[mythtv-users] Where to find Myth Setup Information?

Mike McMullin mwmcmlln at mnsi.net
Thu Jan 13 05:34:28 UTC 2011


On Wed, 2011-01-12 at 11:08 -0600, Kevin Kuphal wrote:
> 
> 
> On Tue, Jan 11, 2011 at 11:37 PM, Mike McMullin <mwmcmlln at mnsi.net>
> wrote:
>         On Tue, 2011-01-11 at 16:40 -0500, R. G. Newbury wrote:
>         > On 01/10/2011 07:41 PM, Nick Rout wrote:
>         > > which is why I ask for this post to be viewed as
>         > > an observation, and not a criticism!
>         > >
>         > > The particular passage the OP identified, on setting up a
>         capture
>         > > card, says (as previously quoted) "Choose the appropriate
>         settings for
>         > > your particular tuner. Use the arrow keys to move around
>         and to make
>         > > your choices, and press RETURN when complete. Pressing
>         RETURN will
>         > > take you back to the Capture Cards screen; if you have
>         additional
>         > > capture cards in this machine, press the space bar when
>         the highlight
>         > > is on the (New Capture Card) row to define another card."
>         > >
>         > > Now you don't have to be around myth for long to know that
>         is a VERY
>         > > once over lightly version of what you need to do to set up
>         a capture
>         > > card.
>         >
>         >
>         > I agree that that is very much 'once over lightly'. But
>         earlier the
>         > point is made that myth will not work if the underlying
>         hardware does
>         > not work. It is (rather unfortunately) assumed and not
>         explicitly stated
>         > at that point, that the hardware must be working properly
>         ALREADY.
>         
>         
>          Oddly enough knowing whether or not the hardware was working
>         correctly
>         was my biggest hurdle.  I knew it worked in Windows, I saw it
>         constantly
>         referenced for MythTV, but had the worst time still.
>         
>         > The external steps required to set up a new card are assumed
>         to have
>         > been completed. If you have not installed the firmware, for
>         example,
>         > there is nothing you can do within myth, to get that card to
>         work. It is
>         > impossible to do. And that is NOT myth's failure.
>         
>         
>          Is installing firmware typical for all supported cards?
> 
> 
> It's really a failure to understand the chosen OS.  If you're used to
> Windows, you boot up a Linux machine and want to get your capture card
> working and there is almost zero indication of it's status in the
> system.  If no driver exists in the kernel, it's pretty much
> invisible.  If the driver has loaded but is missing something like
> firmware, it's written as a line in a log.  In Windows, you get a
> pretty pop-up that says "Hey, we've got some hardware here that I
> don't know what to do with. What now?" and you go to a vendor website,
> download an installer, and bing bang boom, you're off and running.
>  Linux...not so much
> 
> 
> It is this, I find, that stymies many a MythTV installation and, yes,
> could be resolved by some "hardware supported" mechanism on the wiki,
> etc. but truth be told, it is a fast moving target and hard to
> document well.

  I was sorta thinking that myself.  I've been tossing the idea for a
"How I setup MythTV for the first time" article, and was thinking that
info on what cards need what firmware, and where said firmware ought to
be found on the system would be a good idea.  I was also thinking of
avoiding the whole dl make/install that's in the docs, but include
specifics on testing mysql connectivity and mythweb, with some general
pitfalls that the newb might envounter.




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