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Second Mythtv box on order

Well not all of it but parts are going to start trickling in next week. Just ordered a few parts today. I normally order from newegg or mwave. This time due to prices and availablity I have gone with other vendors. I plan to order the motherboard and processor as soon as it is in stock. Parts I am going with listed below. I hope to have this micro atx box up and running in another few weeks. I will make this a dedicated frontend only box(will have a full mythtv build on it but the backend will be a slave backend for commflagging and maybe one tuner in it. Depending on how it turns out and how it looks I will probably put this box down in the basement with the projector first. Then it may end up with a lessor processor up in the bedroom or I may just leave in in the basement. I am thinking 3 to 4 servers or pc’s that are always on is more than enough for one household. I will try to get it back to 3 pc’s on at all times. I may actually have to start working on having the pc’s turn on and off during the night and day.

I will probably end up getting the motherboard and processor from mwave and then put a 512 meg ddr2 memory module in that order at the same time. I already have a 512 ddr2 memory module from them and hope that they will match just fine.

Update:

Everything has been purchased.   I ended up going with an athlon 64 x2 4600 instead of the 4200.  I also got a good deal from officemax on a sata 160 gig drive instead of getting the 320gig.  I think I have everything I need at this time. Once the motherboard and processor get here this week, I will start the build and then see what else I may want for this box.  I believe I will have enough for what I want to do with it right now.  I may end up getting a little more memory.  Just waiting to see what goes on sale or where a good deal might be.  I did find 512 meg ddr2 memory for 49 bucks at officemax.  May end up getting two of those eventually.

Posted in Mythtv.

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By james – February 16, 2007

Building a mythtv box on fedora core 6

Here are the steps I go through to build a mythtv box on fedora core 6. I have based this off of Jarod Wilson’s great guide.

  • Start of with a fc6 install from dvd.
  • Install the following items
  • Desktop Environments -> KDE (K Desktop Environment)
  • Applications -> Graphical Internet
  • Applications -> Sound and Video
  • Servers -> MySQL Database
  • Servers -> Web Server

Optionally, you might also want to add these groups:

  • Servers -> Windows File Server
  • Servers -> Network Servers -> vnc-server
  • Development -> Development Libraries
  • Development -> Development Tools
  • yum -y install switchdesk
  • switchdesk kde
  • yum -y upgrade
  • echo “export KVER=\`uname -r\`” >> /etc/profile.d/kver.sh
  • mount any nfs file systems you want
  • yum remove sendmail
  • yum -y install postfix mutt mdadm iptraf dstat freenx net-snmp usbutils
  • change /etc/postfix/main.cf to relay email to internet mail server and hostname to be valid.
  • reboot
  • turn screen saver off
  • cd /etc/yum.repos.d/
  • wget http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/atrpms.repo
  • wget http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/freshrpms.repo
  • wget http://ATrpms.net/RPM-GPG-KEY.atrpms
  • rpm –import RPM-GPG-KEY.atrpms
  • yum remove pcsc-lite-libs
  • yum upgrade
  • yum -y install yum-plugin-kmdl
  • yum -y install nvidia-graphics9755-kmdl-$KVER
  • yum -y install nvidia-graphics9755-libs nvidia-graphics9755
  • yum -y install ivtv-firmware
  • yum -y install ivtv-kmdl-$KVER
  • yum -y install lirc-kmdl-$KVER
  • yum -y install lirc
  • cp /offline/files/lirc/lirc.modules /etc/sysconfig/modules/
  • cp /offline/files/lirc/lircd.conf /etc
  • cp /offline/files/lirc/lircrc /home/desktop/.mythtv
  • ln -s /home/desktop/.mythtv/lircrc /home/desktop/.lircrc
  • chkconfig lircd on
  • service lircd start
  • yum -y install libiec61883-utils
  • yum -y install mythtv-suite
  • yum -y install phpMyAdmin
  • yum -y install alsa-kmdl-$KVER
  • yum -y install alsa-driver
  • chkconfig mysqld on
  • service mysqld start
  • Optimize mysql /etc/my.cnf under [mysqld]
  • key_buffer = 16M
  • table_cache = 128
  • sort_buffer_size = 2M
  • myisam_sort_buffer_size = 8M
  • query_cache_size = 16M
  • change root password for mysql via phpMyAdmin
  • make changes to fstab to mount any drives you want or nfs mounts
  • put mythtv themes on the box that I want
  • make changes or copy xorg.conf file
  • either copy smartd.conf and smtpd.conf files or edit
  • chkconf smartd on
  • chkconf snmpd on
  • yum -y install lm_sensors
  • sensors-detect
  • copy phpsysinfo and then make a phpsysinfo.conf file in /etc/httpd/conf.d
  • lock down mythweb, phpMyAdmin, phpsysinfo. Great how-to on locking down mythweb.
  • edit .htaccess file in mythweb folder to update mysql settings
  • if mythweb is the only thing you want on your httpd server just put <?php header(“Location: /mythweb”); ?> into a index.php file and you should be all set
  • chkconfig httpd on
  • cp /offline/dvr/scripts/myth-load.sh /home/desktop/.kde/Autostart
  • make sure that all mysql.txt files including /.mythtv in the root of the box is correct.
  • reboot and box should be pretty much ready. This setup is for a slave backend
  • nano /usr/share/xsessions/mythtv.desktop
    [Desktop Entry]
    Encoding=UTF-8
    Name=MythTV
    Comment=Use this session to run MythTV
    Exec=/usr/local/bin/mythtv.sh
    Icon=
    Type=Application
  • nano /usr/local/bin/mythtv.sh
    gnome-screensaver
    mythfrontend&
    killall irexec
    irexec -d
    nvidia-settings -l
    mtd -d
    exec openbox
  • chmod +x /usr/local/bin/mythtv.sh

Posted in Mythtv.

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By james – January 31, 2007

Rebuilding a few boxes

I plan on rebuilding 2 if not 3 of my boxes in the next few days.  I plan on putting a 160 gig seagate into the athlon 1700 and then build a fc6.  The intel 1 gig I will either put fc6 or go to ubuntu edgy, I am not sure what one I want to run.  My 2003 box is getting pretty old.  I may rebuild that box in the next month.  I have to decide what I want to put on that.

Posted in Linux.

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By james – January 29, 2007

Install Backuppc on fc6

  1. yum -y install BackupPC
  2. edit /etc/http/conf.d/BackupPC.conf and make it so anyone can get to it
  3. service httpd restart
  4. edit /etc/BackupPC/config.pl and make changes to lines so admin gets email and access to webinterface
  5. chkconfig BackupPC on
  6. service BackupPC restart
  7. edit /etc/BackupPC/hosts and create or copy all of the hostname.pl files for each host you want to backup.
  8. go to http://hostname/BackupPC
  9. edit /etc/hosts and add hosts you are going to backup
  10. that should be it

Posted in Linux.

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By james – January 29, 2007

Install cacti on fc6

  1. install webmin(this makes things easier for other things also) rpm -i webminfile name
  2. yum -y install cacti net-snmp-utils
  3. edit /etc/http/conf.d/cacti.conf so people can get to cacti
  4. service httpd restart
  5. restore cacti database
  6. nano /etc/cacti/db.php edit for correct mysql info
  7. go to http://hostname/cacti and it should come up without any problems.
  8. Last make sure the cron job that runs the cacti poller.php is set to active.

Posted in Linux.

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By james – January 29, 2007

Cabinet is almost finished in the utility room

Over the weekend I have been building a cabinet to put my mitre saw, grinder, drill press, etc on.  I can store each tool on shelves that slide out and I can using them on top or store them below.  I will eventually make two more small adjustable cabinets that roll around also.  They can been hooked together and adjust in height and I will make a table top that will hook to them.  I want to make cabinets that I can roll out of the way and store when I am not using them but will be able to use them all over the utility room when I need tools and space.

I also plan on building some storage shelves for the rest of the stuff in the utility room.  I also want to put that on rollers and on the back of that cabinet I want to make a rack to put 4×8 sheets of wood to store.  I am also planning out a rack that is up at the ceiling to store other solid wood just to keep it out of the way but easy to get to when I want to use it.

So many plans.  I hope to have a chance to get 5 to 10 sheets of plywood next weekend.  That should keep me busy for awile I would thing.  The cabinet I made this weekend was made out of mdf that I had sitting around from a few other shelving projects.  That stuff is easy to use and holds up to just about everything but liquid.

Posted in Basement.

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By james – January 28, 2007

Myth frontend up in the bedroom

I finally tried out one of my frontend boxes up in the bedroom. Video didn’t not look good but svideo looked great. I watched a bunch of the Xgames while looking through a bunch of my woodworking magazines. It worked great. Now just to get a small micro atx case so jenny doesn’t know there is a pc in the room. I also need to use a seagate drive instead of the maxtor I put in it. I really need to keep this thing as quite as possible. I also have svideo working on the frontend/backend downstairs. I have some more playing on that since I want widescreen on the projector but 4×3 on the tv. Not sure if it is possible or not. I will keep trying.

Posted in Mythtv.

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By james – January 28, 2007

Well, I am back to fc6 for a slave backend box

Tonight I started back on a fc6 build I was working on as a slave backend box.  Everything was working fine until I did a yum upgrade.  X broke.  I have that working at the correct res again.  Right now I am working on getting lirc working again.  I have no idea what happen to lirc.  I will have to dig into that this weekend.  After that I believe I will have it ready to bring upstairs.  I just closed the box up tonight and it seems to be running cool and quite.  I hope the lirc problem is not to much and I hope nothing else pops up.

Posted in Mythtv.

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By james – January 25, 2007

Finally got the router from sears last night

I had gone in and purchased a crafsman router back on 1/1/07. When I ordered I knew it was not in stock. I was told it would be in on 1/16/07. Well that time came and went. I have called many times and gone in 4 times (including the first time I bought it and last night when I finally picked it up). Everytime I called or went in, they could not tell me when it will be in or where it is. This weekend when I was at the mall I asked the employee when they expect any to come in. He said he can get his hands on one on the 23rd. He told me to come back on the 23rd and it will either be in or a manager can substitute another one because it is taking to long to get this in. I called last night and waited about 15 minutes. The employee finally came back on the phone and said he saw my router and I can come pick it up. I go in and scan my receipt like I was told and the computer told me to come back, my product has been shipped and will be ready for pickup on the 16th. It is the 23rd. Minor bug in their system. So I find a warehouse guy. He takes my receipt and starts working on his computer. About 10 minutes later he comes back with the receipt and not box. Said it should be coming on thursdays truck. I tell him another person said it is there right now and I can pick up now. He again tells me it is not here, it is on the next truck. I have been told this for a week now. So I go back to my car and drive around to the tool entrace for sears and park. I go in and wait for a manager. One walks by and I tell him the story. He says that he is very sorry for my troubles and takes my receipt and walks back to the storage area again. About 15 minutes later, from the other end of the store he comes walking back. This time a box in his hand. 🙂

Sure enough, the box even has a label on it with my name. How could that employee just 20 minutes ago tell me it is on the next truck when it was there and actually had a computer label on it with my name even printed on it? Oh well, I have it in hand. I ask if I still have 90 days to return if I have problems. He returns the product and prints me a new receipt. I am good to go.

I get home and put the dust shield on it and then head down to the table saw and get everything out so I can mount it to the table saw I bought about 3 years ago. It is mounted and I run a junk piece of wood through it. Did a very nice job and with the vacumn hooked to it, I get very little dust from this setup. A bit noisy but I knew that was going to happen.

Now I can start getting my materials list ready for the work bench/storage cabinets I want to build before I start on the book shelves.

This new router has a very nice slow start. It does not jerk to a full spin like older routers. Not adjustable speed control or anyting but that is fine with me. If I need to do any special work I have a really nice plunge router to use. This router is going to be used on the table and that is it.

Posted in New toys.

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By james – January 24, 2007

It is going to be a busy night tonight

Good thing there is not much on tv tonight. I just found out that the harmony 880 was delivered today. Hopefully configuration of the remote will not take to much time. I hope to be able to control everything in the basement with this remote. From the quick run through I was able to do, it does look like I can control all of the devices I have. Now just to get it working smoothly so jen can just hit a few buttons to watch, the mythbox, replay, dvd and cable stb. The last thing I have to get working is svideo out on the nvidia card. I want that signal and analog audio to go direct to the tv so we do not have to watch sd material on the projector.

I still have 24, prison break, studio 60 and some old episodes of last years x games to watch though. Good thing the mythbox is working great. I can watch any of those shows whenever.

Posted in Mythtv, New toys.

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By james – January 24, 2007