Mailing List Archive: MythTV: Users

The real basics...

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thesuttons at skybluewireless

Nov 29, 2004, 1:43 PM

Post #1 of 9 (2049 views)
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The real basics...

Hello All,

I'm just embarking on this journey you all call MythTV. I guess by now it has turned into morbid curiosity. Oh well, enough with the small talk.

1. Where can I go to get some basic definitions like: What is a frontend (I think it is the User Interface part), What is a backend, etc. Perhaps if I am so ignorant to ask these questions I shouldn't try.

2. I am following Jarod Wilson's for building my Myth Box. So far I have downloaded the FC3 core, burned the CD's and installed it according to Jarod's instructions (which he JUST updated this weekend for FC3). I might add that the first time I tried the install, it locked up immediately after the partioning section. I had to start over. Upon first boot up and logging in as Root, I get a completely no-frills X screen with two windows on it: a terminal window and some funky clock thing. Is that all I'm supposed to see?

3. Jarod's instructions say to install the "Kernel Development" option, but this did not appear in the list for the FC3 installation. I have seen this and am familiar with Kernel building, but how do I actually get the Kernel Development options? Does this amount to getting the kernel source file tree?

I'm sorry to post such basic questions, but I've searched the archives and can't readily find the answers.

Thanks for your patience.

Bill

Bill at Explosivo

Nov 29, 2004, 2:07 PM

Post #2 of 9 (1970 views)
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Re: The real basics... [In reply to]

On Monday 29 November 2004 04:43 pm, Bill Sutton wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> I'm just embarking on this journey you all call MythTV. I guess by now it
> has turned into morbid curiosity. Oh well, enough with the small talk.
>
> 1. Where can I go to get some basic definitions like: What is a frontend
> (I think it is the User Interface part), What is a backend, etc. Perhaps
> if I am so ignorant to ask these questions I shouldn't try.

The front end is the user interface part... The whole thing can be thought of
as being comprised of a few different parts (which can, but do not have to,
be on the same machine).

Frontend - yes, the GUI interface (talks to the backend)
Backend - handles recording and tracking scheduling, updates, etc.
Database - where all the info is stored

This does raise the guestion of should we add a glossary to the documentation.
While Bill has figured out that the frontend is the gui, I could see the
relevance to other things that people may want to look up.

--

Bill Chmura
Director of Internet Technology
Explosivo ITG
Wolcott, CT

p: 888.560.YWEB (9932)
e: bill[at]Explosivo.com
w. http://www.explosivo.com
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nate.strickland at gmail

Nov 29, 2004, 2:10 PM

Post #3 of 9 (2022 views)
Permalink

Re: The real basics... [In reply to]

1) Short answer: The frontend is the part that plays, and the
backend is the part that records. Long answer: The backend(s) record,
manage connections to frontend(s,) schedual recordings, interface with
the database, flag commercials, encode, transcode, etc. The frontends
are the user interface, and do things like connect to the LIRC daemon
to recieve remote codes, as well as play back the actual video file.

2) I don't know much about FC, but it sounds like you need to
configure a window manager. (well, actually, if you're only using the
box for myth, you really don't need to, and can just continue with the
installation.)

3) AFAICT, that should install the kernel sources? Again, not very
familar with FC. You can check if they're there, in case FC3 installs
them by default (which would make a lot of sense, really) by doing ls
-l /usr/src

-Nate

On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 14:43:23 -0700, Bill Sutton
<thesuttons[at]skybluewireless.com> wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> I'm just embarking on this journey you all call MythTV. I guess by now it has turned into morbid curiosity. Oh well, enough with the small talk.
>
> 1. Where can I go to get some basic definitions like: What is a frontend (I think it is the User Interface part), What is a backend, etc. Perhaps if I am so ignorant to ask these questions I shouldn't try.
>
> 2. I am following Jarod Wilson's for building my Myth Box. So far I have downloaded the FC3 core, burned the CD's and installed it according to Jarod's instructions (which he JUST updated this weekend for FC3). I might add that the first time I tried the install, it locked up immediately after the partioning section. I had to start over. Upon first boot up and logging in as Root, I get a completely no-frills X screen with two windows on it: a terminal window and some funky clock thing. Is that all I'm supposed to see?
>
> 3. Jarod's instructions say to install the "Kernel Development" option, but this did not appear in the list for the FC3 installation. I have seen this and am familiar with Kernel building, but how do I actually get the Kernel Development options? Does this amount to getting the kernel source file tree?
>
> I'm sorry to post such basic questions, but I've searched the archives and can't readily find the answers.
>
> Thanks for your patience.
>
> Bill
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users[at]mythtv.org
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>
>
>

kuphal at dls

Nov 29, 2004, 2:32 PM

Post #4 of 9 (1971 views)
Permalink

Re: The real basics... [In reply to]

Bill Sutton wrote:

>Hello All,
>
>I'm just embarking on this journey you all call MythTV. I guess by now it has turned into morbid curiosity. Oh well, enough with the small talk.
>
>1. Where can I go to get some basic definitions like: What is a frontend (I think it is the User Interface part), What is a backend, etc. Perhaps if I am so ignorant to ask these questions I shouldn't try.
>
>
One of these days I'll add this to the wiki at mythtv.info but,

Frontend - The user interface process for the TV watching as well as
where the modules such as MythMusic, MythVideo and others run

Backend - The process that operates the tuners/capture cards and runs
other processes like commercial detection, transcoding, etc.

You can have multiple of each if you want. There is a MySQL database
involved as well. Most people seem to start with a single machine that
runs the frontend, backend, and database processes as well as storing
the actual video files. As you get more comfortable you may move up to
a separate frontend machine and backend machine for noise or performance
reasons. And as you get even more comfortable you will come to see you
can have frontends all over your house and multiple backends with
multiple tuners in them as well as a separate file server for storage
and a database server for the databse. The possibilities are endless.

Kevin

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Chris.Brodie at macquarie

Nov 29, 2004, 2:33 PM

Post #5 of 9 (1966 views)
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RE: The real basics... [In reply to]

Bill, I got this too (I only have 2 weeks more experience than you. Type
in 'switchdesk kde' and reboot. It'll be fine after than. (Assuming you
used KDE)

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-users-bounces[at]mythtv.org
[mailto:mythtv-users-bounces[at]mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Bill Sutton
Sent: Tuesday, 30 November 2004 8:43 AM
To: mythtv-users[at]mythtv.org
Subject: [mythtv-users] The real basics...

I get a completely no-frills X screen with two windows on it: a terminal
window and some funky clock thing. Is that all I'm supposed to see?

Thanks for your patience.

Bill

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jcw at wilsonet

Nov 29, 2004, 3:00 PM

Post #6 of 9 (1973 views)
Permalink

Re: The real basics... [In reply to]

On Monday 29 November 2004 13:43, Bill Sutton wrote:
> 2. I am following Jarod Wilson's for building my Myth Box. So far I have
> downloaded the FC3 core, burned the CD's and installed it according to
> Jarod's instructions (which he JUST updated this weekend for FC3). I might
> add that the first time I tried the install, it locked up immediately after
> the partioning section. I had to start over. Upon first boot up and
> logging in as Root, I get a completely no-frills X screen with two windows
> on it: a terminal window and some funky clock thing. Is that all I'm
> supposed to see?

Crap. Forgot about that. It looks like RH did something stupid with FC3, and
defaults to twm if you only choose KDE at install time, while FC2 and prior
would default to KDE if it was installed. Just type "switchdesk KDE" in that
terminal window, log out, and log back in. You can also select the
environment you want from the "Sessions" button on the login screen, but it
doesn't stick.

> 3. Jarod's instructions say to install the "Kernel Development" option,
> but this did not appear in the list for the FC3 installation. I have seen
> this and am familiar with Kernel building, but how do I actually get the
> Kernel Development options? Does this amount to getting the kernel source
> file tree?

Crap, that would be an error on my part, failure to remove no longer relevant
stuff. Red Hat no longer ships a kernel-source (or kernel-sourcecode)
package, just the kernel .src.rpm, so you have to jump through extra hoops to
get a kernel source tree that matches your running kernel... It isn't
necessary unless you're compiling your own kernel modules anyhow.

--
Jarod C. Wilson, RHCE
jcw[at]wilsonet.com

Got a question? Read this first...
http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
MythTV, Fedora Core & ATrpms documentation:
http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/
MythTV Searchable Mailing List Archive
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/

jcw at wilsonet

Nov 29, 2004, 3:07 PM

Post #7 of 9 (1950 views)
Permalink

Re: The real basics... [In reply to]

On Monday 29 November 2004 14:10, nate s wrote:
>
> > 3. Jarod's instructions say to install the "Kernel Development" option,
> > but this did not appear in the list for the FC3 installation. I have
> > seen this and am familiar with Kernel building, but how do I actually get
> > the Kernel Development options? Does this amount to getting the kernel
> > source file tree?
>
> 3) AFAICT, that should install the kernel sources?

Nope, there's quite a bit about this on the RH/Fedora lists... RH no longer
ships kernel-source or kernel-sourcecode packages, one now has to generate
them on their own from the kernel srpm.

> Again, not very
> familar with FC. You can check if they're there, in case FC3 installs
> them by default

Nope.

> (which would make a lot of sense, really)

And nope. You don't put source on a binary distro system by default, for a
multitude of reasons.

--
Jarod C. Wilson, RHCE
jcw[at]wilsonet.com

Got a question? Read this first...
http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
MythTV, Fedora Core & ATrpms documentation:
http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/
MythTV Searchable Mailing List Archive
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/

djc6 at cwru

Nov 30, 2004, 12:20 AM

Post #8 of 9 (1949 views)
Permalink

Re: The real basics... [In reply to]

On Nov 29, 2004, at 6:00 PM, Jarod Wilson wrote:

> Crap, that would be an error on my part, failure to remove no longer
> relevant
> stuff. Red Hat no longer ships a kernel-source (or kernel-sourcecode)
> package, just the kernel .src.rpm, so you have to jump through extra
> hoops to
> get a kernel source tree that matches your running kernel... It isn't
> necessary unless you're compiling your own kernel modules anyhow.

I am following your older FC2 instructions, and need to patch the
kernel for PVR-350 support. I have a new 350 which means it has the LG
48132 tuner found on new 250's and 350's. Here is some info and the
kernel patch which adds support for the new tuner:

http://67.18.1.101/~ckennedy/ivtv/new_tuners/

My question is, how do I get the source for the 2.6.8-1.521 kernel used
in FC2 so I can apply the tuner patch? I thought there was a
kernel-sourcecode-2.6.8-1.521 rpm.

I could download 2.6.9 from kernel.org and apply the patch, but is
there anything unique about the 1.521 FC2 release that I need for
MythTV? I'm trying to stay as true to your guide as possible - for
simplicity sake - and use the 2.6.8-1.521 kernel.

-David

jcw at wilsonet

Nov 30, 2004, 11:27 AM

Post #9 of 9 (1947 views)
Permalink

Re: The real basics... [In reply to]

On Tuesday 30 November 2004 00:20, David Carlin wrote:
>
> I am following your older FC2 instructions, and need to patch the
> kernel for PVR-350 support. I have a new 350 which means it has the LG
> 48132 tuner found on new 250's and 350's. Here is some info and the
> kernel patch which adds support for the new tuner:
>
> http://67.18.1.101/~ckennedy/ivtv/new_tuners/
>
> My question is, how do I get the source for the 2.6.8-1.521 kernel used
> in FC2 so I can apply the tuner patch? I thought there was a
> kernel-sourcecode-2.6.8-1.521 rpm.

There is kernel-sourcecode packages for FC2 kernels still, but you don't need
it.

> I could download 2.6.9 from kernel.org and apply the patch, but is
> there anything unique about the 1.521 FC2 release that I need for
> MythTV? I'm trying to stay as true to your guide as possible - for
> simplicity sake - and use the 2.6.8-1.521 kernel.

If you're staying true, just install Axel's ivtv and video4linux kernel module
packages, they already have the necessary patches in them. :-)

--
Jarod C. Wilson, RHCE
jcw[at]wilsonet.com

Got a question? Read this first...
http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
MythTV, Fedora Core & ATrpms documentation:
http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/
MythTV Searchable Mailing List Archive
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/

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