[mythtv-users] New Install Recommendations

[Mathew Mrosko]

On Wednesday 13 July 2005 06:29 pm, Thom Paine wrote:
> I know everyone has their preference, and I've used RedHat for a long
> time, but for ease of installation and maintenance, what are some of
> the other installs that people are using?
>
> I tried MythDora, and I always seem to have some sort of a snag. Just
> when I thought it was working good, I find that it doesn't tune to the
> proper channel for recording.
>
> I'm downloading KnoppMyth as I type this, and will give it a try.
>
> I recently tried installing Gentoo on my spare laptop, and had had
> really good success. Many people running Gentoo using Myth?
>
> Basically I'm looking for solid backend and and will likely use Xboxes
> for frontends where I have TV's.
>
> I've been using FC4 on my good laptop, and I'd think that I wouldn't
> want to run this on the backend just yet. I like FC3, but these few
> changes is making it hard to get a working install.
>
> Thanks.

Depending on your setup, there are other pluses to gentoo besides ease, and 
customizability.  If you're like most gentoo ricers (myself included), you 
want to compile everything from source, specific to your system.  I have a 
backend, and 3 remote frontends.  The three remote frontends are dell 
optiplexes (they're small, don't look that bad in a entertainment center 
rack, and they're cheap!)  Look up the Dell GX150 on eBay and you'll see.  
Anyways, back to my point.  I use distcc to distribute the compile over the 
network (http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/distcc.xml).  I also have one frontend 
set to use the "buildpkg" feature, which will make packages of the things it 
comiples 
(http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-hppa.xml?part=2&chap=3#doc_chap4).  
This makes it so that when I update my 3 frontends, everything is compiled 
from source specific to it's arcitecture, and with distcc, I can update all 3 
frontends in minutes instead of hours.  The combined forces of distcc and 
building packages, makes gentoo IDEAL for a setup with LIKE machines such as 
I have.

Also, another fun package most people should know about for using gentoo and 
compiles is screen.  This is a terminal emulator which you can detach from.  
In other words, you can ssh to your box, start compiling, and detach from the 
session and the compiles will continue.  Most people will just ssh to a 
machine, and must leave the session open to allow the compiles to continue, 
however, screen helps this out!

Hope that helps!

Mat
--
mythtv [at] matmrosko [dot] com