Fire ComcastTV - record flash from TNT

There are some shows on TNT and other cable TV channels that BB and I enjoy.  Generally, these are available on the shows's web site as streaming flash files.  It would be handy to be able to save them and then play later.  Several possibilities:

• http://www.unixuser.org/~euske/python/vnc2flv/index.html looks like it might have some potential
• http://camstudio.org/
• Xvidcap http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2007/11/06/record-your-screen-with-xvidcap/
• VERY poor frame rate.
• RecordMyDesktop http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/24742/record-screen-activity-in-ubuntu-with-recordmydesktop/
• Played with it a bit.  Able to do a fair job of video.  Not getting audio.  Not sure why but it seems to be a common problem.
• home is here http://recordmydesktop.sourceforge.net/faq.php
• Interesting youtube video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_QoWzgYp1A.  Reference to editing software and combining multiple audio streams.

Recordmydesktop seems to do well with the video but sound is an issue.

• Found a clue at http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/3490/how-can-i-record-the-sound-output-with-gtk-recordmydesktop after a good deal of searching and experimentation.  It seems if I set the internal audio to Analog Stero Output all is well.  There is some choppy video but now I've got sound.
• Reduce video quality to 31%,  15 frames per second, zero compression, frequency 28000:  Works to a point but video is a bit choppy.

I'll do some more research to see if there is a way to snag the video directly from the stream.

Fire ComcastTV - Another new computer

Picked up another new computer from Craigs list ($50):

• ATI Radeon Sapphire X1950GT with 512 MB video card (dual DVI and TV out) 
• Intel DG33FB motherboard with 3 gig pc800 memory with Intel Celeron 450 (single core 64 bit) 2.20GHZ/512/800/86 processor

I'm not entirely sure what I'll do with it but someone gets an upgrade.  I'll need a new power supply since this has some PCIe slots and 24 pin power.  Power requirements from http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp for a reasonable configuration is around 443W.  I'll order a 600W power supply and a couple of fans.  While I'm at it I'll order fans for Ohio.

The board also has 11 mount points.  I'll need to check the chassis I have to see if they are in fact usable.  If not I'll order a case.

Intel docs say board supports Core 2 Duo/Quad processors ($170-$200 chip upgrade).  Not worth it.

I'll need to work through the details but it looks like I can mount it in one of the old chassis with a new power supply.  Alternately, I could buy a chassis and build a really big storage server.

To DO

• Upgrade roku to use http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/ROKU_HD_Frontend
• Build new system
• Finish the tivo slide support
• Setup mythnettv properly
• Finish freenas install
• Improve antenna.  Bow tie is better but could use better still.  Also consider array of fractal and large fractal.
• Remove passwords that popup

Fire ComcastTV - RIP DVDs

To simplify things I'm going to backup my DVDs to disk so they are playable from xbmc.

• vobcopy looks promising (http://vobcopy.org/projects/c/c.shtml)
• Some apparently very good clues here: http://jaxwell.com/dvd/dvd_howto.html.  How to use vobcopy and make backups.

Addenda: This youtube video is also very helpful (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPLquAvs7eQ) using Thoggen: http://thoggen.net/
HandbrakeGTK: http://handbrake.fr/

To DO

• Upgrade roku to use http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/ROKU_HD_Frontend
• Finish the tivo slide support
• Setup mythnettv properly
• Finish freenas install
• Improve antenna.  Bow tie is better but could use better still.  Also consider array of fractal and large fractal.
• Remove passwords that popup

This is the key part:
=======================================================================

Tools of the trade

These are the tools you will need to install, with all dependencies. you can find more info on google.com or freshmeat.net:

• transcode
• dvd::rip (optional frontend for transcode. lots of dependencies)
• vobcopy (small simple tool for ripping)
• mplex (part of the mjpeg-tools suite)
• dvdauthor
• dvd+rw-tools

Gathering files from the DVD

First we need to copy our movie to the hard drive from the DVD. Mount the drive, and do a df. If the disk is already less than 4.4G(4482Mb), then its already dvd5, and you can mirror it with vobcopy, then it will be ready to burn! Otherwise, continue on.


Use vobcopy to mirror your entire DVD to your current directory for direct burning: (If it is indeed small enough)

$ vobcopy -m -o .

vobcopy -I to get info

vobcopy -l to copy single large file for default

If the disk is larger than 4.4G(4482Mb), you will need to collect only the main movie title. You can find out some info by reading the DVD with dvdrip. I prefer to gather info via the command line.

Use vobcopy and tcprobe to find useful information: Vobcopy will tell you how many titles, chapters, and angles there are. Note which title has the most chapters, and how many chapters/angles that title has. Use tcprobe to see the audio/subtitle streams of the largest title. Note the audio streams that you wish to keep. Tcprobe will show you the languages of each audio track and how many channels each contains, as well as lots of other information.

$ vobcopy -I

and

$ tcprobe -i /dev/dvd

Use tccat to copy the desired title:

$ tccat -i /dev/dvd -T A,B-C,D > movie.vob

# where
# 
#     * A is the title that you want to rip
#     * B is the chapter that you want to start from (typically, 1)
#     * C is the chapter that you want to end with
#     * D is the angle that you want (typically, 1)
#     * movie.vob is the output file

Fire ComcastTV - FIOS cometh

Ran an errand today and on the way back noticed two Verizon trucks.  Stopped to ask about FIOS.  Turned out they were pulling cable.  Should finish Monday and we should get sales calls shortly thereafter.

Bye bye Comcast!!!

Also found out that FIOS internet service is NOT METERED!  Nice to find some common sense pricing.

Fire ComcastTV - improved antenna, Roku, Tivo Slide

Time to improve the antenna again.  A bit of searching lead to a number of interesting sites:

• Gray-Hoverman: http://www.digitalhome.ca/ota/superantenna/design.htm
• Gray-Hoverman: http://www.diytvantennas.com/sbgh.html
• Bow tie: http://www.tvantennaplans.com/ (angle 24.8 degrees)
• Bow tie (8): http://www.qsl.net/w/w7lk//misc%20pdf%20files/Misc%20PDFs/Build-a-Large-DB8-HDTV-Antenna-Big-Bertha.pdf (angle 2*16.83 = 33.66)
• Fractal: http://www.scienceprog.com/fractal-antenna-constructions/

DB8 Bow Tie

Will fabricate according to this drawing:

Cut some plastic for standoffs.  Stripped some #12 wire for antenna elements.

Click issues in linux/flash

Had some issues with mouse click not working when viewing videos.  It may be an issue with the browser or flash.  Found a possible fix here (http://www.webupd8.org/2009/11/fix-mouse-clicks-not-working-in-flash.html) to try.

Roku box arrived


Cabling is dead simple.  Setup needs to go to internet and register with Roku.  Also registered my Pandora account.  Created a Roksbox account.  Downloaded nowhereman extension.  Added Pandora extension.  All looks good.  This is a VERY cool device and will doubtless play a significant role in the Fire ComcastTV effort.

Tivo Slide Keyboard arrived


The Tivo Slide remote arrived.  It's a very cool device.  Plugged in to the Ubuntu box.  No joy.  There seem to be issues.  Started search to see how to configure.

• Checked for installable support.  No joy.
• There's a discussion here: http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/452369?do=post_view_threaded#452369.  I'll read it to see if there are any clues.
• http://www.bluetooth.org/tpg/listings.cfm reports Tivo Slide supported Aug 2010.  I'm running Ubuntu 10.04 (April 2010 I think).  There may well be issues.
• http://www.bluez.org/download/ appears to be the place for Linux blue tooth.  Ubuntu is here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BluetoothSetup.
• Package manager shows bluetooth support installed but there are MANY packages not installed.
• Found an apparently good clue here: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=79616&page=3
  Hi there,
  
  I'm a longtime user and lurker. Since I've been hacking Linux for around 15 years, I thought I'd see if I could get this remote working...
  
  Well, the kernel patch failed as the kernel I have (Ubuntu Lucid) is different enough from the patch kernel, so before hacking up kernel code, I thought I'd see what can be done in userspace. After all, the bluetooth stack does run partially in userspace...
  
  For a start, I followed the PS3 remote instructions here http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title..._PS3_BD_Remote to expand bluez beyond standard keycode recognition. After several reboots and reinstalling all the bluetooth support software from synaptics, the Tivo remote was recognized. I would note that you need to use code 0000, not the standard randomly generated code.
  
  It looks like I'm going to do some key mapping as only part of the keys work. The keyboard seems to work fine, but only up/down works on the nav pad. Left-right and select are non-functional. On the remote bit, volume, play, pause, ff, rev work.
  
  I haven't yet looked at debugging bluez to discover what other codes are being send, the only thing I saw was dmesg complaining about not being able to emulate raw mode for keycode 240.
  
  I don't know if anyone has gone down this route, but I'm hoping I can just modify the bluetooth input keymap without having to mod the kernel. It would seem logical that BT captures all the keycodes at some level, regardless of what USB HID does with it afterwords...
  
  Chris.
  
• We'll see where that leads.
• Turns out the key is to use code 0000 and be patient while the device negotiates a connection.  Keyboard generally works.  Curiously, the number keys on the keyboard don't work while the number keys on the remote face do.  Most of the other keys on the remote face don't work out of the box but hopefully some mapping will make them functional.
• XBMC support is reasonable from the keyboard tray.  Need to work out keymaps.
• Some useful background here (http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO_Setup_PS3_BD_Remote) on modifing /etc/bluetooth/input.conf to support a different device.
• Need to get mappings for tivo remote face.
• Mapped TV power, volume, and mute IR functions.  It appears that the channel up/down functions are bluetooth only as are most keys.
• Found some clues re XBMC here http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Keymap.xml.
• It turns out that at the current time a kernel patch is required to fully support this device.

To DO

• Finish the tivo slide support
• Setup mythnettv properly
• Finish freenas install
• Improve antenna.  Bow tie is better but could use better still.  Also consider array of fractal and large fractal.
• Remove passwords that popup

Fire ComcastTV - more almost done

Mount 1 TB network drive permanently

• Mounted drive per http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=255872.  Editing /etc/fstab did not work.  Added this line
  
  mount -t smbfs //192.168.1.2/nas0000 /media/twopugs2 -o password=,uid=mythtv,gid=mythtv
  
  to /etc/rc.local per AB's advice and a bit of experimentation.

Configure 2nd 160 GB drive and 1 TB network drive

• Added directories /media/sdb/mythtv and /media/twopugs2/Public/mythtv into storage pools where appropriate (places where much data possibly stored).

Setup mythnettv properly

• Configured per http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/MythNetvision.

Disable suspend and sleep

• Tried https://jeremy.visser.name/2007/02/how-to-disable-suspend-and-hibernate-for-all-users-in-ubuntu/.

Finish Ohio and drive TV

• Closed Ohio case and brought downstairs.
• Connected to TV.  Intermittent audio cable.  I'll replace it.
• Configured XBMC and MythTV.  Created desktop apps internet TV sources.
• Mouse intermittent.  Ohio's metal case is blocking signal.  Used USB cable to move interface to front.  I'll do something better after the remote arrives.
• Ohio seems sound.  I'll test it for a bit and go from there.

New machine

• Found another motherboard.  I'll try to pick it up ($50) and build another TV machine.

To DO

• Setup mythnettv properly
• Finish freenas install
• Improve antenna.  Bow tie is better but could use better still.
• Remove passwords that popup

Fire ComcastTV - almost done

I've been working the last several days on several fronts on this project:

• I've built a new (to me) tv pc.  As I mentioned earlier I bought a motherboard, memory, processor, and a couple of disk drives.  I ordered a larger power supply and some standoffs (I was one short to mount the motherboard).  All the parts came and I spent a day building the new pc, installing Ubuntu 10.04, mythtv, xbmc, etc.  I still need to close up the case and finish a bit of configuration but all is basically working.
• I've got Ubuntu 10.04 working well with xbmc and myth tv everywhere so I've dropped the 11.04 work since it doesn't seem to add anything.
• I dual booted the AsusLaptop and installed ubuntu 10.04.  Works OK.  Worked on the interface to make things easier for BB to use.  Installed mythtv support in xbmc.  Works well.
• Built a new somewhat bigger antenna.  Initial testing  shows that it is marginally more sensitive.  I've mounted it on HDHomeRun for further evaluation.

Mount 2nd hard drive in Ohio

• Disk utility shows second drive is the Samsung 160 GB.  The partitioning is ok.  
• Mount it to see what, if anything, is on the drive.  It looks like it has an old ubuntu on it.  Reformat drive.
• MythTV stores its data at /var/lib/mythtv which is on sda.
• 2nd drive mounts at /mount/sdb.  Create mythtv directory and subdirectories that mirror /var/lib/mythtv.  MythTV default would be /media/sdb/mythtv with others per /var/lib/mythtv model.
• Edited /etc/fstab per http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/mountlinux adding both /media/sdb/mythtv and a second swap partition.

Mount 1 tb network drive

• //twopugs/nas0000/public/mythtv created.  Subdirectories created mirroring /var/lib/mythtv structure
• Not sure what path to twopugs really is but I'm able to see it on Amazon's file browser.
• I'll need to work this out.

To DO

• Mount 2nd 160 GB drive and fix up place for video storage per section 9 guidelines.  Dre currently defined as /media/sdb.  Need to configure mythtv backend to use.
• Clean up and properly configure storage directories in mythtv storage groups
Default web page for TV.B network drive.
• Mount and configure 1 TB drive.
• Configure VNC so that I can always get to the machine.
• Setup mythnettv properly
• Finish freenas install
• Improve antenna
• Setuup VNC to work without a loged on user
• Remove passwords that popup

Sailing with Marc and Miriam

Great day yesterday sailing, of a sort, with MM.  Drove down and visited for a bit waiting for a line of storms to pass.  Their house is coming along but much remains.

Drove over to the marina in Wakefield (Upper Pond) and motored out to Point Judith Harbor of Refuge.  Put up the sail but no wind.  Motored over to the breakwater, anchored, and spend the day swimming and having a nice lunch.  Good way to spend a very hot day.  Here are some photos I took with my cell phone.  The sun was so bright I couldn't actually see the screen to frame the pics.

Fire ComcastTV - continue MythTV experiments

It is likely that the issues with MythTV recording were due to Windows Media Center.  It appears that WMC was recording at the same time that MTV was trying to.  Windows won.  I've cleared all the recordings in WMC so hopefully that issue is resolved.  I did toy for a bit with using WMC but the issue of network support and proprietary formats is ultimately a killer.  Checked the MTV watch TV and now all is well.

I now need to address the ubuntu 11 v 10 issue WRT ASUSLAPTOP.  There are several options.

• I discovered that it is possible to integrate XBMC very effectively with MTV.  Since XBMC runs OK on XP (ASUSLAPTOP) that's a fix and I can leave all the Ubuntu 10 machines alone.  This is straight forward and should go fairly quickly.
• I can upgrade everyone to Ubuntu 11 and run the current MTV.  It has a bit more functionality and it's VERY likely that there is a MythTV Frontend for XP.
• I could do nothing and wait to see how things work with WMC hopefully out of the picture.  It's also likely that the ASUSLAPTOP is temporary as I bought a nice motherboard/processor/memory from craig's list and will soon have a VERY capable machine to replace it.  That will allow me to move the ASUSLAPTOP to another TV or alternately just use it for other things by replacing the keyboard from ebay.

There's not much to recommend any of these options over each other.  I am curious about XBMC though.  Since that's probably the easiest short term solution I think I'll start there.

Integrate XBMC with MythTV

• Directions here, http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=MythTV
• Granted priviledges on Amazon MTV backend
  

  $ mysql -u root -p
     mysql> grant all on mythconverg.* to mythtv@"192.168.1.%" identified by "mythtv";
     mysql> flush privileges;
  
• Added the source to XBMC per the directions.
• Success, it works reasonably well.  I can see and play MTV content.  This is an OK temporary solution.  About the only thing not quite right is that the guide doesn't match the documents.  Fortunately, the web front end works well for this sort of stuff.
  
  Addenda: It turned out that I had to set /etc/hosts to bind the host name and IP as the mythtv host sometimes sends it's name.

MTV backend daemon

It appears that this is the default case so I've nothing to do here.

XBMC Investigation

Played a bit with XBMC.  It's rather more functional that I'd thought.  That said the version I'm running on the ASUSLAPTOP XP doesn't match recent documents.  I'm beginning to think that there is an XP issue.  In particular the XBMC Flicks plugin hangs when trying to interface to Netflix.  This is more an anoyance than a problem since I can easily watch Netflix in a browser.

Oddly, a couple of restarts later the Netflix addin started working.  Don't you just love open source?

Ubuntu 10.04 on ASUSLAPTOP

Since Ubuntu 10.04 is working well everywhere now, I'll install on ASUSLAPTOP as a dual boot to see how it works as a primary TV controller.  I'll need to break down the current TV connections and boot from a 10.04 install disk.

• Install 10.04 alongside XP in a 20 GB partition.  The machine could use a larger disk drive or an external.  I've got a 160 GB USB 2 that might work that I'll try if everything works OK.
• Installed MythTV frontend and configured.
• Installed Chrome browser.
• Started MythTV.  Got expected configuration screen.  Set backend IP and MySQL db login.
• Looks very nice.  Everything works great.
• Success

Check Browser access to video

• hulu works find
• netflix doesn't.  Turns out netflix is not supported on linux.  Sign petition.  Call netflix and read them the riot act.  Netflix is about to get fired.

Put some desktop links to popular networks.   Should really consider settingup a default web page.  All in all considerable progress.

To DO

• Default web page for TV.
• Install ubuntu 11.04 everywhere.  Install mythtv 11.04 as appropriate.
• Dual boot ASUSLAPTOP with ubuntu 11.04 and windows 7.
• Mount 2nd 160 GB drive and fix up place for video storage per section 9 guidelines.
• Clean up and properly configure storage directories in mythtv storage groups
• Configure VNC so that I can always get to the machine.
• Setup mythnettv properly
• Finish mythtv-setup now that DB is connected.
• Finish freenas install
• Build new TV PC
• Improve antenna
• Setuup VNC to work without a loged on user

Fire ComcastTV - configure MythTV

Time to proceed with configuring and testing MythTV.  So far MythTV is loaded and installed. The underlying mysql db is working (I think).

On a side note, documentation is classic liniux.  Whatever your question, the answer is out there somewhere.  Sadly, much of what is out there is plainly wrong or dated and no longer relevant leading to much wheel spinning and wasted time.  Additionally, parameter descriptions are sadly lacking and often just plain missing leading to a good deal of guesswork and "leave it alone and hope the default is OK even though I've no idea what it means."


Start with General configuration per section 9.1 in http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO.pdf

• Host Address Backend Setup is OK so make no changes.
• Local Settings are OK so make no changes.
• Miscellaneous Settings seem OK.  No changes.
• EIT Scanner Options OK.  No changes.
• Shutdown/Wakeup Options OK.  No changes.
• Backend Wakeup settings OK.  No changes.
• Backend Control settings OK.  No changes.
• Job Queue (Backend-Specific) settings OK.  No changes.
• Job Queue (Global) settings OK.  No changes.
• Job Queue (Job Commands) settings OK.  No changes.
• UPNP Server Settings OK.  No changes.
• Myth Database Logging settings OK.  No changes.
• Mythfilldatabase settings hopefully OK.  No changes.

Capture cards

• Capture Card Setup
• Define HDHomeRun DTV tuner box.  Use Device ID in Available Devices (arrow keys to select)
• Ditto second HDHomeRun tuner.

Video sources

• I'd previously registered with SchedulesDirect and paid the $20/year fee.
• Configured things per section 9 directions.

Input connections

• Followed directions per section 9 carefully.

Channel Editor

• Per directions wait on this till database if filled.

Storage Directories

• They all seem to be set to /var/lib/mythtv/... depending on content
• For the moment leave alone until the other DK are mounted per section 6 and the relevant section 9 instructions

System events

• Doesn't appear to be anything that needs doing here.  Leave alone.

Continue

• Exit mythtv-setup
• Popup wants to stop backend but it's already stopped.  Say no.
• Popup wants to run mythfilldatabase.  Say yes.
• Much configuration stuff happens.  All appears well.  Looks like it's downloading tv guides alongside other things.
• Somewhat uncertain about properly configuration.  Run mythtv-setup again.  Get very different screen.
• All appears well.  ESC to exit.
• mythfilldatabase runs again
• run mythbackend
• Seems to be running as an application.  Should be setup to run as a boot time daemon. 

Configure mythtv front end

• Section 10 contains documentation
• Applications/Sound & Video/MythTV Frontend
• comes up and seems to be live
• Watch TV to see if HDHomeRun is doing anything.  Get very broken and pixilated image but there is some kind of life.
• Kill VNC and go to actual machine since we're asking Amazon to do MUCH MORE than it's capable of.
• On Amazon TV is playing but there are two 'screens' one stacked above the other.  ESC to stop playing.
• Try configuring weather.  Zip code search doesn't seem to work.  City name search works.  Can find Boston.
• Manage recordings seems to be where recordings happen.
• Program guides seem to work.
• Setup scheduled recording for PBS Newshour.  Take defaults for everything.
• Screen is hard to use with current colors.  Setup Appearance to MythCenter.
• Try to fix stacked Watch TV.  Setup TV General doesn't seem to help.  Leave for now.
• See if MythWeb works.  http://192.168.1.179/mythweb/ takes us there!  Things seem generally to work.
• Try a recording.  There may be some directory issues.  Install windows sharing service so can share mythtv directories.
• All seems well.

Update Sudbury to run mythtv frontend

• Deinstalled all mythtv components on Sudbury
• Load new install of mythtv frontend
• Deleted the mysql database when new mythtv frontend proved incompatible with legacy db on Sudbury
• All is well

Get player working on AsusLaptop driving tv

• Can see share but nothing on the XP will play it.  Perhpas it's a job for transcoder.
• Played around a bit with XBMC which WILL play the file (so codec is installed)
• MythTV for windows here, http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/MythTV_on_Windows
• Points to website here, http://members.iinet.net.au/~davco/, with downloads here, http://members.iinet.net.au/~davco/
• Downloaded a build of MythTV frontend for windows (0.23.1).
• Errors with version issues of backend/frontend
• Determine that my backend is 0.23.0+fixes24158-0ubuntu2
• Uninstall 0.23.1
• Download 0.23-fixes & install & setup & test
• Doesn't run.  Brings up mythtv-setup and immediately aborts.
• Tested HDHomeRun working.  It is.
• Much mucking about.  It looks like I need to install ubuntu 11.04 with the appropriate mythtv or install ubuntu 10.04 on Dell 410.  Better choice is 11.04 since I can't seem to get a  10.04 mythtv for windows.
• Another alternative is to upgrade ASUSLAPTOP to windows 7 and attach 1 TB drive there.
• There is also some chance that WMS was running on a laptop and had the tuner tied up.

To DO

• Check turner tomorrow with WMS down.
• Install ubuntu 11.04 everywhere.  Install mythtv 11.04 as appropriate.
• Dual boot ASUSLAPTOP with ubuntu 11.04 and windows 7.
• Mount 2nd 160 GB drive and fix up place for video storage per section 9 guidelines.
• Clean up and properly configure storage directories in mythtv storage groups
• Setup mythtv backend to run as a daemon at boot time.
• Configure VNC so that I can always get to the machine.
• Setup mythnettv properly
• Finish mythtv-setup now that DB is connected.
• Finish freenas install
• Build new TV PC
• Improve antenna
• Setuup VNC to work without a loged on user

Fire ComcastTV - configure MythTV

Did a bit of research to prepare a bit better for the MythTV configuration.  Found several potentially useful sites:

• http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Main_Page - The main page with links to other more useful pages.
• http://www.mythtv.org/docs/ - The official docs.  Oriented to building from source but starting around chapter 6 useful for configuration.  Only a loose connection to the software as installed but reasonable clues.  At chapter 9 there is rather detailed though not always adequate documentation for configuration of the back end system.
• http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO.pdf - As above but a PDF that might be easier to use.
• http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Mythtv-setup - Just a place holder but with some useful links.
• http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/User_Manual:MythTV_structure - Useful background and some configuration information.
• http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/User_Manual:Detailed_configuration_Backend - Detailed walk through of backend setup.  Probably a good place to start.

Setup a VNC link to Amazon so I can work while downstairs.  LOVE VNC.

OK working from http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO.pdf I discovered that the database is at 

ls /usr/share/mythtv/mythweb/modules/database/.   However, during the initial install there were questions concerning the database so I'm going to skip the directions in 6.2.

Skip section 7 on sound since I know from earlier experiments with HDHomeRun that it captures sound.

Since I don't have a remote yet I also skipped section 8 on remotes.

Start with section 9.1, configure master backend system.

• Need a place to store the video so 

rbell01824@Amazon:~$ sudo -i
[sudo] password for rbell01824:
root@Amazon:~# mkdir /var/video
root@Amazon:~# chmod a+rwx /var/video
root@Amazon:~# exit

Much useful information about how to mount to minimize risk with video storage.  I'll ignore for the moment and return later. 

• Now run mythtv-setup to configure some more
• First run get notice that you must be a member of the mythtv group.  Say yes and get added to the group.  Must logout.  Since I'm working via VNC had to manually go upstairs and login again.  Need to find a better system.
• Reality and the directions part company here.  
• I get a screen to select language.  English is OK.
• Warning No UPnp.  Not sure what it is so I'm OK.
• Database Configuration 1/2 screen with warning Myth could not connect to the database.  This is somewhat alarming as during installation I answered questions that should have sorted this out.  
• Set host IP address since I know that the front end will be elsewhere and localhost is a nonstarter.
• Leave Ping set.
• Leave Port blank.
• Database name left at mythconverg.
• Leave User set to mythtv.
• Leave Password set to mythtv.
• Go to Database Configuration 2/2
• Leave everything along
• Get message that can not login to database
• Taken back to Database Configuration 1/2
• Try a couple of different passwords.  No joy.
• Cancel.  Get message Would you like to run mythfilldatabase.  Answer yes.  Text scrolls by but it looks like database access fails.
• Go back to database setup, section 6.

More DB work.

• Section 6 gives some commands.  They don't work as mysql is password protected per the earlier installation.

root@Amazon:~# mysql -u root --password=... mythconverg
Reading table information for completion of table and column names
You can turn off this feature to get a quicker startup with -A
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 89
Server version: 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.10 (Ubuntu)
Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.
mysql> grant all on mythconverg.* to mythtv@"192.168.1.%" identified by "mythtv";
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
mysql> flush privileges;;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
mysql> quit;
Bye

• This should fix the issue.  But still no joy.
• Edit /etc/mysql/my.cnf and force the IP.  Restart mysql with 
rbell01824@Amazon:~$ sudo service mysql restart mysql start/running, process 12472 rbell01824@Amazon:~$
• Success as user mythtv pw mythtv!!!!
• Get Host Address Backend Setup screen.  Looks like the install configuration is badly broken.
• Get a series of configuration screens.  Look at http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/User_Manual:Detailed_configuration_Backend for help in dealing with these.  It seems they can be left alone for the moment.
• Get to the "mythtv-setup" screen. 

To DO

• Mount 2nd 160 GB drive and fix up place for video storage per section 9 guidelines.
• Configure VNC so that I can always get to the machine.
• Finish mythtv-setup now that DB is connected.

Fire ComcastTV

Looking into alternatives for Windows Media Center to record OTA TV.

It turns out that HDHomeRun works with several different DVR packages.  Here's the score:

• Windows Media Center - Won't record to NAS.  Uses proprietary format.
• DVB-C - n/a.  Looks like a satellite recorder.
• BeyondTV - Looks interesting but $99!
• SageTV - Bought by Google.  Doesn't seem to be live anymore.
• MediaPortal - Free.  Quick investigation suggest it's a possible.  See here http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/ and here http://www.team-mediaportal.com/.
• TotalMedia - $80 but not as good looking as BeyondTV
• MythTV - Linux only never mind what Wiki says.

Looks like MediaPortal and MythTV are worth a look.

Install HDHomeRun on TV Laptop (Asus)

• Installed from mini CD.  Went well and quick play worked.
• Configured MediaPortal as default viewer so hopefully it will configure

NOTE: While looking around I found this (http://www.4therecord.eu/) which appears to be a stand along video recorder.  Might be worth a look if nothing else works out.

MediaPortal

Might work on TV Laptop (XP supported but hardware may be a bit marginal).  Quick review of features seems OK.  Lets give it a try.

• Downloaded and installed Media Portal.
• The configuration is VERY sophisticated.  Went through it.
• Can't connect to TV tuner.  Seems to be an issue with the firewall.
• Turned out both the firewall and the defaulted TV server needed work.  This stuff is NOT for the feint of heart.
• Can't see the TV schedule.  Check online.  Looks like need some extensions.  
• Bit of mucking about trying to get tvguide to work without much luck.
• Note along the way that there is no support for hulu, netflix, or pandora.
• While it's interesting in its way it's not for our needs.
• Surrender.
• Uninstall MediaPortal.

MythTV

MythTV runs on Linux.  It's got two parts a back end responsible for recording TV and managing data and a front end that provides a viewer.  The two parts can be installed on separate machines or both on one machine.  In my case I've got an old machine with Ubuntu 10.4 in my office.  There's not much on it right now so it's a possible candidate for MythTV installation. MythTV has a web interface, MythWeb, that can potentially used as the control interface on the TV Laptop running XP.  Once things are recorded it should be possible to use XBMC to view them running form the TV Laptop.  So there's the general approach.

• Checkout Compaq Presario.  Works OK.
• Install mythbuntu 11.04
• Go through configuration nightmare.  
• Documentation and software are only loosely connected.  
• After MUCH mucking about checking multiple how to and guides seemed close to configured.  
• Frontend wanted to upgrade.  Upgrade broke mythTV!  
• On one hand I'm sure it can be made to work.  On the other it's going to take considerable fooling about.
• Shutdown.
• Install Ubuntu 10.04.  It's older and hopefully stable with a WORKING mythTV that more closely resembles the docs.  Note, that mythbuntu 11.04 has been released (prematurely in my view) in the last few days.  NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME.
• Mount live ubuntu 10.04 CD and reboot.
• It takes considerable time for things to load and get started.
• Get message
• (initramfs) Unable to find a medium containing a live file system
• This happens inconsistently.  Not sure of the cause.  Reboots seem to help.  The machine has two eide 160 GB disk and plenty of memory for a liveCD install as it's been done twice previously.
• Reboot.  Same issue.
• Power off for a bit.  Power on. 
• Ubuntu shows it's loading
• Wait for several minutes
• All is well this time
• Install
• 10.04.02
• East coast time
• USA keyboard
• Choose erase and use entire disk (1 of 2 160 GB IDEs).  This should insure a completely fresh install of a hopefully stable base OS.
• Set name, login id, password, Machine name (Amazon), login automatically (OK since will be used as a mythtv backend.
• Review configuration and install
• New ext4 FS created on sda... and installed.
• Called for reboot.
• CD ejected
• Got bunch of I/O errors and eventually a "grub>" prompt
• Not good.
• Power down and force reboot
• Things apparently went badly.  have "grub>" prompt and no boot
• Power down.  Perhaps I've got some DK problems.
• Try one last time. 
• Tried booting from a thumb drive.  No go.  Won't boot from USB.
• Mount 10.04 cd and go through another install.
• initramfs error again
• Cycle power in hopes of one last try.
• No go.  Clearly some hardware issues have developed.
• Formatted a pen drive and installed in Amazon.  Will try to use it to support ubuntu install
• Reboot CD with pen drive in USB port
• Pen drive is being frequently accessed.  Is there a memory issue with Amazon.  That would be consistent with the error message.
• CD 2 ejected!!!  Earlier I was suspicious that it was broken.  Perhaps it is and should be disconnected.
• Error comes up again.
• Disconnect cd 2 and try again.
• pulled the power and data cable from CD 2.
• reboot
• Install comes up ok.  Looks like the 2nd CD may actually be bad.
• Set USA, time zone, english, erase and use entire disk, Richard Bell, rbell01824, pw, Amazon, automatic login, approve and install
• Seemed to go well.  Screen wanted a restart.  Said yes.  CD ejected.  Closed tray.  Message "4132.77xxxx end_request: I/O error, dev sr0, sector 524496", Hit enter, Msg: will now restart, COMPAQ logo, grub, booted 
• Ubuntu booted OK
• Don't you just love intermittent hwd errors!  Fairly sure it's CD 2.
• Setup remote desktop preferences to expose Amazon desktop
• Update manager had 138 updates.  Installed them.
• Download, install, restart
• Success
• Install mythtv components
• selected: 
• mytharchive
• mythvideo
• mythweb
• mythnetvision
• mythweather
• mythmusic
• mythnettv
• mythnettv-gui
• mythgallery
• mythnews
• mythplugins
• mythtv-backend
• mythtv-frontend
• mythtv-doc
• mythtv-database
• mythtv
• mythtv-status
• mythtv-backend-master
• libhdhomerun1
• hdhomerun-config
• hdhomerun-config-gui
• installed 184 packages!!
• Configuring mysql-server-5.1
• password: usual
• password MythWeb: not checked
• use webserver exclusively with mythweb: checked
• Other computers run mythtv: checked
• Packages continue to install.  All seems well.

Now what?

Need to see how to finish install and configuration.

Bike ride with BB

Out for a nice Sunday bike ride before 90+ day.

Our average speeds continue to creep up.  We'll now average above 8MPH with stops for water for over 8 miles.  That's progress of a sort.

Max's 7 th birthday

Out to visit HB and Allen for Max's 7 th birthday.  Had a great day.  We filled many water balloons for the kids.  I'd brought a water balloon slingshot that could shoot over 100 ft.  Great fun.  I'd made some giant balloons wands.  The bubble mix that had worked very well yesterday didn't work as well today but still it was good fun. Here are the photos from the party.



I took these with my phone.  I've put in a micro SD card and configured the phone to store photos etc there.  With 8 GB of storage I should never run out.

Fire ComcastTV

I'd ordered the computer gear needed to Fire ComcastTV a few days ago.  It arrived yesterday and we're now on out way to firing Comcast.

Step one: 1TB USB 2/3 drive connected to Cisco/Linksys router.  Drive is about the size of a pack of playing cards.

• Plugged it in.  
• Logged onto router. 
• Configured - it was a bit of effort as the online directions are not entirely clear.  All is well.
• Setup share on Sony and other PCs as needed.
• Declare victory.

Step two: Setup new GB switch.  I've been using an antique 10 mb switch in my office.  Plenty fast for what I do there but I decided to mount the TV tuner and antenna there so it's time to upgrade to a gb switch.

• Remove old switch and replace with new one.  It just works.
• Declare victory.

Step 3: Install HD HomeRun and configure.  This is the heart of what's needed to record HDTV over the air. 

• Hang fractal antenna.  A bit funky, I know, but free and VERY effective.

• Install tuner (about the size of a pack of playing cards).  Connect antenna.  Connect to gb switch.  Connect power supply.

• Install software and configure.
• Software came on a neat little 2.5" CD.  Installed ok.
• Scan for tuner on the network.  NOT FOUND. 
• Scanning software updated itself (don't you just love the internet).  
• Scans again.  Finds tuner.
• Scan for stations.  Find 24!
• Try watching TV on included application.  Good video.  No sound!
• Google problem.  Missing codec.
• Download and install codec.
• Sound returns. 
• Declare victory.

Step four: Setup for recording.  I decided to use Windows Media Center at least initially.

• Bring up WMC on Sony Laptop.
• Go to TV and configure HDHomeRun.  Scan finds tuner and 24 channels.
• Configure location.  WMC finds listings.
• Looks good.
• Try recording.  Works OK.
• Notice that recordings are stored on Sony local drive.  Want to store them on new 1 TB drive.
• Much research.  Turns out WMC will only store on local drive!  Bogus.  Purported reason is reliability WRT network.  Work with me here - the TV data comes over the network so how is it that storing the results on a network drive is unreliable?  Don't you just love MS - NOT!
• Further research reveals that record files are '.wtv'.  ONLY WMC will play them.  Sadly, WMC only runs on Windows 7 and I'm using an old XP (ASUS laptop) to run the TV.
• Bogus, bogus, bogus.  Not acceptable.

Step five: Time to rethink!  Problems:

• WMC formating.  Only solution is to use something else for recording management.  Looked into XBMC but no recording features.  Looked into MythTV but doesn't run on Windows.
• WMC support to network storage.  Could attach 1TB to Windows 7 box but then loose it for other uses.

A bit more experimentation is in order.  

• Checkout MythTV on Linux as a backend to record to network.  See if its web interface works well enough to use.  See if it's recorded format is compatible with TV Laptop running XP and XBMC.
• Checkout Dell 410 driving Samsung TV since it can run Windows 7.

Bike ride with BB

BB and I went for a 10 mi bike ride around town.  Great day with temps in the mid 80s and bright sun.  Some hills but overall not bad.

Great testing tool

I stumbled across this great set of testing tools, ultimatebootcd,  http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/.  Lots of interesting tools.  I'm going to use it to check some disk drives and perhaps to see if I can learn anything about the Compaq Amazon AGP issue.

Fire Comcast TV

Sudbury HP box work continues:

• XP update went OK.  Also ran virus scan.  Looks like XP is alive and well.
• Reboot Ubuntu.
• Not happy with dual screen support.  I'm running the proprietary drivers.  I can have one big screen.  Problem is that popup windows land on the seam between the screens.  BOGUS.  I can have two logical screens.  Problem is that I can't drag windows between them.  BOGUS.  Need to look into solution.
• Went back to  Twinview in proprietary NVIDIA X server.  All is well.
• Install Chrome browser.
• Used Synaptic to download and install chromium-browser.  Started OK.
• Set preferences
• Reopen last pages
• home to igoogle
• show home button
• show bookmarks
• sync bookmarks to my igoogle account
• classic theme
• All is well with chrome
• Added to panel so it's handy
• Update firefox.
• System came with 3.x.  FF is now at 5.x.
• Some issues as to support on Ubuntu 10.04 but it seems to be.  Followed directions here - http://mygeekopinions.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-to-install-firefox-5-in-ubuntu-1004.html
• Firefox reports 3.6.18.  Clearly not 5.
• Did
• sudo apt-get purge firefox  --- now it should be truly gone
• sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get upgrade
• Think I may have failed to upgrade earlier.
• Firefox is gone and there is no FF 5!
• Synaptic package manager now shows a FF 5.  Install it.  Firefox is now back as 5.0!
• Pin to panel.
• Setup google gmail as default mailer and other google desktop apps I typically use
• Found google desktop here, http://desktop.google.com/en/linux/install.html?dl=deb
• Downloaded and installed using package manager by clicking on download file.
• Desktop provides basic search and indexing of my computer.  Useful, but not what I'm looking for.  Turns out I need Google Gadgets.
• Found how to here, http://blog.sudobits.com/2010/05/16/how-to-install-google-gadgets-in-ubuntu-10-04/
• Choose Synaptic google-gadgets-gtk since I'm comfortable with the Gnome desktop that is standard in Ubuntu 10.04.
• Installed.  Not what I was looking for.  It seems that the interface on Windows 7 is not available on Ubuntu 10.04.  Pity, I really liked it.  I can do something with some shell scripts I suppose but I'll leave that for another time if I really find it a burden.
• Also will need to make gmail my default mailer when the need occurs.
• Install MythTV
• Installed from Synaptic.
• Noted that there were Synaptic packages for plugins.
• Tried it.  Must be member of the mythtv group.  Accepted the offer and associated logout/login.
• Started mythtv frontend again.  Processor load got the machines fans running.
• Setup and changed interface to something that I can actually see.
• It's SLOW on this machine with a browser running at the same time.
• Took a bit of mucking about to get screen so I could see it all.
• Mouse doesn't display!  Seems like it's very remote oriented with keyboard shortcuts here, http://www.keyxl.com/aaa3626/343/MythTV-keyboard-shortcuts.htm
• It works to a point but is rather disappointing.
• Install XBMC
• Time to install XBMC under Ubuntu 10.04.
• Found guide here, http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO_install_XBMC_for_Linux_on_Ubuntu,_a_Step-by-Step_Guide

• sudo apt-get install python-software-properties pkg-config
  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc
  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get install xbmc xbmc-standalone
  sudo apt-get update

• xbmc is now installed
• Start it.  Takes the whole of BOTH monitors.  Not good.  It's also slow responding to the mouse.
• Used system to setup to run in window.  Much better.  Play with the configuration.  All in all not bad.

Well, I've got a working Ubuntu 10.04 on the HP box Sudbury.  Both MythTV and XBMC install though both are a bit slow.

I'll need to think a bit about the whole MythTV/XBMC thing BEFORE deciding what I'm going to do.  As a practical matter, driving the TV with a reasonably compatible laptop

• Works
• Cost nothing
• Resolution is good
• Provides access to
• Hulu
• Netflix
• Youtube
• Pandora
• All the network home pages
• Anything else that's on the net
• Can be controlled reasonably with a mouse and/or a VNC session from a very small laptop.

About the only real drawbacks are that I can't record OTA TV for later playback.  There are a handful of shows on PBS and elsewhere where that would be nice particularly news.  On the other hand it will cost somewhere around $300 to set it up.  For that price I can find another laptop with an HDMI output running Windows 7 and declare victory.

Amazon Compaq box continues:

• Configure , second drive into the FS
• Just followed the directions here, http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/mountlinux.  Actually mounted at /mnt/sdb1
• Experimented some more with getting one of the three AGP cards I have working.  No joy.  I'll just put the PCI card back and declare victory.  
• This machine is DONE.  I'll move it into the office as a play Ubuntu machine.  I'll probably upgrade to Ubuntu 11.04 since there is no xbmc issue and see what the kde desktop is like.

Going forward:

• Finish Compaq.
• Start build for FreeNAS.  I've got an old DELL with not much memory that I can try.  If that's an issue I've got two others with 768MB that should work.  I've got a couple of small IDE drives (4GB and 6GB) that can serve as system disk (FreeNAS can't use the boot disk for storage).  For storage I've got a 160GB, 200GB, 80GB, and 80GB disk.  Stacked up that's a fair amount though spread across volumes is a bit of an inconvenience.  Still it should make a good file server.

Fire ComcastTV

So, after thinking things over I've decided to take a look at Ubuntu 10.04 since it's a stable release with XBMC support.  Since it's been around for a bit, presumably MythTV etc will also be well supported.  For the test platform, I'm going to look into my old HP desktop.

The HP desktop has a copy of Mandriva I'd used for some development work some years ago.  Sadly, it no longer books Mandriva with a disk error.  Step one is to get Mandriva going again and check what's on the disk drives.

• Made a Ubuntu 10.04 bootable CD.
• Booted HP machine with it.
• Ran disk utility and found error in one of the partitions.
• Ran gparted to repair file system.
• Rebooted
• Mandriva now boots OK

Next problem is that I no longer remember the password!  Step two, figure out what the password is and login to Mandriva.

• Bit of searching found http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/linux-tutorials-howtos-reference-material/54418-howto-recover-reset-root-password.html and http://www.linuxclues.com/articles/11.htm.
• Not sure what boot manager is installed and after trying ctrl-x and e found that esc got me to a 'boot' prompt.  None of that is useful to me.
• Booted ubuntu CD.
• Mounted Mandriva's boot drive.
• Found etc and edited passwd and shadow for both root and editshare.
• Rebooted.
• editshare user now has no passwd
• now set a 'root' and 'editshare' passwd
• issue with using passwd.  Found this http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-general-1/passwd-user-not-known-to-the-underlying-authentication-module-83380/.  Used pwconv.  All is now well.

OK, now what to do re Ubuntu 10.04?  Step three, look at what is on the HP mandriva install and save as appropriate.

• A 'du /home/...' showed 118GB used.  That's a lot of DVDs.  I'm not sure any of it is important and really don't care so I'll just trash it and install Ubuntu 10.04.
• I did discover a couple of applications that I'd like to keep so I copied them to a flash drive since dealing with creating a DVD was not clear.
• Also noticed an unusual disk partition.  It looks like I was emulating a RAID array using partitions.  That should mean that I can keep the Mandriva install and use the old RAID partitions for ubuntu.

Step 4, install Ubuntu 10.04.

• I've done it so often now it's easy.  Chose to overwrite Mandriva.
• Reboot.  It looks good.
• Reconfigure screens as I've got two monitors.
• Update software.
• Load proprietary driver and reboot.
• Change Gnome background to be lighter.
• Burn kbuntu 10.04 CD to update ubuntu with KDE desktop and some applications.
• Make sure I can still boot XP.  I can so all looks OK.  While I've got XP up do a system update.
• Haven't booted XP for several months.  Update Norton and scan.  Takes a long time.  Norton wanted a reboot. So we're off to the 'lets get XP up to current rev' races.  Also will need to rev up XP proper.
• MUCH MUCH MUCH XP updates.  Let it run overnight.
• Tomorrow I'll make sure XP is happy then return to Ubuntu.

Meanwhile, I'm checking some old, possibly bad disk on the old compaq running Ubuntu 11.04.  I noticed that I'd not finished configuring the two 160 GB drives.  Step one, finish configuring the drives.

• Attempted to use gparted to clean things up.  Not sure of what I'm doing.  Decided to install ubuntu 10.04 from CD instead.
• Installed ubuntu 10.04.  It occurs to me that ultimately I'm just going to install FreeNAS but I can check disk drives this way.
• Also noted that there isn't much space in the old Compaq chassis.  Dave's old Asus desktop has a lot of space so I may move the board over and build a NAS there.
• After much confusion, call brother Art and ask about where to install second drive in file system.
• For tomorrow, finish installing second drive to make sure I know what I'm doing and begin to check other disk drives.

Meanwhile, realized that Dave's old asus desktop had a good disk drive.  Turns out to be a 200GB maxtor.  Since I'm trying to setup a NAS server, it should be useful.  While looking at DOAD (Dave's Old Asus Desktop) I noticed that he has much more room than any of the other chassis I have and a 300W power supply.

Fire ComcastTV

Well, the beat goes on.  Loaded (sort of) XBMC.  As usual the directions on xbmc.org for linux were bogus (http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Installing_XBMC_for_Linux)!  Bit of searching found some almost right directions (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1766855).  XBMC installs and runs (sort of).  It also crashes, really.  It's clearly much less stable than the Windows version.  I'll have to think this through a bit, but for the moment I'm not especially thrilled about the Ubuntu prospects.

Fire Comcast - the beat goes on

Today was devoted to exploring MythTV and XBMC as user interfaces for Fire Comcast.

Installed MythTV on Dell 410.  Not happy with the results.  There was considerable difficulty trying to get some of the plug-ins that should be part of the base.

Decided to install MythBuntu to try to get plug-ins.  It's even worse with a really dumb UI compared to the default Ubuntu.

Reinstalled Ubuntu 11.04.  Now need to rebuild Dell 410.

Started with getting VNC working again using Remote Desktop.  It went back in easily.

Had to reconnect wireless interface.  Installed firmware-b43-installer.  Could then see wireless router and reconnect.

Installed Chromium Web Browser using package manager.

That basically gets me back to where I started this AM.  Now to go forward.

To reinstall mythtv I went here then here.  After reboot required by joining mythtv group myth now runs and tries to configure.  Sadly, no database.

Go back and install database backend MythTV Backend.  So much for the links!


With backend installed, frontend now works OK.

On to plug-ins.  But first change the interface skin to something I can stand.  Found a clue on plug-ins here.  Plugins were found by going first here then here (don't you just love linux docs).  The mythtv plugins docs imply that the tar file just downloaded is expanded in the home directory ~.  Do so.  After the tax -x... now have mythplugins-0.24.1 directory with a configure executable.
.
A quick test of ./configure --enable-all fails miserably as the prerequisites aren't present.

OK, lets try to install mythgallery.  It seems about as simple as this stuff is going to get.  First off, it wants Open GL & TIFF support.  No idea if Ubuntu has it by default or what.  Do a bit of inconclusive checking then say what the heck, just try and see what happens.  The directions from http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-15.html are just plain bogus.

Google for ubuntu install mythgallery.  Land on these instructions - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MythGallery.  Lets try these.  Oops, seems it's about Ubuntu 9 and a candidate for deletion.

Lets try mythbrowser.  Turns out it's an actual Ubuntu package.  No joy.

Run mythbuntu control center.  Looks promising.  Try enable all plugins.  Mythmovies won't install.  Everything else will.  Install it and restart mythtv front end.  Much new but needs configuration.

Configure with mythtv front end.  Interesting possibilities particularly for news.  Weather is a bit dodgy since it can't find my town.  Explore the interface.  I'd give it a B.  It's more than a little clunky and limited.  Of course I've not looked at the tuner support.  That may change things.

Next up XBMC.  It may offer some better interfaces for some things.

4th of July

BB and I went for a short (6 mi) bike ride this mourning.  Here's the path.

From 2011-07-04

For the rest of the day it's yard (mow) and garden (transplant) work. I'm also thinking about trying some hydroponics in some of our brighter windows.  There is an interesting site at windowfarms.org.  I'll start collecting bottles to give it a try.

 I'm also going to disassemble the ice melt lights so I can rebuild them in 5 gal buckets next winter.