[mythtv-users] Myth on a Laptop

[Robert Johnston]

On 10/1/07, Yan Seiner <yan at seiner.com> wrote:
> Brian Wood wrote:
> > Yan Seiner wrote:
> >
> >> Several people have played with "Myth-to-go" over the years, myself
> >> included.  There just doesn't seem to be enough critical mass, or a dev
> >> with enough time and desire, to put it all together.  (I'm not
> >> criticizing here; I'm one of those who has the need but not the time /
> >> knowledge / desire to get it done.)
> >
> > I suspect there's a lack of a lot of interest.
> >
>
> Yup.
>
> > What might you want to do "on the go"?
> >
> > Watch recordings? You can do that easily by just transferring the files.
> >
> > Schedule recordings? You can do that now with a web browser.
> >
> > You can grab any recordings not already on the laptop over the net.
> >
> > Anything having to do with optical media would require physical access
> > to the main machine.
> >
> > Maybe tuning and watching live TV (a la Slingbox) would be desired, but
> > by how many?
>
> Well, the original concept involved adding a "to go" interface where you
> can pick movies and recordings to transfer to the 'to go' box.  The
> plugin then rsyncs those recordings over, extracts the appropriate data
> from the master BE SQL database, and stuffs it into the remote BE SQL
> database.
>
> That way, when you unplug from the network and reboot, Myth comes up,
> automagically fires up its own BE and SQL database, and has the correct
> data in the database to watch what you want.
>
> The whole idea is "disconnected operation" rather than "remote
> operation".  We travel a lot, and take movies for the kids (and us) on a
> small PC.  This way we can play what we want, with no need for
> connectivity to the web.

Just throwing an idea out here:

For the recordings, you could use NFS and UnionFS, so you have a
"Local" copy of the recordings, and use UnionFS to "Merge" those with
NFS-Mounted recordings from the actual backend. Then, when you
disconnect, the NFS mount disappears, but you still have the
recordings copied to the "Local" folder available.

Unfortunately, the Database is going to be a problem - MySQL's
Replication is poor to say the least, and it wouldn't help distinguish
what is available when the laptop's "Offline". Perhaps having the
mysql.txt be a link to a version within the UnionFS that gets
overridden by the NFS mount.

Then all that would need working out is the copying (And deletion) of
the local SQL entries when a recording is "Exported", and starting
(and stopping) MythBackend on the "Disconnected" laptop to take over
backend duties when the network connection goes down.

Just a thought, anyways.
-- 
Robert "Anaerin" Johnston