card will work ok with your OS without you having to get updated drivers or patches then I'd say go for it! Like I said all TV cards use pretty much the same components anyway, it's just that some seem to last longer than others.
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Cycovision
Joined: Nov 30, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: England
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Sorry djpowelly!
The official minimum specs for Mandrake version 10 are:
500Mhz Processor (PII MMX / AMD k6 with 3dnow! or above)
64 Mb RAM
Minimum of around 500Mb free hard disk space (but realistically you'll need well over 1 GB if you want to run a GUI, i.e. a desktop and a few basic apps with it)
But as I said in your free OS thread, you can streamline mandrake to work pretty well on machines that don't quite meet the specs. A graphics card helps in the same way as it helps windows; it prevents the OS from having to use the main memory as much, hence freeing up system RAM and therefore reducing the need for virtual memory usage.
_________________
'He who laughs last, laughs longest. Or didn't get the joke...'
[ This Message was edited by: Cycovision on 2005-03-30 22:44 ] |
batesie
Joined: Feb 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: London, UK
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cheers cyco
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djpowelly
Joined: Jun 07, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: The UK!
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I think Ill give it a go when i've got a free sunday!
djpowelly |
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Posted: 2005-03-30 22:36
djpowelly 
