[mythtv-users] Absolute NEWBIE, question about Linux

[Dewey Smolka]

On 11/7/05, Aaron <hansolo77.geo at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi all.  I just joined this mailing list about 2 days ago, and have been
> reading almost every message for tips and tricks.  I am completely new
> to the MythTV scene and am very interested in becoming a part of the
> growing community...

I was in the same position when I first started with Myth a year and a
half ago -- I had deep MS experience going back to MS-DOS and Win 3.1,
but my my *nix knowledge was pretty much limited to ls, cp, mkdir,
etc.

I also opted for Knoppmyth thinking that it would be the easiest way
to get MythTV up and running. I even installed Knoppix and fooled
around with it for a week or so before wiping and installing
Knoppmyth.

In retrospect, this was not a good way to go. Knoppmyth is a great
tool, and my hat is definitely off to Cecil and the others who put it
together. But it is not, nor is it really intended to be a foolproof
install for newbies. My first attempt with Knoppmyth (R4A12, I think)
took at least a week to get running, and maybe a month before I had
all the plugins running properly.

It's possible that everything will go smoothly and you'll have your
Myth machine running in a couple of hours, but that is not very
likely. It can be difficult enough to track down and fix problems in
Knoppmyth when someone is new to MythTV -- add unfamiliarity with
Linux in general to that and Knoppmyth can be frustrating and
discouraging.

Knoppix is a great installer once you know how it, and MythTV work. It
may be a one-disc install, but it is not simple, and the current
release (R5A22) is not stable.

I would very strongly second the idea of building according to Jarod's
guide -- using the stable 18.1 version. Although it requires more
initial effort, going through through all the steps in the guide
really shows you what pieces are involved in Myth, where those pieces
go, and how they all fit together. Plus going through those steps will
teach you about some very important system tools in Linux.

You'll want a solid Linux reference volume -- something that contains
detailed instructions on things like mounting volumes with fstab,
sharing with NFS and Samba, IP configuration, ports, network tools,
daemons, run levels, a glossary of commands, etc. I picked up a cheap
copy of the Debian Bible -- it covers the basics, though I wouldn't
particularly recommend buying it. Even an older volume from the
library can be very helpful.

I'm sure you've noticed by now that a favorite pastime of a certain
type of Linux user is arguing about distributions. In the end, it
doesn't much matter. Jarod's guide uses Fedora Core 4 which is a full
featured distro with just about everything you need including lots of
graphical system configuration tools. Is FC4 the best distro? That's a
matter of opinion, and ultimately irrelevant.

The guide uses FC4 so that seems a logical choice, but the
instructions are more or less the same whatever you use.

Expect problems and be patient. The list archive is your friend:
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/

Other than that, just dive right in, the water's fine.