[mythtv-users] MythTV on FC3 using atrpms: problems and workarounds

[Joachim Gehweiler]

Hello,

I installed MythTV on FC3 using atrpms. I'm using a Hauppauge PVR-250 
and a nvidia FX 5200 with TV out. I encountered a number of problems. 
For most problems, I found a workaround. I'll post these workarounds 
here as they might help some of you.

Does anyone know how to fix these errors properly?

------------------ Problem 1 ------------------
ivtv is not loaded => mythbackend cannot find Tuner0

adding a "/sbin/modprobe ivtv" as the first command to the start() 
function of /etc/rc.d/init.d/mythbackend loads ivtv, but mythbackend 
does not work, either (still cannot find Tuner0).
------------------ Workaround -----------------
chkconfig mythbackend off
add "/sbin/modprobe ivtv" and "/etc/init.d/mythbackend start" to 
/etc/rc.d/rc.local

My /etc/modprobe.conf looks like this:

...
alias char-major-61 lirc_i2c
alias char-major-81 videodev
alias char-major-81-0 ivtv
options ivtv tuner=14 mpg_buffers=512 yuv_buffers=512

# load ivtv before lirc_i2c
install lirc_i2c /sbin/modprobe ivtv && /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install 
lirc_i2c

# load tuner, msp3400, saa7115 before ivtv
install ivtv /sbin/modprobe tuner && /sbin/modprobe msp3400-ivtv && 
/sbin/modprobe saa7115 && /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install ivtv
...
------------------ End ------------------------

------------------ Problem 2 ------------------
lirc_i2c is not loaded; besides, lirc wants to use /dev/lirc which does 
not exist (however, /dev/lirc0 exists); adding a symlink from lirc0 to 
lirc is not possible because is will be automatically removed at next 
boot (probably by udev).
------------------ Workaround -----------------
add "/sbin/modprobe lirc_i2c" and "ln -s /dev/lirc0 /dev/lirc" to 
/etc/rc.d/rc.local
------------------ End ------------------------

BTW: why does lirc_dev constantly consume 1% CPU on a 2.4GHz machine? 
(As far as I remember, this was not the case on my last install with RH9)

------------------ Problem 3 ------------------
nvidia module is not loaded although my modprobe.conf contains this line:

alias char-major-195 nvidia
------------------ Workaround -----------------
disable RedHatGraphicalBoot by removing the "rhgb" parameter in 
/etc/grub.conf; add "/sbin/modprobe nvidia" to /etc/rc.d/rc.local
------------------ End ------------------------

------------------ Problem 4 ------------------
There is something wrong with the MythTV GUI (using the default theme): 
the distance between the text elements is too big (or the text elements 
themselves are to big) => all the text elements do not fit into the area 
intented for them. This often results in screens exceeding the bottom of 
the GUI or text elements floating a bit over GUI elements (e.g. in the 
recordings list).
Besides, the slash character seems to make problems: the 
"Utilities/Setup" text element on the start screen is cut off before the 
slash and totally misplaced.

I'm wondering if I am the only one who is affected by this problem? (I 
couldn't find any else writing about this issue in the archives.)

Could it be that this problem only occurs on a non-common resolution? I 
have 720x568 (the resolution of my TV) using this modeline:

Modeline "720x576 at 60" 33.01 720 752 872 904 576 587 593 605
------------------ End ------------------------

Best,
     Joachim