[mythtv-users] Raspberry Pi Newbie Questions

[Lawrence Rust]

On Mon, 2015-12-14 at 18:38 +0000, Jim C wrote:
> Based on all the discussion regarding the Raspberry Pi as a MythTV 
> frontend I've decided to get one to try. Being totally new to the topic 
> I have some real beginner-level questions - even after visiting the RPi 
> page and the MythTV wiki.

Glad to hear that you're about to take the plunge.

> Which OS is "better" for this purpose? I've noticed discussion of 
> OpenElec, Ubuntu Mate, Snappy Ubuntu, and Raspbian. Others?

For an easy route to a DVR frontend then OpenElec.  However, if you want
to experiment then Ubuntu Mate or Raspbian.  The RPi images that I
posted recently were built for and tested on Raspbian.  Ubuntu Mate has
a more refined UI but is generally more resource hungry and hence
slower.

> Is a true MythTV frontend preferred, or is Kodi with MythTV PVR more 
> widely used? Trade-offs?

The MythTV frontend is new so Kodi is more stable but I will be adding
the RPi patches to MythTV master shortly so they will become mainstream.

> What size memory card is commonly used, 8B, 16GB, 32GB? Class 10 only? 
> Any critical trade-offs?

You will need at least an 8GB card, the faster (class 10) the better.  A
larger card should theoretically last longer over wear levelling cycles.

It's probably worth disabling swapping:
sudo dphys-swapfile swapoff
sudo dphys-swapfile uninstall
sudo update-rc.d -f dphys-swapfile remove

> How resilient is the Pi to power loss? Does it need a controlled 
> shutdown to function normally?

Typically the RPi is very resilient to power loss.  I wouldn't recommend
turning off the power while writing to disk but if it does happen then
the standard fsck recovers well.

> Other advice for a beginner?

A good (2A) PSU is recommended.  The OTG connector (PSU) is a weak point
so don't keep removing it - use an external power switch.  If everything
locks up try a keyboard reboot first:
alt-sysrq-s
alt-sysrq-u
alt-sysrq-b
This syncs the disk, mounts it r/o and reboots.

-- Lawrence Rust