I am messing around with knoppmyth and I have it installed but I keep getting this error message that it is trying to connect to the backend. there is no backend. this is the only myth box I have.

You should read up a little more on how MythTV works. The backend handles recording. The frontend handles viewing. If you have one computer, it serves as both the backend and the frontend, unless you don't want to view anything (i.e. don't run the frontend) or record anything (i.e. don't use the backend).

Not being able to connect to the backend on a single computer usually means (I think) that you haven't set up your tuner or your channel lineup yet. If you're in North America, have you created your Zap2It account yet? Run mythtv-setup yet?

ok thanks. I have my zap2it account. I will dig a little more and figure out where to put this stuff. I am using a plextor av100 so I'm not even sure if this sucker will work.

Another possibility: the backend crashed.
You can re-start it and check the logs.

Here's what it should look like from "ps":



You'll see the log in /var/log/mythtv/mythbackend.log