[mythtv-users] MythTV and the "average" user...

[George Galt]

On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 11:35 AM, Nick F <nikos.f at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 5/15/08, Colin McGregor <colin.mc151 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> So, the question is has MythTV with say Mythbuntu
>> reached the point where once set-up a "average" person could run the
>> machine? Basicly I want something that will make life easier for her,
>> not frustrate her...
>
>
> I love Myth, and my (non-technie) wife is able to use it fine when I'm away
> for extended periods on business travel.
>
> The only thing is, my setup does crash every so often, and once my wife
> learnt the basics of restarting the frontend, and if needed ssh'ing to the
> backend to restart the backend when something went crazy there, it's been
> fine.
>
> My setup is not yet at the consumer appliance level.  I personally wouldn't
> do one for my (completely non-technical) mother.
>
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>

I set up a box for my parents (both in their 70's and neither one very
technical) using FC6 and a PVR-350.  They love it, it never crashes
(current uptime of 83 days -- they occasionally lose power).  Once I
showed my dad how to use the schedule (and the MythWeb interface), he
has had no trouble putting things in, and my mom (and dad) have loved
being able to set a schedule through mythweb when they are away and
forgot to record something.

I would strongly urge you to use an OS that has a long release cycle
since you will be away and updating from one release to the next via
SSH is not really possible and being on the Fedora/Ubuntu 6 month
release cycle is a recipe for disaster -- I know through experience!
I'm moving them to CentOS next time I'm up there so that I can more
easily maintain their box.  Make sure you set up a firewall, ssh and
mythweb and you should be fine.

George