After doing the above with /etc/apt/sources.list and unstable->lenny and stable->etch I backed up my root partition and did an
Code:
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
and after downloading 270meg of updates and sorting thru
many solvable dependency problems, I am up and running without errors!
Do not attempt this if without a root backup!!! I recommend clonezilla for that (of course dd or dd_rescue from anything (where the root is not mounted) to a file on /myth works fine too, use what you like). I switched back and forth a couple times to let Girlfriend's TV shows record under the old version. OK, you could just use a database backup from Home -> Knoppmyth menu if your system doesn't need any tweaks after installation. Clonezilla (boot CD) can backup or restore that root partition across the network in 5-10 minutes which is a lot quicker than a new install, even without the post install tweaks.
Do not attempt this without at least 700meg free on your root partition (270meg downloads x 2.2 by the time it is installed). Do not attempt this if you are not REALLY comfortable with a text mode command prompt. Do not attempt this if you don't know what "apt dependencies" are. Do you know why a library with cvs in the name may mean that it is a temporary version?
I took the defaults (generally that means that it left the current settings unmodified) for all the installation prompts (a LOT of them).
I am running a Hauppauge PVR-350 capture card and the only problem was that the boot scripts came up in color, but it changed over to black and white before going to X (TV set is output). As soon as I started a record (not just playback) though it went back to color. By carefully watching the bootup I determined that "motion" (as in mythtv motion) was the culprit. I went into /etc/init.d and told it to use the new motion startup script (apt-get leaves the old one unmodified and makes a new one called *.dpkg-dist). I rebooted and all is good.
Record (SVideo) and playback are in color. Sound works. VNCServer works. Samba server works. DVD playback with subtitles and sound works. This upgrade did not fix these, I already had them set up and working in the stock R5.5. Initial testing feels like the lirc serial "double button press problem" may be fixed by this, but I am not sure.
I should note that I was already running a compiled version of ffmpeg due to stock R5.5 ffmpeg problems, and it kept the compiled version as more current than the repository version.
I should also note (from memory) that:
libavformatcvs51 was replaced by libavformat52
libavformatcvs51-dev was replaced by libavformat-dev
libavutil49cvs was replaced by libavutil49
libavutil49cvs-dev was replaced by libavutil-dev
On a few of these and others, I had to manually tell it e.g. to remove libavformatcvs51-dev before it would install libavformat-dev because the repo did not have a libavformatcvs51-dev? (I had to manually apt-get install libavformat-dev and libavutil-dev after manually removing the cvs versions to get things to come out right.)
I never used a fix or ignore option in apt-get, so it is clean!
I am sorry that I could not get a perfect set of steps to follow. I started to, but I had some problems with some apps I had installed (had to remove them to reduce confusion) and libavformatcvs51-dev to libavformat-dev puttering left the list too long and uncertain to post.