This guide is intended for Linux newbies like myself. I've compiled this from the knoppMyth wiki, the forums and my own research. I am using the latest release as of this date, which is R5a16. I'm hoping most of this will still apply to newer versions.
Please feel free to post any corrections to my errors. Thanks.
Since this is intended for Newbies, I won't include dealing with ATI drivers or cards beyond the Hauppage 250. IMHO, those aren't fore newbies, since they take much more fiddling with to get working.
Hardware
Any fairly fast system with 512MB RAM (more is pointless), 80GB hard drive (bare minimum), nVidia graphics and DVD-ROM drive. Add to this a Hauppauge Win-TV PVR250 -- NOT the MCE version. For instance, I started with this:
AMD Sempron 2500+
512MB RAM
120GB Hard Drive
on board nVidia graphics and USB 2.0
Sony DVD-ROM (pulled from an old G4 Mac)
Hauppauge Win-TV PVR250 in a PCI slot
PS/2 keyboard and mouse (avoid USB here)
Hitachi 21" CRT
Of course, you may have a system already to use for your MythTV, but remember you probably want a computer that runs quiet. If your system isn't quiet, you can put it in a cabinet to muffle the sound (be sure to provide for air flow though!) or build what's called a backend system out of this machine and store it out of the way somewhere. Please note that a backend system requires another computer to act as front end. The front end system is what you would then watch your shows on.
Installation
1. Once your hardware is built and tested, use another computer to go to:
http://labs.zap2it.com/
Using code 'TGYM-ZKOC-BUTV' (that's a letter O, not a zero) register for a free account. Write down your login/password for use during mythtv-setup.
2. Get your copy of KnoppMyth via Bit Torrent, download or whatever, then burn it on a CD.
3. Boot your soon-to-be KnoppMyth computer and immediately go into the bios. This is almost always done by hitting the Delete key as soon as you hear the POST beep. On older computers, it may be the F8 key instead.
Once you are in the bios, you'll want to set it to boot off the optical drive (your DVD drive) first. Put your KnoppMyth installation CD in your optical drive, close it, and follow the bios instructions to save your changes and reboot.
4. Your system should now boot off the CD and show you the welcome to KnoppMyth info. Important: the KnoppMyth installer will delete all the data on your hard drive. If you haven't removed any data you care about from this system this is your very last chance!
Follow the on screen instructions. It will ask you to set up a normal user account. It can be any name you like except do NOT use 'mythtv'. That name is already in use. Choose a password and continue. Next, it asks you to set the root password. Be sure to choose a non-real word mix of letters and numbers for your root password and use a minimum of 8 characters. After all, the root user can delete ANYTHING.
Now the system will install a bunch of stuff and then ask you to reboot. Do so.
Setup
5. When the system reboots, it will ask for your root password. Enter it, remembering that GNU/Linux is case sensitive. After you hit return it will ask you to give your system an IP address. While it is simpler to leave it on DHCP (that means, ask the network for an IP address), doing so will make it more difficult to login over the network and work on your system from another computer.
I therefore recommend using a static IP, although you will need some extra information to implement this. Here's what you need:
an unused IP address for your network from an unused range of IP's.
the addresses of a couple of valid DNS servers used by your network
the IP address of your router or Firewall.
If you're not familiar with these terms, you'll need to search elsewhere since that's outside the scope of this tutorial.
Enter the static IP as directed. Next, enter the router and DNS information as requested. Simply put a space between server addresses. For instance:
206.13.28.12 206.13.31.12
Next the installer will ask you if you want to use i586 modules or i686. Since this newbie guide is focused on easy installs, I'm sure you have a recent enough system that you'll want to use the i686 modules. While it is certainly possible for an experienced person to setup an older PC with KnoppMyth, that is not recommended for a newbie, so again, I won't be addressing the use of the i586 modules here.
Choose the i686 modules and continue.
6. The system will now take you through the MythTV setup for the first time. It will ask you twice if you want to delete current settings. Answer Yes both times.
Next you'll see 5 choices: General, Capture Cards, Video Sources, Input Connections and Channel Editor.
6a. Select General, and run through the choices. The default settings are generally correct here. You may enter your PC's real IP address instead of 127.0.0.1 if you like, but if you do, be sure to change this in both fields. Don't change the port settings. Use the space bar to select the next screen.
6b. Select Capture Cards when done and then New Capture Card. This is where you tell it how your antenna, cable or satellite system will connect to your KnoppMyth box. Note:
S-Video. Highest quality
Composite video. Medium quality.
Coaxial. Lowest quality
6c. Select Video Sources, and run through these choices. If you are in North America, leave it on the "DataDirect" setting. If you are in North America and using cable or satellite, leave it on "US Cable". You'll need to change this only if you're using broadcast TV.
If you are outside North America, please search the KnoppMyth wiki and forums.
6d. Select Input Connections. Choose number "zero" of your connection type. For instance, I chose "S-Video 0".
6e. Don't select Channel Editor. Just hit escape instead to exit.
7. Press escape once more to exit MythTV and your system will start loading stuff. Lots of stuff. This would be a good time for bathroom break.
8. When it finishes, the system dumps you into the MythTV GUI. Wait for it to finish loading, then press escape to exit, and return to confirm. We'll install the video driver next.
Use your keyboard to type the following commands:
Press "Ctrl-Alt-F1", then login as root.
type: cd /usr/src<RETURN>
type: tar xjvf kernel<TAB><RETURN>
This is an excellent time to learn the two greatest time saving (as well as wrist saving) commands in Linux or UNIX. First, notice that pressing the Tab key auto-completes your command. Provided you've typed the beginning of the file name you're looking for correctly, the TAB key will complete the command more quickly and more accurately than I ever could.
Next, suppose you enter a command, but you've typed it wrong by only one character. The system throws an error, and you naturally just want to re-type it correctly. But don't retype the whole thing -- just the part that's wrong. Press the Up Arrow once on your keyboard and notice your last command is re-displayed on your command line.
Cool! Now just correct the one character you got wrong, press enter and this time it works. Your wrists will thank you.
We can't install the video driver if gdm (Gnome Display Manager) is running. To shut it down, type:
/etc/init.d/gdm stop<RETURN>
ls<RETURN>
This displays the files in this directory and there are two video drivers. Unless you know you need the older driver, you'll probably want to install the newer one:
sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7<TAB><RETURN>
Press the left arrow once to accept the license, then follow the instructions. When the installation finishes, you'll want to edit your video card settings to use the new driver. Type:
nano /etc/X11/XF86Config-4<RETURN>
You're now in nano, a text editing program with basic instructions at the bottom of your screen. Using Ctrl-v to scroll down, find where the text file identifies the video driver as "nv". Change this to "nvidia". If you're going to watch TV through your computer monitor, you're done. If you're going to watch with a TV that you'll output to (you'll have to have a TV output somewhere, probably on your video card), you'll need to add the following line to the text file:
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "TV" # This is only if attaching to a TV.**
By the way, Ctrl-y scrolls up.
Now exit and save your changes by pressing:
Ctrl-x
y
type:
/usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/examples/install-css.sh<RETURN>
Optional:
If you would like your myth frontend to run faster, you can allow it to run as root. Many people do this, but be aware that it opens a small security whole. If you would like this speed increase, type:
chmod +s /usr/bin/mythfrontend<RETURN>
Now we can reboot:
reboot<RETURN>
After reboot, the system will take you through MythTV setup again. No need to clear your settings this time.
Recommended Extras:
1. System Clock Syncing
Since you're using your system to record TV shows, it may as well have the right time every time. Go to:
http://ntp.isc.org/bin/view/Servers/Str ... imeServers
and search for a Stratum Two Time Server in your area. Update your system clock now by running the following command as the root user, substituting the name of the server you'll use:
ntpdate Name_of_Time_Server<RETURN>
That's nice, but why not have your KnoppMyth system run this command every day automatically? Type:
crontab -e<RETURN>
and this puts you into nano again. Enter the following:
0 3 * * * /usr/sbin/ntpdate Name_of_Time_Server
Then exit and save with:
Ctrl-x
y
Your system will now sync every day at 3:00 am.
2. Simple Web Security
I like using the web interface to schedule my recordings, but would like to keep unauthorized people out. There are various ways to put security on your website and some are far more secure than this way. However, this way is simple and works pretty darn well. As root, type:
htpasswd -c /etc/mythtv/.htpasswds UserName_I_Wanna_Use<RETURN>
add your chosen password; confirm.
Type:
nano /etc/apache/httpd.conf<RETURN>
add:
<Directory /var/www/mythweb>
AuthType Basic
AuthName "System_Name"
AuthUserFile /etc/mythtv/.htpasswds
Require user UserName_I_Wanna_Use
</Directory>
Then exit and save with:
Ctrl-x
y
3. Athcool
As wonderful as your MythTV system is, you don't have power saving. I've very glad I added this, but you must be especially careful here. If the recommended software isn't compatible with your system, it can cause all kinds of nasty problems, including data loss.
Fortunately, you can easily check your system against a list of compatible chip sets here:
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/jacobi/l ... ml#athcool
Take the recommendations you'll find here very seriously. If you want to proceed, here's what you do:
Read all the current documentation.
Download athcool:
wget
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/jacobi/l ... .11.tar.gz<RETURN>
tar -xvzf athcool-0.3.11.tar.gz<RETURN>
cd athcool-0.3.11<RETURN>
make<RETURN>
make install<RETURN>
nano /etc/init.d/bootmisc.sh<RETURN>
add at the end of this file:
/usr/sbin/athcool on
crtl-x
y
Type:
chmod a+x /etc/init.d/bootmisc.sh<RETURN>
update-rc.d local defaults 80<RETURN>
reboot<RETURN>
4. A Second System
After setting up a full system with massive storage, I wanted to set up a system that would access the first system but otherwise behave in the identical way.
In the documentation you'll find reference to a "Frontend Only System".
You don't want this. Really. What you want is a "Slave Backend System" or sbe. I have a Master System, which is backend and frontend, plus slave backend systems with 20GB hard drives.
You'll find the lowdown on how to set this up here:
http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic. ... t=frontend
Notice that many people call this a "LinHes" system, since that's what one of the wonderful KnoppMyth programmers calls his system. If you have any problems, do a search for "LinHes" to find more info.
That's it!
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