[mythtv-users] mythtv-users Digest, Vol 67, Issue 58

[straurig at comcast.net]

> Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2008 08:29:37 -0500
> From: "Greg Hermsen" <g.hermy15 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Upgrade risk assessment (UPDATE--ubuntu
> 	8.04	success!)
> On Thu, Oct 16, 2008 at 5:45 AM, Scott Traurig <straurig at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> > Scott Traurig wrote:
> > > Environment: ubuntu 7.10, mythtv 0.22 build 16578 (13 Mar 08)
> > >
> > > My "production machine", i.e. the machine that my wife will kick my
> > > ass if it doesn't remain completely stable, has recently ended 154
> > > days of fabulously stable uptime and finally required a reboot.
> > >
> > > After the mandatory ass-kicking :-) I took advantage of the situation
> > > to, at no small risk, to apply the 100+ pending updates to ubuntu
> > > 7.10. As luck would have it everything appears to have turned out
> > > well.
> > >
> > > Now the million dollar question is: should I go ahead and let the
> > > Update Manager update the machine to ubuntu 8.04? I've heard that
> > > going to 8.04 (Hardy) requires 0.22. The build of 0.22 I'm running
> > > pre-dates the QT4 dependency. It would seem I'm in a good position to
> > > go forward.
> > >
> > > That said of course I am flirting with breaking the "If it ain't
> > > broke..." rule. Nevertheless does anyone have any experience or
> > > guidance with this transition? Your tales of success or failure would
> > > be most appreciated.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > Scott
> >
> > I pushed the jolly, candy-like upgrade button last night. I very carefully
> > did NOT let it replace any configuration files every time it offered to do
> > so. I DID let it remove obsolete packages. Two hours later (I guess my
> > download speed is not very good) I had a completely running, apparently
> > stable system. Samba, Apache, Mythweb and VNC are all running OK, too. And
> > Firefox is FAR more stable :-).
> >
> > One thing I did notice is it killed off nvidia-settings, which I run as a
> > startup session in order to adjust the brightness and contrast more to my
> > liking (defaults make playback in Myth way to dark). I had to reinstall it
> > but it picked up the old settings immediately. It also disabled all my
> > non-standard software repositories but that's an easy fix. There may be a
> > few other things but I'd say I'm at 99% production readiness.
> >
> > For those of you thinking of taking the plunge all I can say is I am one
> > more successful data point. For those of you who suggested a complete
> > rebuild/going to mythbuntu, etc. that was exactly what I was trying to
> > avoid. That was the emergency backup solution!
> >
> > With 8.10 imminent I feel a lot better :-)
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Scott
> >
> >
> 
> Hi Scott,
> 
> What nvidia settings do you apply at startup and how do you apply them?
> 
> Thanks,
> Greg

Greg,

If you need to you can install the nvidia-settings utility in ubuntu by using "sudo apt-get install nvidia-settings" (arcane linux approach) or use Synaptic (modern technique :-).

Invoke it in a terminal window by typing "nvidia-settings". Screw with color, brightness, gamma, etc. until happy. I found I had to do this because the output from Myth was very dark. Then exit.

Unfortunately every time your system reboots it does not automatically remember how things were set by nvidia-utilities. If you run "nvidia-settings -l" it will load the last configuration and then exit. You could put that command in .xinitrc or some other such place (arcane linux approach) or put it in as an entry in the ubuntu "Sessions" control panel (modern technique :-).

Have fun!

Scott