EDIT 10/12/05
************************PLEASE READ ALL THE POSTS BEFORE COMMENTING*****************

1)THIS IS NOT THE PLACE TO ASK FOR CHANGES/IMPROVEMENTS
2)THIS IS ABOUT GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY IN WHAT EVER FORM YOU CAN!!!!!!!! NOT JUST MONEY!
/EDIT


Like many of you, I found MythTV as an alternative to TiVo for price reasons. I felt the monthly fee was ridiculous. I wanted a simple DVR, and what I found was so much more.
I know nothing about linux and its command structure, and I tried to install MythTV on Gentoo and Mandrake. The processes was way too complicated, there was poor documentation, and few places to turn. I happened upon KnoppMyth and fell in love. Nearly drop in a CD and go. What a wonderful idea. But this product didn’t drop out of the sky. From what I can understand it is the work of two people who give a lot of their free time to give us this product that we have come to rely on.
I didn’t realize how addicted I was to the MythTV system until I had problems during the upgrade between two versions [since resolved]. I found myself reaching for the remote to pause when I get up to get a drink or pushing the fast-forward button when it was just cable.
This is what has led me to write this. I really appreciate what these people are doing, and today I showed that appreciation by dropping some cash their way. Not much just a couple of bucks, to say thanx. This got me thinking. Why isn’t everyone giving a little back. Every one says hey where’s R5 at, what is gonna be in it. But who is saying thanx for what you have done.
Then there is the support. Like I said I am a n00b, I know nothing about linux. Someone replied to nearly every post I have ever made, most of the time it was one of the 2 head people. A lot of the time it was “ search and ye shall find” or “RTFM” [read: type “man {enter key word here}”], but that is what I needed someone to push me in the right direction.

MY PLEDGE:
TiVo wants $12.95 a month. That is sick. KnoppMyth wants $0, but does that mean that they don’t disserve something. I am going to give the KnoppMyth crew 12.95 a year. While that might not seem like much to most, if half of the people did the same it could add up. I also pledge to give a second installment with each Version release[R4,R5]. More if I find the update particularly useful [Features, Stability, etc.] I’m a teacher so I don’t have a lot of spare cash kicking around but I feel this is reasonable.

Reasoning:
If I am working on a product that I plan on giving away for free. And this is done in my spare time, that is the only time I am gonging to work on it. While I don’t doubt for a minute that they are not doing this for the passion of it, a reward of some sort would help me find more “spare time”. And if I knew that my users would give a bit extra when I pushed out an update. I would work a bit harder to include the features that would make the product that much more appealing.

So please consider giving a little something back to the hard working admins of this great product.

Sincerely,
-topher Slater

Donation link:[button at the bottom]

http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html

My eyes welled up and I stop there... Thanks for the kind words.

_________________
cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

yes, I can make that pledge. Thanks for the kick in the pants, xtopher. I've been meaning to donate for a while now...

However, I do get the feeling zap2it is going to start charging for their service sooner or later.

I sent Zap2it labs a email asking about a donation service. i will post their reply here, if i get one.

srahrens:
any ideas how we could involve other members?

People need to understand that just because it is free dosent mean it shouldnt cost anything. This service means something to me and i am willing to do something to show that.

There are other ways to support a 'free' project. One way that many of us contribute is by helping other users on the message boards.

i understand that and have posted my limited knowledge in the tier 2 group. But i know nothing about linux and can only give so much in that form. Lets face it this distribution is for people who dont know much about code. Those people might want to give something back. They might just need a reason, or a system.
I learned a lot about linux through this project and helped another person in my neighborhood with some stuff. But i believe in helping those who help me.

Dont get me wrong i am not saying this should be a pay product, but a user supported system. those who can do code do it. those who can give answers do it. those who are grateful but dont feel like they are giving back should do what they can. This was my answer. You have yours. and i am sure the forum thanks you for your efforts.

This may be the reality, but this isn't the official stance. KnoppMyth is designed to get a set-top box setup in the quickiest, easiest and best manner possible. Thanks again for the kind words, I was truly touched.

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cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

Great post, and I will second everything that was said. Even if I spend entirely too much time tinkering with my box, it's been a great experience and quite a learning experience.
So, I too will send a contribution, there, done.

2129 registered myth users (11/19/2004)

If 10% gave one TiVo payment ($12.95)

213 x $12.95= 2758.35

that can build a few development Myth Boxes

just some numbers as food for thought .

But give what you can when you can, in whatever form it may be (money, knowledge, Help, answers, parts??).

mmm that is rather revealing. sure I can think of ways to "encourage" people to pony up some $$, but I doubt anybody would actually want to implement them.

Obviously there is an emphasis on this software being free, so you wouldn't want to mess with that. I was thinking it wouldn't be too hard to set up some form of "premium" membership, which might entitle you to certain conveniences and status. for instance, placing a star by the persons name to denote a foundation or "cornerstone" member, maybe automatic emailing of updates and helpful information, something like that. i know nobody wants to limit access to people who don't contribute, so my thought is that you would have to offer people a solid reason to consider paying. some service they wouldn't otherwise get, but don't *need* to have to get a myth box up and going.

of course, one you start getting into that whole thing it takes time to implement and maintain this "premium" service, which sort of defeats the point I guess, since that time might be better spent developing.

I guess in the end it's all about reminding people of how much fun and use they've gotten out of a free product. I personally have certainly gotten my money's worth at 13 bucks a year.

just one note on this. I found myth originaly on version 11. i tried to setup it up but failed miserably, mostly becuase i knew nothing about linux. later on, version 13(i believe) i found knoppmyth and it actualy worked! since then my linux skills have increased a 1000% (still have a long way to go) I have buildt myth on several distros now, with no problem. Knoppmyth *is* and will always be my home. THere are many people in the forums that use knoppmyth not because they have to, but because it is thee best comunity in mythland. Many thanks to cesman and dale for creating the community that is just as important as the distro..

-andy

You know what? I AM a programmer (though not on linux, at the moment) and have even hacked my kernel (stupid network cards that aren't detected properly ). But I still liked the idea of this and went with it on my first try. And I'd already donated some $$ because it is so great and it is obvious how much work went into it.

I just wish I knew more about creating distros so that I could help do some actual development. (I also wish I knew more about video processing so I could figure out how to modify transcode to gracefully handle corrupted streams from my pvr-350, but that's neither here nor there.)

_________________
Athlon 700 + PVR-350. KnoppMyth R5A16. ReiserFS on an LVM volume for myth data. Thanks to SnapperDragon, everything seems quite happy.

I did my yearly donation. Did you? You should realy think about it. This R5 setup is hot. and I know they are still working hard to make it better before they take it off the alfa standings.

Thanks again for the hard work guys.

ah, I see you sneaked in at 11 months not at year!

I'll also reup

Thanx for the reminder

_________________
R5F1 - Dell P4 2.4Ghz 500MB - PVR250 x 2 - GeForce FX 5200 - Onboard sound/NIC 80GB ATA/250GB ATA/400GB SATA

good call xtopher... maybe you should make this a sticky cesman


rock on knoppmyth!