[mythtv-users] New user - low level hardware and software seem to work, but...

[John Finlay]

Mike Perkins wrote:
> Brad DerManouelian wrote:
>   
>> On Jan 11, 2009, at 6:29 PM, A. F. Cano wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> On Sun, Jan 11, 2009 at 05:13:52PM -0800, Brad DerManouelian wrote:
>>>       
>>>> On Jan 11, 2009, at 5:00 PM, A. F. Cano wrote:
>>>>
>>>>         
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>           
>>>> <snipped a bunch of stuff I'm not going to answer>
>>>>
>>>>         
>>>>> I propose a startup test: if mythtv-setup, mythtv or any other
>>>>> mythtv program
>>>>> for that matter is started from a console the current way is fine,
>>>>> but if it
>>>>> is started from an xterm/kterm/konsole/etc... or from a menu in kde/
>>>>> gnome/X
>>>>> it should start in a small window (not take over the whole screen).
>>>>>           
>>>> bderman at mythtv:~$ mythtv-setup --help
>>>>         
>>> Well, yes, that's how I found out about the geometry option.
>>>
>>>       
>>>> Valid options are:
>>>> -display X-server              Create GUI on X-server, not localhost
>>>> -geometry or --geometry WxH    Override window size settings
>>>> -geometry WxH+X+Y              Override window size and position
>>>>
>>>> Why guess at what "small window" is appropriate when you can just  
>>>> pass
>>>> it the exact size you want?
>>>>         
>>> My point was that, as a newbie, it was confusing to have the whole  
>>> screen
>>> taken over and to have no apparent way to resize the window (no  
>>> borders) or
>>> any way to use any other part of the window system.  What you  
>>> propose is
>>> fine, assuming you know beforehand that you must pass the geometry  
>>> parameters
>>> in order not to lose the whole desktop.  Plus, no other X/kde/gnome  
>>> program
>>> that I've used takes over the screen without warning.  Of course, it  
>>> might
>>> help to know that I'm not installing mythtv on a dedicated HTPC,  
>>> it's on
>>> a laptop that I use for other things, so keeping the desktop  
>>> available is
>>> valuable.  Yes, I know I can create a script that calls mythtv-setup  
>>> with
>>> the proper geometry options.  As to what a "small" window is, all  
>>> other
>>> programs I use start with some default size (usually sufficient for  
>>> what they
>>> need to display) and location, and if they're desktop-friendly, they  
>>> can
>>> also have those parameters saved and receive start/restore and end  
>>> messages
>>> from the desktop, but that might be beyond the scope of mythtv.   
>>> Mplayer
>>> for instance uses the f key to toggle between full-screen and  
>>> regular-size
>>> window that suits the resolution of what's displayed.  But of  
>>> course, I've
>>> just barely started using mythtv, so maybe I'm being naive.  I only  
>>> offer
>>> these suggestions so that others unfamiliar with the peculiarities  
>>> of this
>>> program might have an easier time in the future.
>>>       
>> You'll soon find that features that help newbies but not of much use  
>> to developers don't make it into the code because developers, not  
>> newbies write the code. I can give you the two answers that everyone  
>> seems to hate: a) submit a patch or b) write as feature request and  
>> hope that one day someone has nothing better to work on.
>>
>> MythTV does run in a windowed mode, but that is not the default since  
>> most people want to run in full screen and it makes most sense for the  
>> most people to default to full screen. However, you will find that the  
>> window is not resizable and to that I say, "patches to add this  
>> feature are welcome". No one has taken the effort to make that happen  
>> because of the minority who would benefit from this feature, none have  
>> provided code to do so. I'm not judging or suggesting you get to work  
>> on providing things that you aren't happy with. Just stating the fact.  
>> No one has cared enough to add the feature, so it's not there and  
>> clearly for the majority of users, it's working just fine without it.  
>> Otherwise, someone would have gotten frustrated enough without it to  
>> write it.
>>
>>     
> I had the same problem when I first started using Mythtv, but since I'm in the 
> UK my problem was worse because the schedules grabber works in a different 
> fashion. I couldn't work out why mythtv-setup 'hung' at a certain point.
>
> The simple answer is to use Alt+Tab to switch to your other window/desktop. 
> Gotcha (for me): for this to work, you must have more than just mythtv-setup 
> running (ie another xterm or a mail client, etc).
>
>   
Or use Ctrl-Alt-F1 to switch to a different virtual terminal if X hangs.

John