[mythtv-users] MyMote has been released on the App Store!

Chase Douglas chasedouglas.lists at gmail.com
Wed Jul 30 22:50:07 UTC 2008


On Jul 30, 2008, at 5:16 PM, Josh wrote:
> I tried to try this app, by it seems to be stuck in the screen where
> it tries to connect.  It successfuly detected my machines (both front
> and backends) but when I chose one to connect to, it just sits idle
> with a blue message window that reads "connecting" and I can't seem to
> make it stop.  My frontend wasn't awake when I first tried to connect,
> which I suppose could cause a problem, but how do I recover at this
> point?  I awoke thwe machine by pressing a key on the attached
> keyboard, but that didn't seem to help.  Is there anything I can do to
> reset the program?  Do I need to reinstall?  Any idea when updates
> will make it to the app store?

I'm currently in a bad position. I've got many fixes that were made  
weeks ago, including some fixes when connecting to the frontend. For  
instance, I found out that if you picked a frontend and backend, and  
then you go somewhere where there's no access to the frontend anymore,  
you can't pick a new backend or frontend without reinstalling MyMote  
and starting all over. Fixes like these were simple and are ready to go.

BUT, it took Apple exactly four whole weeks to approve MyMote the  
first time. Updates also are thrown through the exact same queue and  
review process it seems, as many updates have taken weeks to be  
posted. Complicating the issue further is that once you submit an  
update, you can't change it again until the review is complete.

So, I can submit my fixes now and have them out as soon as possible.  
Or, I can wait a week to solve a few more issues, the largest of which  
would probably solve your connection issue right here: your iPhone  
can't resolve the frontend. Now, if you understand Avahi enough to get  
that running (not hard at all) and follow the Requirements page in the  
manual to set the search domain, you CAN get around this (unless  
mythtv knows your frontend as "localhost", in which case you're hosed  
until I get a new feature implemented).

This issue is by far the most annoying, as many people want to just  
fire up the app right away and expect things to work. I'm trying my  
best to get it as close as possible to that point, but there's  
coordination between MyMote, the MySQL database, the backend through  
the MythXML interface, and the frontend through the telnet remote. All  
of these, with the exception of the MythXML interface as it "just  
works", have to be configured to accept remote connections BEFORE  
MyMote can anything. It's unfortunate, I want it to be better, but I  
have to take things as they are and try to make lemonade out of  
lemons. And let's face it, MythTV is complex, but it's not really a  
lemon (in the perjorative sense). It works really well, if you follow  
instructions completely and take the time to ask for help when you get  
stuck.

I hope this clears up some of the issues surrounding connection  
problems with MyMote and expectations as to when fixes may arrive. My  
goal is to get an update to testers (which anyone can sign up to be by  
sending your device ID to mymote.support at gmail.com) probably early  
next week. Once I know that it's working for people, then I'll submit  
it to Apple, and hopefully it'll take less than 4 weeks to get the app  
reviewed. It's also extremely hard to guage this as Remote Remote gh  
(another mythtv remote control in the app store) was submitted on July  
18th and up on the app store on July 24th, so who knows how they order  
stuff in the review queue.

Thanks,
Chase Douglas


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