Frontend Startup

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Software-update-available.png This page is up-to-date as of MythTV version 0.27.6, the current release is 34.0

Introduction

A brand new installation of MythTV will allow you to log on with your Linux user id and run the MythTV Frontend from the window manager's menu system. This is fine for getting your system going and for testing. However, using a keyboard and mouse to launch the frontend at the TV set in the living room may not be the best solution. At the same time, using a remote control to log into Linux in the living room may prove difficult.

Autologin to Frontend

Depending on the Desktop Environment you are using, you can specify "Startup Applications" that run once a user is logged in. In Ubuntu with Unity or Gnome desktop environment, It is under "System Tools", "Preferences", "Startup Applications". In other desktop environments it may be in another location. Add mythfrontend as a command to run on startup. Physically this is stored in ~/.config/autostart/ probably the file mythtv.desktop.

Set up your account to auto logon upon startup. In Ubuntu this is done in "System Settings", "User Accounts".

If your backend is set to shut down when idle, this will result in never shutting down, because the frontend is connected. To solve this, set the frontend idle timeout to a suitable value (e.g. 20 minutes). See . This way if the system was started up for making a recording rather than watching, by the time the recording is complete the frontend will have timed out and the system can shut down.

Remote Frontend

If you are using a remote frontend there is an additional consideration. If you are allowing your backend to shut down when idle you need to do something to ensure the database and backend are started when you start the frontend. If the database is not running when the frontend is started you will see a prompt for country and language. Trying to complete this will take you down a path that leads only to frustration. Solve this by setting up the backend to wake on LAN. Then, in the frontend setup configure database wakeup. If you start the frontend, the database will wake up and if the backend is on the same server it will also start up, and the frontend will connect.

If the backend is on a different server from the database, configure the backend wakeup settings, so that the backend server can start after the database server has started.

Restarting the Frontend

In the above scenarios, if you exit from the frontend using the remote control, you will be left with your TV displaying the desktop and no way to get back to the frontend. Using Frontend Setup->Edit Keys->Main Menu, remove the binding from exit and exitprompt to prevent exiting the frontend. Alternatively you can use Mythwelcome, which displays a button that allows the remote control to start the frontend.

Mythwelcome

Instead of starting the frontend automatically, you can auto start Mythwelcome instead. That displays a screen with a button to start the frontend, that can be activated with a remote that is configured for MythTV. Using Mythwelcome, the backend can shutdown at any time, without having to wait for a frontend time out. Also, Mythwelcome allows for starting the frontend again if you had exited the frontend accidentally.

The comments above under #Remote Frontend apply to Mythwelcome also. Mythwelcome requires the backend and database to be running.