[mythtv] future modules?

[Ben Bucksch]

stuart at toasted-alien.freeserve.co.uk wrote:

>what are the plans for future modules. I was wondering if there was and plans to add a browser & mail client to the system. Many of the digital boxes say the do mail but as we all know they are poor versions of any mail/email client. Would it be possible to add a mozilla based module to the code for this? I'm might be able to throw a bit of time towards doing it when I get my current work projects finished? anyone got any thoughts?
>
I'd say that's generally possible, if you embed Gecko into MythTV.

You can theoretically use the Mailnews backend only and write a custom 
frontend (I once did that), but you lose a big number of features of the 
client, which are implemented in XUL/JavaScript - you'd have to rewrite 
about half of the client, of not more. That includes almost the complete 
composer, for example.

If you use XUL, you can reuse most of the code, but you'd still have to 
heavily adapt it for the TV screen requirements. It would also not match 
the rest of the MythTV UI.

Generally, I'd think it's not worth it. Browsing and emailing on a 
desktop with keyboard and mouse and a decent, high-res screen is so much 
more effective. I almost notice how my productivity drops when I use a 
notebook, I'd say it's much worse with a TV and a remote control only 
(even if you add some funky mouse replacement for the couch).

BTW: That's the same reason why I wrote my "Desktop EPG" - I just find 
it more efficient to use the desktop GUI and I/O devices.

Ben