[mythtv-users] Myth backend: Console or GUI OS ? Init level 3 or init level 5 ?

[Paul Bender]

On 9/12/2011 11:18 AM, linux guy wrote:
> I'm about to start building my Myth backend and I can't seem to find
> anything that discusses the pros and cons of installing the OS (Fedora
> 15) as console only or GUI, ie install KDE as well.
>
> So, other than a bit of disk space, is there any reason why I shouldn't
> install KDE when I set it up ?
>
> Is there any great disadvantage to running the server in init level 5
> (ie KDE, xorg, etc) running in the background, but not being logged in,
> versus init level 3 ? (Or whatever they call these things these days...,
> ie F15 uses systemd...)
>
> FWIW, my backend hardware will sit on a server rack in the utility
> room.  I might drag a display and keyboard down there once in a while to
> troubleshoot and/or do maintenance, but mostly I'd ssh in and probably
> use a remote desktop app to work on it.
>
> FWIW, I'm OK doing things via the CLI, but sometimes its really nice to
> have graphical tools.
>
> I look forward to your input.

My philosophy is to not run any unnecessary software. Doing so, does not 
make the system more stable and often makes the system less stable. As 
stability is paramount on a headless server that is running 7/24, I see 
no reason to run unnecessary software that has even the slightest change 
of destabilizing the system. Therefore, I run my server (which includes 
a MythTV backend) at runlevel 3.

Of course, using MythTV setup requires running a GUI. I do this by 
forwarding X11 over SSH to a machine.