<br><div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div><div>The short answer is, no. If MythVideo is set to browse mode it
doesn't need the database to look up file info although it would need
the database to look up which player to use for which filetypes or, at
the very least, the default player setting. </div></div></blockquote><div><br>OK, that won't work at the moment then, but couldn't those settings be cached? What I was suggesting in my first post was that a slave (or even dummy) backend could be used to store settings for the local frontend. If the local database contained file types (which could be copied from the master backend's database periodically), it wouldn't need to connect to the master backend.
<br> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div><div>Plus, how would it
know it should use browse mode without checking the database for the
setting that defines what mode it should run in? </div></div></blockquote><div><br>Using the local database described above. I know at the moment all frontend settings are stored in a single database on the master backend, but there doesn't seem to be any real reason for that - why not store local settings in a local database? I know it would require mysql to be installed on the frontend, that's why my original post suggested putting a backend on the frontend machine.
<br><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div><div> Not to mention
that the frontend has no way of knowing that you want it to start up
only to use MythVideo or watch a DVD. Any other frontend function
would require database access at least to check settings. </div></div></blockquote><div><br>Yes it does have a way of knowing - this could be the default action if it can't connect to the backend. At the moment, if mythfrontend can't connect to the backend, it loads up a page asking for connection details to the backend (IP address, user name and password details, etc), why can't it load mythfrontend with limited functionality based on cached player settings? It wouldn't have to use the database any more than a shell script that pings the backend IP address and if the ping isn't returned loads xine instead of mythfrontend.
<br></div><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div><div>
Any way you look at it, even if you didn't need a master backend
running you would at least need a running DB server.</div></div></blockquote><div><br>But that's why I was wondering if it could be solved using a dummy backend on the frontend machine. In fact, how about running two independent networks? I have the
0.20 version installed in /usr/bin, and when the machine is booted up, it automatically loads /usr/bin/mythfrontend. But what is stopping me installing the SVN version (for example - or another 0.20 version) complete with backend onto the downstairs PC. When the computer is booted up, a shell script pings the upstairs computer to determine whether or not the backend is running, if it is running it runs /usr/bin/mythfrontend, if it is not running it loads /usr/local/bin/mythbackend&, then runs /usr/local/bin/mythfrontend. The frontend stored in /usr/local, will then connect to the local backend, and allow DVDs to be played.
<br><br>Jonny<br></div></div>