[mythtv-users] rookie mythtv prospective user

[Brian Wood]

paltron wrote:
> 1. By 'crap' I meant to say '*C*arefully *R*edesigned *A*pplication
> *P*ackage' - I hope this sounds better :-)
> 2. I certainly appreciate that you're trying to help me.
> 3. I can't understand, why the MythTV install must be sooooo complicated
> an prone to pitfalls and failures?Linux *and Ubuntu) handles packages,
> even complex ones so well, why is this an exception?
> I did everything 'by the book' following instructions precisely
> everytime. Everytime I ended up with the same result.
> I think the problem could be inside Ubuintu itself . I contacted
> Canonical and am waiting for an answer. Curiously, the last Ubuntu
> release MythTV claims to work with is 7.10 - I have 8.04.

I suppose "crap" could also mean "Computers Really are Picky", as well
as many other meanings.

MythTV is complicated to set up because it is so powerful, more
capability equals more complexity.

I doubt there is anything fundamentally wrong with running Myth on
Ubuntu 8.04, I don't use it myself, but many people here do.

Since you are a self-described "rookie" I would normally suggest one of
the "all-in-one" packaged distributions, like MythDora, KnoppMyth or
Mythbuntu, but it sounds like you are wanting to run this on your
general purpose desktop. If you possibly can I'd try setting up Myth on
a dedicated machine, it's a whole lot easier and the AIOs can get you a
working myth setup in 30 minutes.

The suggestion that you seem to be getting dumped into the F/E setup
makes sense, if you can get a terminal try starting the backend setup
manually.

Peruse the docs and the WiKi, there is a LOT of information there.

http://www.mythtv.org/modules.php?name=MythInstall

and

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

beww