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

[GZ]

On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 9:34 PM, Mike McMullin <mwmcmlln at mnsi.net> wrote:

> 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.
>
>
>  I've also been thinking about what a such an article would look like.  I
was thinking that it's probably just very useful to provide an article
detailing the basic problems and initial troubleshooting that new users are
likely to need.  Things like:

- Can the system see the hardware (checking lsusb / lspci)?
- Do you have the kernel drivers installed for your device?
- Do you have firmware files for your device?
- Is the driver actually recognizing the hardware?
- Are the correct /dev nodes made?
- Testing the correct operation of the hardware using other programs,
particularly mplayer.

Thoughts?  Or is this already somewhere else?
-Greg
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