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

Mike Perkins mikep at randomtraveller.org.uk
Mon Jan 12 12:19:09 UTC 2009


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).

-- 

Mike Perkins



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