Operation MythTV

[gerberdude]

I would like to report that I now have the ATI TV Wonder in working order! After much frustration I have found a box that allows me to easily record and playback TV. I now also have a reason to insall Linux and MythTV. (The reason: I don't have $80. to spend on BeyondTV.) But I am terrified of doing this alone.

I have been reading some documentation and watching a few help videos on google, so I think I have a handle on the installation and the swap file, and also creating a larger partition for video storage. However, I have a few questions to ask before I begin; but first, some background:

The background:

1. The box has 3 hard drives, I have already installed windows on the Master HDD on IDE0.
2. I would like to dual boot, (in case this experiment is a fantastic failure) I think I understand dual booting well enough to attempt it.
3. I will be installing Ubuntu ver 6.06.

The questions:

1. Do I need to put Linux onto the Master on IDE1, or can I put it on the slave on IDE0? Does it matter?
2. According to these guys (http://www.abarbaccia.com/content/view/15/29/) the Myth partition should be xfs and should consist of the remainder of the drive. Since this drive is only 30 GB, I will probably be using an additional 40 GB hard drive (Slave on IDE0) as xfs to hold the videos. Will I be able to access these files from Windows, since they are just mpeg2 files?
3. Finally, is this whole thing a waste of time for a linux newb? Should I even bother?

Thanks in advance for your help.

gerberdude

[kilgoretrout]

1. You can install linux on any drive; it doesn't care if it's master or slave, logical or primary partition.
2. Windows cannot read any linux native file system directly, xfs included. However, you can network a windows box and a linux box using samba and they can access each others files when properly setup. Linux boxes are frequently used as file servers to windows boxes with samba.
3. This is a pretty ambitious project for a newb IMHO but if you are not laying out any money for the project, you don't have much to lose. Go for it.

[gerberdude]

Thanks for the tip; here goes nothing. I'm going to let my free trial of BeyondTV expire then I'm going to give it a try. Don't be surprised if you see me back here asking for more help along the way!

Gerberdude

[kilgoretrout]

Good luck!!! Just want to make sure you understand #2 above after rereading your original post. If you are dual booting windows and linux on the same box, you will not be able to access the xfs files on linux when you boot into windows. If you have a separate windows box and a separate linux box, you can network them with samba and they can access each other's files. Hope that's a little clearer.

[gerberdude]

I figured that was what you meant. I guess that will have to do. . . One more question though:

When I record with MythTV, what format does it use, does it let me pick? And if it does use a big format like mpeg2, is there a quick and easy linux program I can use to change the format of the files to pass them over the network?

[gerberdude]

Okay, the installation went fine, and I am using a tutorial to install myth, but it is written for a hauppage card. So I have a couple of questions:

On the MythTV HOWTO (http://mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-3.html#ss3.1) it says:

"NOTE: The ATI All-in-Wonder cards (which are not the same as the ATI TV Wonder, TV Wonder VE or TV Wonder Pro) will not work as a MythTV capture device because the GATOS http://gatos.sourceforge.net drivers that are available provide only a limited subset of the V4L API. The TV Wonder series of cards are supported by the Bt8x8 Video4Linux driver. "

Is this packaged with Linux, can I download it using Synaptic? What is the story here?

Thanks in advance

Gerberdude

[2GNUBY]

gerberdude, according to what they are saying your ATI TV Wonder card should work fine. The Bt8x8 Video4Linux drivers should be found on most recent releases of Linux distros but not neccessarily all of them by any means. I run MEPIS Linux 3.4-3 and they are included. If your distro of Linux is Debian based you probably have them and if not you can easily install them from the Debian repositories. I believe they are included in kernel 2.4.26 and higher which would be Debian Stable Sarge and above but you should verify that to be certain. Take care, 2GNUBY

[gerberdude]

Wow, this is really difficult. I am running into so many problems despite following these HOWTOs. I am going to try knoppmyth instead, it seems like it is a little bit more automated. Let's hope. I knew this was going to be tricky, but so far I can already hear windows calling my name once again.