[mythtv-users] Any Debian / Mythtv / Nvidia users here?

[Alex Halovanic]

On Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 8:18 PM, stuart <stuart at xnet.com> wrote:

>
>
> On 02/20/2011 03:13 PM, Josu Lazkano wrote:
> > 2011/2/20 stuart<stuart at xnet.com>:
> >> Hi...
> >>
> >> I've done a bad thing.  I updated my Debian Mythtv boxes with out
> >> checking if there were any Nvidia drivers available.  Now both mythtv
> >> boxes are broke.
> >>
> >> I'm not sure where the hold up is (maybe someone can say), but from
> >> mining the internet it appears this problem started about the 11th of
> >> February (2011) and is centred around not having proprietary Nvidia
> >> drivers available (yet).
> >>
> >> So, I'm asking here what people running Debian Mythtv boxes do.  (Other
> >> then avoid updates like the plague.)
> >>
> >> It's been suggested to wait until new Nvidia drivers float into the
> >> repositories (hum, been days w/o any TV in the house), try the
> >> experimental Debian repositories or load up the *real* Nvidia Linux
> Drivers.
> >>
> >> Well, that is what I used to do.  Load up the *real* Nvidia Linux
> >> drivers. Every time my Fedora box got a new kernel I just recompiled my
> >> already downloaded Nvidia drivers and off I went.  Simple as that.  But
> >> then I moved to Debian for more stability (ha, I mean humm).  Now, I
> >> understand, I am not suppose to install the *real* Nvidia drivers
> >> because Debian's package manager will have a fit (maybe I should say
> >> there is the possibility of the Debian packaging manager not working for
> >> future packaged Nvidia drivers).
> >>
> >> So, I'm just asking, what do people here usually do in such a case.
> >>
> >> -thanks
> >>
> >
> > Hello, I have a Debian Squeeze system with a Nvidia ION board, I am
> > having lots of problems (tunner, remote, vdpau...), so I can tell that
> > my config is not the best.
> >
> > I got MythTV from debian-multimedia repository and latest Nvidia
> > official drivers. It works well on HD channels. But as I tell you, I
> > am getting more problems, so this will not the best way.
> >
> > I am interested how is your system to get it working. I am having lots
> > of problems with LiveTV and DVB tunners.
> >
> > Regards.
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> Hi Josu...
>
> I'm not really sure how well my Debian / Mythtv experience translates
> into advice, but here goes...
>
> I am running two Debian computers. Both have back and (usually) front
> ends running.  Both have two PCI HDTV ATSC tuner cards.  Both have
> nvidia graphics.
>
> First off, having two back ends is probably not such a great thing.  For
> one, I don't know which box can burn a particular show (I am lead to
> believe DVD burning can only work with recordings on the local machine).
>  And, yes, I know I can cross mount the recordings directory.  But I
> don't want to tempt fate.  That is, I am not all that sure I will not
> end up recording a show on an NFS mounted drive (I think back ends can
> auto-magically find NFS mounted recording directories). What a way to
> wipe out your humble home band width.
>
> Second, I have always (did I mention always) been suspicious having two
> back ends causes no end to mysterious program erasures.  More then once
> have I seen programs recorded then immediately erased.  I believe the
> back end which happens to record the show is out of disk space.  I have
> learn not to trust the system status reports (i.e. you have 10 hours of
> recording time left). Its too late to recover missing shows, but when I
> see new shows disappearing, I immediately start manually deleting shows.
>  No telling which machine they are stored on though.  So I just keep
> deleting until I figure both back ends have ample space for new
> recordings.  Which leads me to...
>
> Third, with two back ends, I can never tell, from a front end, where a
> recording resides.  So, if I think I need to free up space on the master
> back end machine, I really have no way of telling which shows I need to
> delete.  I just delete anything that ends up on the bottom of the "I
> must watch this" totem poll.  That usually holds me for a week or two.
> Also, knowing where a show is would make deciding which back end to burn
> DVDs on a bit easier.  As I said it is a trial and error thing when I
> want to drop a recording to a DVD.  I just try and if I can't find it I
> try the other back end.
>
> As far as a remote, I never got enough support to get the remote on my
> turner card to work.  I even kept the wiki up to date on the darn thing
> hoping that might be of help.  I just use a cheep IR keyboard connected
> to the PS/2 port of my PC.  Nothing special to set up.  No LIRC to
> configure.  No JP1 remote reprogramming. It just works. Not to mention
> its darn hard to hide it between the couch cushions.
>
> I think everyone here will agree liveTV is not mythtv's strong point.
> It usually works for me, but I've had times when it hiccups.  It might
> have been when I happened to be using a tuner on the "other" (far) back
> end.  As I don't usually watch liveTV it is difficult to recall what the
> circumstances might have been when it failed.
>
> I'm running Debian unstable and, like you, using the debian multimedia
> repository.  The master back end is on a quad core and the slave back
> end is on a dual core system.  The master back is also running other
> services like CUPS.
>
> -good luck
>
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>


Debian Squeeze user here (well it is now, it started off at 'unstable').
Don't download and use the Nvidia installer unless you're prepared for
things breaking on restarts or updates.  One of the issues with using the
Nvidia drivers in Debian is that the Nvidia-provided installer will replace
a lot of the OpenGL libraries from the various Mesa packages and sets up its
own symlinks and then compiles its own module.  So you get breakage in two
ways, both of which will not manifest until a reboot usually:

1) The various Mesa packages get updated and overwrite the OpenGL libraries
again.  If memory serves, some of the init scripts can cause issues too so
an actual update to Mesa might not be needed to trigger this.
2) The kernel gets updated and there is no Nvidia module compiled for it.

One way to fix these usually (temporarily) is to run the Nvidia installer
again.

I'm not going to suggest you have to stick exclusively to Stable, since
VDPAU fixes and new graphics card support is waaay too tempting to wait 2
years for a typical Myth user.

The Debian drivers in unstable and/or experimental non-free are usually in a
pretty good state and are reasonably up to date (experimental is at
260.19.21 while the Nvidia site is at 260.19.36).  They also have an
nvidia-kernel-dkms package which will rebuild the kernel driver
automatically on kernel updates.  Google for apt-pinning and you should be
able to run a "mostly stable" Debian system by adding repositories for
testing, unstable and experimental.

-Alex
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