[mythtv-users] Moving from Fedora to Ubuntu

[Ross Campbell]

On 3/7/07, Thom Paine <painethom at gmail.com> wrote:
> I am considering moving from Fedora to Ubuntu.
> I'm comfortable with Fedora, but I am looking at more long term
> stability with Ubuntu using the server install that has an 18 month
> support cycle.

Honestly, long term stability has a lot to do with not mucking around
with something once it's working. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

> I have a couple of glitched on my frontend and backend, so I am
> considering starting from scratch

Have you considered fixing your glitches? I know Linux can be a fickle
friend, but when I see messages that say something like "I've already
installed $LINUX_DISTRO six times trying to get mythtv to work", it
makes me wonder which is more effort - fixing the problem or OS
reinstalls.

> It's just TV that I have recorded,
> and I can likely record most of it again, but I want to reorder my
> drives a bit in the backend and move it to my server room.

Fair enough. I want to do that as well. :)

> I'd like to keep the backend nice and light
>
> I have the ubuntu server install cd that is supposed to be nice and
> light, and I'd like to run a light window manager like fluxbox. Does
> anyone have a system running similar to this?

If you want to keep the backend light, you can leave off X and
windowmanagers completely. I wouldn't necessarily say that *MOST*
popular distros are significantly more or less bloated than any
others.

But nowadays, especially after seeing the typical hardware
requirements for HDTV mythtv boxes, one has to wonder whether how much
time and effort to invest in a lightweight setup vs. "thowing hardware
at the problem".

I mean, seriously, how many people would do a linuxfromscratch build
of mythtv just to get a few % better performance or save less disk
space than an hour of HDTV takes? (NOTE: Linuxfromscratch.org is very
cool and I think everyone interested in Linux should build their own
system *ONCE* just for the sake of learning way more than you'll ever
learn from doing apt-get install foo)

As far as eliminating computer noise from the TV room... well there's
an area where it's probably worth the effort keep things "light" so
that you reduce background noise.

> Am I making too many changes to my setup that I won't get it working again?

Well, yes and maybe.

If you treat your mythtv box like a production server, then you
probably want to minimize the number of changes done at once and make
sure that your systems boots, functions properly after a given
changeset before you go off changing more things. This way, if there's
an error or problems, you'll know it's related to the ONE thing you
just changed or upgraded.

Servers are so cheap and powerful these days that I'm starting to
think it's prudent to have a test/dev mythtv box and a production
mythtv box. Do your new OS install on the test/dev box, get it
running, get hardware detected, get lirc configured, get mythtv
working, import your old database, etc. THEN... with a working
template/fallback system and that experience under your belt, you're
prepared for planning to upgrade your production mythtv system


-Ross