Imagery and research

Resurrecting the Pundit - a Linux htpc project

a.k.a. an exercise in recycling.

(up to date version of this post can be found at

The Asus Pundit is a old barebone computer from a few years back, with a mini-ITX motherboard and a fairly decent set of connections. The Pundit has been a popular system for MythTv, which is a Linux TV frontend. Having found a spare one recently I decided to give this project a try.

This computer dates back circa 2004 so any use for hardware this old is a little victory. Also, any replacements I made were on the cheap skate end of the spectrum for two reasons - first, Linux support is generally better for hardware that is not the most recent model, and second, given the age of the box, it might fail and damage the components any time.

MythTV is a professional looking media application intended for use with a remote. I ended up using the Mythbuntu distribution, mostly due to having previous experience with Ubuntu. With a Mythbuntu installation, the system can be set up without a keyboard and mouse. MythTV plays back and records TV, plays audio files, and plays back DVDs to name a few basic functions. The interface is nice and clean.

Parts and necessities:
  1. One Asus Pundit, which I happened to have lying around. I ended up replacing the failing hard drive, noisy DVD drive, and adding a little main memory to keep DVB decodes smooth. The computer boasts a 3.0 GHz Pentium 4, which is supposed to have enough power to handle this task, despite being some six years old. Total cost of replacement parts appr. 20 euros.
  2. Screen or TV for output. This was available. However, I did not manage to get the DVI signal to work so VGA had to suffice. The Pundit also features TV-Out but as I happened to have an extra widescreen panel available, VGA was the least painful route.
  3. Audio output. The Pundit does have a digital audio connector, but it is in under the front panel. Multi channel audio is out of the question, unless you want to keep cables hanging from the front of the box, or want to solder the motherboard connector into a more convenient location. However, as terrestrial TV in Finland is currently stereo only, this is not a major setback. An amplifier and speakers, and/or TV audio are also needed.
  4. Wireless connectivity (optional, but since the intended place for this pc does not have a wired network, compulsory). An older D-Link DWL-G520 adapter I found in an auction worked nicely, again out of the box. In Linux, it seems you are best off using hardware that dates at least two years as support is added. Network connectivity is needed for the MythTV weather and news apps, not for TV or DVD viewing, if using the DVB program guide only. Cost: 12e.
  5. Mythbuntu, the operating system based on Ubuntu with integrated MythTV. This is a ready solution that can be run directly off a live cd. It also supports the Pundit pretty much completely out of the box. The nice thing about this Linux distro is that it includes only the necessary components for media center usem and nothing more. A lower payload reduces the memory requirements as opposed to running a complete OS.
  6. A TV card supported by Linux.I sourced a used but near mint Compro Videomate U500. This vintage card has pretty good reviews, works out of the box with Mythbuntu 10.04, and was easily available. Cost: 10 euros.
  7. A remote. There's one included with the Compro USB tuner but it is not supported in MythTV. I'm looking at a Microsoft MCE remote that can be had off China via eBay for about 15 euros. These are supported out of the box in Mythbuntu. Also necessary at least for the setup are mouse and keyboard. Interestingly, ancient Microsoft Wireless Optical keyboard and mouse seem to work perfectly in Linux.
  8. Some fine tuning. More specifically, the Pundit is nice looking and small enough for living room use, but very noisy. There's a nice tutorial on silencing the Pundit, which I decided to follow. Acquiring silent 70x70x15 and 80x80x15 fans was easy via eBay and total cost was about 10 euros.
Airflow issues
The Pundit's airflow is not particularly well designed. The processor fan is installed upside down in the factory configuration, with cold air blowing through the processor cooler and hot air spreading inside the small case. Also, the case fan mounted on
the power supply is either underpowered or just plain noisy. Both of these had to go. I found fans rated at 17db with ball bearings for replacement on eBay. These are presumably not gold standard but then again neither is the computer. The case fan I sourced is called the Hiper Flow, and the processor fan was also found on eBay.

The original case fan was soldered to the power supply with two connectors and was hence running
at full speed all the time. This I cut out. However, there is a normal case fan connector on the motherboard that supports fan speed control. I hooked up the new fan into the motherboard connector, which seems to produce a better airflow with less noise. The case fan is mounted inside the power supply case with Nexus silicon mounts.

There is really no room for foam or resonance reducing mat inside the Pundit. The drive cage does seem to resonate quite a bit so this may be a problem when recording or playing back TV streams. Nexus vibration reducing screws which were available did help a little. Also, a relatively new Samsung SATA drive that was lying around ended up being a lot quiter than whatever was inside the box originally. Cost: free

Since the Pundit is really crammed, particularly where the power supply and drives reside, I decided to put temperature sensors running. The basic installation of Mythbuntu comes with the light XFCE desktop, which has a limited amount of applets available. However, the GNOME sensors applet works just fine on XFCE, with the help of XfApplet. There's also a nice tutorial on enabling sensors and reading outputs in the terminal.

Temperatures seem a little on the high side. Under moderate stress the processor runs at 70C and the hard drive at 40C. After this the fans quickly ramp up and the temperature does not appear to rise any further.
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