What Linux.....???

[Adams_16v]

Right, iv built a media pc for home...its decent spec, and im gonna try something a bit different to what I originally had planned, and go for a Linux install instead of the original plan of XP media edition...!

but as im a Linux amateur im wondering what is the Best Linux flavour to install....? Bearing in mind its not gonna have a lot on it other than DVB, internet, and myth.

I know quite a lot about I.T, but had very little experiance with Linux up to now, so nothing too complicated...!

Is YOPER any good....?

Maybe one for KDF :hail:

Also, just a thought, but will it be possible to remote control the linux box from my XP machine using some software, as its only going to be going through my tv!

Cheers for any info!

 

[biojo]

any thing is possible with a remote , but linux aint the easiest o s to install let alone get things like tv cards working on it.

 

[KDF]

What DVB card are you using ?

 

[Adams_16v]

iv not got the dvb card as of yet, any recommendations? I've seen a few recommendations on a website!

altho i have a hauppage tv card, and also a hauppage DVB box which does have usb (just use it through my tv at the mo). Not sure if that will work for now being usb?

I've been having a read, and Fedora 4 seems good for what im wanting it for...any thoughts mate?

 

[KDF]

Yes, buy a hauppauge nova-t dvb if you get the new style one though the IR controller can be a pain to setup, if you get the slightly older model its slot it in and your setup basically !. But the actual card will work without doing anything if you install FC4. Have a look at http://www.wilsonet.com/mythtv/ for guides on setting up mythtv.

Get the apt kickstart packages and its dead easy from there. Any problem you could get me on msn (or kopete in my case )

For mythtv most users choose FC4 or knoppix, but you have a wide choice if you want it.. suse ubuntu etc will all work.

 

[Adams_16v]

thanks mate!

yeh i was reading that site earlier. good stuff!

fingers crossed it'll work ok!

 

[Adams_16v]

I'm not getting on with this....lol!

First off it says to format my /video partition JFS. This was not an option for some reason?

Once it was all installed, i downloaded 400mb of updates, the i downloaded mythtv using Yum. Couldnt figure out how to install or run it, or get the config up?

Then the other 25 pages of the guide just seemed too fukin complicated in terms of setting it all up for my hardware! That guide is good, but im a complete linux newbie, and i think he was expecting readers to already know how to do things!

Considering starting again with WME 2005 lol!

 

[KDF]

You dont have to use JFS, in my tests there isnt really that much of a performace hit, even by using something like ext3 !! but I would recommend xfs if necessary. You can use xfs by typing linux xfs once the cd boots up for install.

If your using FC4 then forget YUM !!! just get the apt-get kickstart from atrpms.net or click here

http://atrpms.net/dist/fc4/atrpms-kickstart/

Install the rpm by typing (as root, and assuming your using an i386 architecture processor)

rpm -ivh atrpms-kickstart-28-1.rhfc4.at.i386.rpm

Then all you need to do is type

apt-get install mythtv-suite

And that will pull in over 100 packages and install them all for you ! just sit back and let it happen To give you an example, I installed

FC4 with 2 Nova-T's and full mythtv-suite in about 2 hours.. and that includes setting up all the channels and configuring all the locations for storage.

 

[Adams_16v]

ok ill give that a go mate! when i used yum it installed all the mythtv suite, but i didnt know what to do from there? couldnt find how to run the app?

also do i need to build the SQL database or not?

Cheers

 

[KDF]

If you read the mythtv howto it has complete steps on doing the whole install.. very easy to follow.

But basically ye, install it with the apache web server and mysql database server. (the apache web server is so you can schedule programs to record over the internet or even over a wap browser on your phone)

once you install mythtv-suite, just run

mythtvsetup

to run the setup program for mythtv, the whole mythtv thing is split up into a frontend and a backend (you should be fammiliar with these terms being into computers) the backend can be run using

mythbackend

and the frontend can be run using

mythfrontend

The backend must be running for the frontend to work correctly. I really cant stress enough to follow Jarods guide though.. for example this bit

http://www.wilsonet.com/mythtv/fcmyth.php#mysql

completly details how to setup mySQL.

 

[RobertCL]

From my limited messing around with mythtv sometime ago, you do need the SQL database, and I think to get it going you need to run mythtv_backend and then mythtv_frontend (or something like that).

 

[Adams_16v]

thanks lads! will give it a go! im always eager to learn new things, but this is so different to what I know, its confusing me lol!

I have XP MCE 2005 on standby lol!!

 

[Adams_16v]

Whats happening here mate?

[root@localhost mythtv]# apt-get install mythtv-suite
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
E: Couldn't find package mythtv-suite
[root@localhost mythtv]#

 

[Adams_16v]

[root@localhost mythtv]# apt-get install mythtv-suite
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.

Since you only requested a single operation it is extremely likely that
the package is simply not installable and a bug report against
that package should be filed.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
mythtv-suite: Depends: mythplugins (>= 0.18.1) but it is not going to be installed
E: Broken packages

 

[Adams_16v]

KDF, i've given up! 3 days is enough lol!

XP MCE 2005 works a treat and is done and dusted in 2 hour lol

Might have another play on a spare partition at some point, but i've tried to make use of Linux 3 times now and neither have gone right at all! Prob down to my lack of Linux knowledge like! apart from the one that wouldnt even display on my screen. and the one that was dog slow! :dapprove:

 

[KDF]

Sorry to hear that..

Maybe you didnt apt-get update & apt-get upgrade beforehand ? but the mythplugin is there, see

http://atrpms.net/dist/fc4/mythplugins/

A good graphical program to install to manage your packages is synaptic.

Just download it and install it manually and then apt-get install mythtv-suite again. I dont know why you find it slow. My linux box boots in < 20 seconds and I havent even bothered tweaking it yet. Did you use FC4 ? If you were that stuck I could have SSH'd into your box and fixed it for you

One thing I will say is mythtv is so much better with features like auto commercial detection and skipping... easily export your recorded programs to divx/xvid/dvd/mpeg/wmv etc.. plus a whole load of other stuff

 

[Adams_16v]

iv still got it all on my other HDD mate!

yeh I ran apt-get update

i find FC4 ok, it was a couple of years back i found rehat or something quite slow thats all

might have another play now then hehe