Hello and thanks for choosing
KnoppMyth.
This document will describe what
KnoppMyth is and how to install it!
Please read the entire document before doing an install even if you've
installed before. Some changes have been made.
Q. & A.
What is
KnoppMyth?
- Short Answer: KnoppMyth is Knoppix
optimized for MythTV.
- Long Answer: Our vision is a distribution that makes it
trivial to setup a set-top box.
We've included everything that believe is needing to reach this
goal.
And, in fact, the developers use this distribution on their own PVR's.
What is Knoppix?
What is MythTV?
Cool! So does this run completely from the CD?
- No. You can use the CD as a frontend, but KnoppMyth
must be installed to the hard drive.
Will it ever run completely from the CD?
So what else is included?
Why isn't program X included?
- I only installed what I thought was needed. This doesn't
mean you cannot install it yourself:
# apt-get
update
# apt-get
install <packageX>
Why should I use
KnoppMyth instead of
dristribution X?
- Ease of installation. KnoppMyth
can be installed in as little as 10 minutes (depending upon your
hardware speed) then all you have to wait for is the first week of TV
scheduling to be downloaded.
If all your hardware is supported under Linux, you may not have to edit
any configuration files.
Can I hook my boxen up to a television?
- Yes, that is how I watch TV. ;-)
So this is
Debian?
- Knoppix is based on Debian
testing and unstable.
Installation
- In your BIOS, set the system to boot from CD.
- At the splashscreen press:
- for no TV out:
<ENTER>
- with TV out:
tv<ENTER>
This will set your video adapter to a resolution of 800x600.
Note: You'll still need to edit
/etc/X11/XF86Config-4 to change the refresh rate or you CAN destroy
your
TV.
- Once the CD boots, you see 6 options.
- Frontend
- Auto Install
- Auto Upgrade
- Manual Install
- Reboot
- Quit
I'll now go into detail describing what the first four of these do (I won't bother with the last 2).
Frontend
This allows you to use the CD as a frontend if you have a MythTV
backend setup.
You can select this option by pressing <ENTER>.
After providing the requested information, the CD will boot X and start
mythfronted.
Note: Using the CD as a frontend is dependant upon the
backend being configured with MySQL listening on the network.
If you are running KnoppMyth as your
backend server, Then on the backend:
- Edit /etc/mysql/my.cnf, comment out 'skip-networking'.
The backend will only accept the mythtv user with a password of mythtv.
Before:
skip-networking
After
#
skip-networking
- Restart MySQL(as root)
#
/etc/init.d/mysql restart
- Reconfigure MythTV (as the mythtv user)
$ mythtv-setup
On screen 1 change 127.0.0.1(both instances) to the actual IP of the
backend server.
<ESC> out of the
myth-setup.
End of backend section.
Auto
Install
This will automatically perform a complete installation of KnoppMyth. Just provide the requested
information in the various dialogs and sit back! Auto install
will only work on /dev/hda. That is an IDE drive on primary
master. After the system
reboots it will start X and KnoppMyth
will
open an Xterm and ask for the root password. See post
installation.
Auto
Upgrade
**NOTE** You must have performed a backup for Auto Upgrade to
work. This will automatically upgrade KnoppMyth
from an earlier version (R3 or R4). Just provide the requested
information in the various dialogs and sit
back! After the system reboots it will start X and KnoppMyth will open an Xterm and ask for the
root password. See post installation
Manual Install
Manual install is recommended only for advanced users. Currently
if you have an SATA drive, you must use
Manual
Install. You will see two options 1. Partition and 2. Quit,
on a new drive or a drive with an invalid partition table. If you
see six options, KnoppMyth recognizes the partition table. Either
way, you must partition the drive. Select
partition and create 4 partitions using cfdisk. The first will be
/, the second swap, the third /cache and fourth /myth. I
recommend 2.5
gigs for /, swap should be 1.5 times memory, /cache is used for the
live tvbuffer. I'd recommend 3 to 10 gigs depending how your
tuner card and hard drive
size. Use the rest of the drive for /myth. Ensure
/dev/xda1 is
bootable, write the partition table and quit cfdisk. Once the
partitions have been created, press
<CTRL><ALT><F2>. mkswap /dev/xda2 &&
swapon /dev/xda2. Format /dev/xda3 and xda4 with
the desired filesystem type. Once complete
<CTRL><ALT><F1> and return to
the installation.
Note: During the making of partitions, you can choose any
fstype you wish,
ext2 is recommended for the live buffer (hda3) and ext3 for the data
(hda4).
# mke2fs -O
sparse_super -m0 -i8000000 -L cache -M /cache /dev/hda3
This should yield some performance increase on /cache (used for the
ring buffer)
# mke2fs -j
-O sparse_super -m0 -i8000000 -L myth -M /myth /dev/hda4
(I highly recommend a journalling fs for /dev/hda4).
You should now see six option. Choose 4. Load config.
You should now see /KNOPPIX/knoppmyth. Press <ENTER>.
If you have an SATA drive, change this to /KNOPPIX/knoppmyth-sata and
press <ENTER>. Next, choose 1. Configure
Installation. Provided the requested information. Once back
to the main menu, select 2. Start installation. Verify the
information and sit back. Once complete, reboot the system.
After the system reboots it will start X and KnoppMyth will open an
Xterm and ask for the root password. See post installation.
Post Installation
Configuration
- Provide the root password.
- Configure your system time and date.
- Configure IP address.
At this point, select which package you'd like to install i586 (Pentium
class processors, K6, C3, etc.) or I686 (PentiumPro class processors,
PentiumPro and above, Athlon and Duron). The default is i586
which is compiled w/ LIRC. If you have an i686 class processor,
select i686 then LIRC. If you have an nVidia based video adapter
which supports XvMC don't select XvMC at this time. KnoppMyth
will install the appropriate packages and start mythtv-setup.
If you performed an Auto Upgrade, mythtv-setup will not be ran.
The database will be restored and configuration files along with /home
will be restored. Once this is complete, you don't have to
reboot. mythtv-setup will now run to update the database schema
(if the version installed is greater than the version that was
updated), you can just exit mythtv-setup.
To configure MythTV, you must complete at least steps 1 thru 4.
For now, I'll just refer you to the MythTV docs:
http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-9.html. Once setup is
complete, the installation script will run mythfilldatabase. Once
this is complete, mythfrontend will start. If you have an nVidia
based video card, now is the point at which we recommend installing the
drivers.
<CTRL><ALT><F1>
log in as rooot.
cd /usr/src
tar xjvf kernel<TAB>
install-nv<TAB>
This will install the drivers and restart GDM.
NOTE**
If you have an nForce chipset or any nVidia card, before running the
command below, you may want to edit /etc/X11/XFConfig-4 and add
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "TV"
# This is only if attaching to a TV.**
For more options, please see:
ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-6629/README.txt
A sample XF86Config-4 for nVidia w/ tv out is in /etc/X11/
FS layout
KnoppMyth uses the following
filesystem layout:
TEXT |
IMAGE |
/cache/cache (for the ring buffer) /myth /backup (used to backup the database, /home and /etc, so upgrading between releases will be easy!) /gallery (for your photos) /game (for games) /nes (for Nintendo emulation) /roms (for roms) /screens (for screenshots) /pc (for "regular" computer games) /screens (for screenshots) /snes (for Super Nintendo emulation) /roms (for roms) /screens (for screenshots) /xmame (for xmame) the binary is in /usr/games/xmame /cabs (for cabinet photos) /flyers (for flyer photos) /hiscores (for Hi-Scores!) /history (for gameplay history) /roms (for your roms) /screens (for screenshots) /music /tv (where recorded programs are kept) /video (for various video formats) /motion (MPEGs created my Motion are stored here) /tmp (temp space used by MythDVD)
|
 |
Added software packages
- IVTV: The open source drivers for Hauppauge PVR-250 and
350. See ivtv.sf.net for more
as well as wiki
for
more information. See ivtv.sf.net
for more as well as http://www.poptix.net/ivtv/Jul-2003/msg00366.html
for information on getting the TV out to work.
- LIRC: So you can use a remote! LIRC is compiled to
support Hauppauge tuners/remotes. The configuration file in
/etc/lircd.conf is for the Hauppauge gray remote. lircrc in
/home/mythtv/.mythtv/lircrc is for the Hauppauge gray remote. For more
information on LIRC, see lirc.org.
Source
is in /usr/src/. If you have a remote other than the gray
Hauppauge remote, you need to recompile LIRC for that remote.
- MPlayer: The movie player! Compiled for run time CPU
detection.
- NFS as been configured to export /myth. It is
however not set to start on boot.
- Samba as been configured to export /myth. It is
however not set to start on boot.
Tips and Hints
- If you have the system hooked up to a TV, then **ENSURE**
that /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 contains:
HorizSync "30 - 50"
VertRefresh "60"
- If you have your box hooked up to a TV and, when it
boots, you see a message saying Press
<RETURN> to see modes...... You'll need to edit your
lilo.conf At the top, it should say vga=<XXX>,
change it to vga=normal Don't forget to lilo -v when you are done ;)
- If you have problems or questions please visit the
forum. Before asking, we ask that you search the forum as you
issue may have been address already. You can also search the
MythTV archive
and the IvyTV archive.
Enjoy!
Cecil and Dale