[mythtv-users] Where to find Myth Setup Information?

[Kevin Kuphal]

On Tue, Jan 11, 2011 at 11:37 PM, Mike McMullin <mwmcmlln at mnsi.net> wrote:

> On Tue, 2011-01-11 at 16:40 -0500, R. G. Newbury wrote:
> > On 01/10/2011 07:41 PM, Nick Rout wrote:
> > > which is why I ask for this post to be viewed as
> > > an observation, and not a criticism!
> > >
> > > The particular passage the OP identified, on setting up a capture
> > > card, says (as previously quoted) "Choose the appropriate settings for
> > > your particular tuner. Use the arrow keys to move around and to make
> > > your choices, and press RETURN when complete. Pressing RETURN will
> > > take you back to the Capture Cards screen; if you have additional
> > > capture cards in this machine, press the space bar when the highlight
> > > is on the (New Capture Card) row to define another card."
> > >
> > > Now you don't have to be around myth for long to know that is a VERY
> > > once over lightly version of what you need to do to set up a capture
> > > card.
> >
> >
> > I agree that that is very much 'once over lightly'. But earlier the
> > point is made that myth will not work if the underlying hardware does
> > not work. It is (rather unfortunately) assumed and not explicitly stated
> > at that point, that the hardware must be working properly ALREADY.
>
>   Oddly enough knowing whether or not the hardware was working correctly
> was my biggest hurdle.  I knew it worked in Windows, I saw it constantly
> referenced for MythTV, but had the worst time still.
>
> > The external steps required to set up a new card are assumed to have
> > been completed. If you have not installed the firmware, for example,
> > there is nothing you can do within myth, to get that card to work. It is
> > impossible to do. And that is NOT myth's failure.
>
>   Is installing firmware typical for all supported cards?
>

It's really a failure to understand the chosen OS.  If you're used to
Windows, you boot up a Linux machine and want to get your capture card
working and there is almost zero indication of it's status in the system.
 If no driver exists in the kernel, it's pretty much invisible.  If the
driver has loaded but is missing something like firmware, it's written as a
line in a log.  In Windows, you get a pretty pop-up that says "Hey, we've
got some hardware here that I don't know what to do with. What now?" and you
go to a vendor website, download an installer, and bing bang boom, you're
off and running.  Linux...not so much

It is this, I find, that stymies many a MythTV installation and, yes, could
be resolved by some "hardware supported" mechanism on the wiki, etc. but
truth be told, it is a fast moving target and hard to document well.

Kevin
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