basketcase
October 19th, 2006, 12:35 AM
No this is not an I hate linux rant, I actually have it on one of my desktops, and on my notebook. I very much like Linux, and am awaiting the day when I can convert 100%.
Anways, my little trek with MythTV started a number of months back, and at that time unsuccessful, moreso because of hardware issues I was facing, than the software.
Move to this past weekend...Hardware is working well, and I'm off. I had downloaded ZenWalk linux and wanted to see what it was all about. Hardware detection was great, everything functioned as I could hope it would, so I said, what the hey, lets see if we can get MythTV installed. Found that ZenWalk was based on Slackware, and though new to me (slackware), I figured again why not. I have to say, there seems to be a lack of a how-to for something more recent (hardware/software available). The how-tos seemed out-dated. I know, I'm bitching and should do it myself. Anyways, I'm too dependable upon apt-get, and was lost with packagemanagement with Netpkg. Strike 1.
I had the latest version of KnoppMyth downloaded and burned to a CD, when trying to install I initially encountered an error -- uncertain what, tons of characters (not letters or anything of the sorts) on the screen that made no sense. I figured it was a bad burn.
Burned new disk for KnoppMyth and it installed. Everything was running smoothly, no complaints -- Until I rebooted. As previously in the past when I had tried to install KnoppMyth, after a reboot on it's booting up, it seemed to 'tank' (for a lack of better terms) on the ivtv initilizing. I'm uncertain what caused this, everything functioned fine, but after that reboot, it was done for. I was getting stressed at this point. Strike Two!
I like Ubuntu, and always seem to come back to it. It has actually been on my notebook for almost a year now (if not longer), and I'm very pleased with it. So I figure, why not use the distro I like the most? Well I started with a copy of 6.06 I had burned here. I did the cdtest and was successful with no errors. Everything installed fine and functioned as it should.
First attempt of install MythTV, failure. Per the number of how-to's on the WWW, I seemed to get stuck at the linking of directories when uncompression/compiling ivtv drivers. No big deal, lets start over.
2nd attempt...Failure. Environment all set up, everything seems to be going smoothly (I'm excited), but for some reason I am unable to connect to the database. After a number of attempts to COMPLETELY uninstall Mysql/phpmyadmin and everything associated with it (as well as Mythtv at that time), I was unsuccessful, and felt like I was running around in circles. Still not giving up. Per a few searches on this site, one that said that MythTV .20 was supported in Edgy, why not upgrade?
Upgraded to Edgy, personally I cannot tell a difference between Edgy and Dapper, but that's for another topic. MythTV .20 is in the repositories and everything appeared to be functioning wonderfully, again until MySQL setup. I'm not sure why I'm lost here. I have setup and used Mysql on a few servers that hosted wordpress, phpbb as well as Invisionboard. So though I am not a 'master' when it comes to Mysql, I knew that I should be able to successfully setup mysql w/o issues. Stike 3 -- I gave up on Ubuntu :(
Now this is like 10PM Sunday night, I've been sitting in front of this computer for a LONG time hoping to make something work. Google showed me Mythdora. Now I had Fedora Core 3 on a small server set on my home's DSL for over a year w/o ANY issues, so I liked it, but left it for Ubuntu 5.04/5.10. Again, I liked apt-get, and hated rpm-based distributions. But I wasn't really worried about the distrobution as I was getting a solid/functioning MythTV box up and running.
Typical Fedora Core install, nothing spectacular, longer than KnoppMyth, like the GUI installer a lot, very professional. A step ahead of Ubuntu, and a step behind SuSE. Installed, restarted, configured....SUCCESSFUL.
Here are my final thoughts on this little adventure.
KnoppMyth is a great idea, love that it is based on Knoppix (debian based), it seems dated though (compared to Zenwalk, Ubuntu, MythDora). I personally cannot say much more as I could never seem to get a good install.
Per the 'how-to's on installing/configuring MythTV, there is no consistency from one how-to to another. I realize that there is always more than one way to do something, but for a 'newbie' it is challenging and confusing making heads or tales on what the next step should be per the how-to you're following. And if you messed up somewhere along the lines during the install, and look at another how-to, which one is right, which one is wrong? Essentially neither are wrong or right because I'm assuming the author was successful in their installations because that is why they're writing they're how-to. It was also sort of evident that either a couple of how-tos were written by the same person verbatim or a copy/paste had taken place.
So why did I write this. I needed to vent to ppl I hope could understand the stresses. This is not so much a rant/hateful post in anyway.
I like Ubuntu too much to give up. I'm gonna take what I've learned, what I CAN learn and try and create Mythbuntu. I recently read on Digg that KnoppMyth was going to be converted over to Ubuntu, but no official release had been given yet, and I don't believe everything on the internet, so I'll believe it when I see it.
This is something I've wanted to do, I honestly have no idea what I'm getting myself into, but i hope a great experience that with a great return. I want to create something that is based on *buntu, and allows for a simpler means of installing/configuring MythTV.
So for those of you who are still reading...Thanks! For those of you who scrolled to the bottom, you didn't miss anything.
Thanks for the space to vent.
Anways, my little trek with MythTV started a number of months back, and at that time unsuccessful, moreso because of hardware issues I was facing, than the software.
Move to this past weekend...Hardware is working well, and I'm off. I had downloaded ZenWalk linux and wanted to see what it was all about. Hardware detection was great, everything functioned as I could hope it would, so I said, what the hey, lets see if we can get MythTV installed. Found that ZenWalk was based on Slackware, and though new to me (slackware), I figured again why not. I have to say, there seems to be a lack of a how-to for something more recent (hardware/software available). The how-tos seemed out-dated. I know, I'm bitching and should do it myself. Anyways, I'm too dependable upon apt-get, and was lost with packagemanagement with Netpkg. Strike 1.
I had the latest version of KnoppMyth downloaded and burned to a CD, when trying to install I initially encountered an error -- uncertain what, tons of characters (not letters or anything of the sorts) on the screen that made no sense. I figured it was a bad burn.
Burned new disk for KnoppMyth and it installed. Everything was running smoothly, no complaints -- Until I rebooted. As previously in the past when I had tried to install KnoppMyth, after a reboot on it's booting up, it seemed to 'tank' (for a lack of better terms) on the ivtv initilizing. I'm uncertain what caused this, everything functioned fine, but after that reboot, it was done for. I was getting stressed at this point. Strike Two!
I like Ubuntu, and always seem to come back to it. It has actually been on my notebook for almost a year now (if not longer), and I'm very pleased with it. So I figure, why not use the distro I like the most? Well I started with a copy of 6.06 I had burned here. I did the cdtest and was successful with no errors. Everything installed fine and functioned as it should.
First attempt of install MythTV, failure. Per the number of how-to's on the WWW, I seemed to get stuck at the linking of directories when uncompression/compiling ivtv drivers. No big deal, lets start over.
2nd attempt...Failure. Environment all set up, everything seems to be going smoothly (I'm excited), but for some reason I am unable to connect to the database. After a number of attempts to COMPLETELY uninstall Mysql/phpmyadmin and everything associated with it (as well as Mythtv at that time), I was unsuccessful, and felt like I was running around in circles. Still not giving up. Per a few searches on this site, one that said that MythTV .20 was supported in Edgy, why not upgrade?
Upgraded to Edgy, personally I cannot tell a difference between Edgy and Dapper, but that's for another topic. MythTV .20 is in the repositories and everything appeared to be functioning wonderfully, again until MySQL setup. I'm not sure why I'm lost here. I have setup and used Mysql on a few servers that hosted wordpress, phpbb as well as Invisionboard. So though I am not a 'master' when it comes to Mysql, I knew that I should be able to successfully setup mysql w/o issues. Stike 3 -- I gave up on Ubuntu :(
Now this is like 10PM Sunday night, I've been sitting in front of this computer for a LONG time hoping to make something work. Google showed me Mythdora. Now I had Fedora Core 3 on a small server set on my home's DSL for over a year w/o ANY issues, so I liked it, but left it for Ubuntu 5.04/5.10. Again, I liked apt-get, and hated rpm-based distributions. But I wasn't really worried about the distrobution as I was getting a solid/functioning MythTV box up and running.
Typical Fedora Core install, nothing spectacular, longer than KnoppMyth, like the GUI installer a lot, very professional. A step ahead of Ubuntu, and a step behind SuSE. Installed, restarted, configured....SUCCESSFUL.
Here are my final thoughts on this little adventure.
KnoppMyth is a great idea, love that it is based on Knoppix (debian based), it seems dated though (compared to Zenwalk, Ubuntu, MythDora). I personally cannot say much more as I could never seem to get a good install.
Per the 'how-to's on installing/configuring MythTV, there is no consistency from one how-to to another. I realize that there is always more than one way to do something, but for a 'newbie' it is challenging and confusing making heads or tales on what the next step should be per the how-to you're following. And if you messed up somewhere along the lines during the install, and look at another how-to, which one is right, which one is wrong? Essentially neither are wrong or right because I'm assuming the author was successful in their installations because that is why they're writing they're how-to. It was also sort of evident that either a couple of how-tos were written by the same person verbatim or a copy/paste had taken place.
So why did I write this. I needed to vent to ppl I hope could understand the stresses. This is not so much a rant/hateful post in anyway.
I like Ubuntu too much to give up. I'm gonna take what I've learned, what I CAN learn and try and create Mythbuntu. I recently read on Digg that KnoppMyth was going to be converted over to Ubuntu, but no official release had been given yet, and I don't believe everything on the internet, so I'll believe it when I see it.
This is something I've wanted to do, I honestly have no idea what I'm getting myself into, but i hope a great experience that with a great return. I want to create something that is based on *buntu, and allows for a simpler means of installing/configuring MythTV.
So for those of you who are still reading...Thanks! For those of you who scrolled to the bottom, you didn't miss anything.
Thanks for the space to vent.