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PostPosted: Fri May 11, 2007 6:52 pm 
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Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2004 11:00 am
Posts: 9551
Location: Arlington, MA
Don't Panic! :-) The Hitchhiker's Guide to KnoppMyth R5F1

This is a very long post which covers everything from pre through post install issues and fixups. Do not let this frighten you off. It's long because I tried to write it at a "drunken monkey" level of detail, with the intent that you can cut & paste the example commands shown directly from this posting into a shell window on your KnoppMyth box. Please scroll down and look at the bold headings to get a feel for what it covers... If you're looking for something specific please use your browsers page search feature. Also, please read through the "Known Changes" and "Known Issues" sections, for various potential "gotchas" before you install or upgrade. They often point you to steps that you need to do to avoid problems.

These posts were originally an upgrade guide, and that is still the main focus, but most of the setup hints and the information under "Known Issues" and "Known Changes" still apply for a fresh install.

This is also intended to be a supplement to Cecil's Pamphlet and change list rather than a replacement. As a result it tends to skip issues they cover, so don't forget to review those before you start.

Finally, a note on the color coding used here, red is used for file system objects (files, directories, ...), green is used for sample commands (partial or complete), indigo is used for GUI menu paths, and text in blue is a link to another posting/thread or web page.

Known Changes

There are a number of changes with consequences which may bite you on an upgrade, especially from a version older than R5E50, or which may affect old documentation.

    1) Backup and Restore changes:

      1.1) The backup format has changed versus the one used in KnoppMyth versions before R5C7. Use the manual conversion process described under "Phase 0" item #1 below to ensure that your backup will work as intended.

      1.2) The default compression format of the backup has changed versus R5C7 and later. The restore script will auto-detect the correct compression type if you don't confuse it by having copies of /myth/backup/savedfiles.tar* and/or /myth/backup/mythconverg.sql* with different compression types. This includes uncompressed versions, but not the version numbered files (i.e. /myth/backup/*.[1-9]). See the command described under "Phase 0" item #1.3 below to ensure that you don't have conflicting names.

      Note that this also means that any custom scripts or examples which extract things from the backup need to be changed to match. For tar archives this means using the options zxvf to extract .tar.gz files from the backup rather than using jxvf for .tar.bz2, for other files this means using the gzip command rather than bzip2.

      1.3) For versions using the new style backup (R5C7 and later) there are certain things which should be removed from your custom /myth/backup/restore.list before upgrading. I know from personal experience that restoring the old webmin "miniserver.conf" will give you grief. I would also recommend being very cautious with "lvm.conf". The current builtin restore list now contains:
      Code:
      ./root
      ./home
      ./etc/mythtv/modules
      ./etc/lirc
      ./etc/htdigest
      ./etc/apache2/apache2.conf
      ./var/www/mythweb/.htaccess
      ./etc/X11/xorg.conf
      ./etc/asound.conf

    2) X Server and Desktop changes:

      2.1) The switch from the XFree86 to the x.org X server used in R5D1 and before means merging customizations (such as mode lines) from the old file (/etc/X11/XF86Config-4) to the new one (/etc/X11/xorg.conf). Pay particular attention to the "Monitor" section. Do not simply copy over the whole file. There are some options in the old one that will give the new server serious indigestion. You may also need to tweak some of your nvidia-settings to work better with the new server.

      2.2) GDM is gone and won't be coming back. Rather than using "/etc/init.d/gdm restart" to restart the frontend from the command line you can now use "pkill xinit". To stop X entirely you can drop to single user mode using "telinit 1" at the console and then kill xinit using the command described above.

      2.3) The use of DisplaySize to get a particular DPI value has been superseded, at least for the nVidia driver, by the following settings in your Monitor section:
      Code:
              Option "UseEdidDpi" "FALSE"
              Option "DPI" "100 x 100"

      See this thread for more discussion - http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=13219

      2.4) If you have problems with the x.org server starting up on the first boot off the hard disk PLEASE check your logfiles before posting questions about:
      Quote:
      INIT: Id "c7" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes
      the fixes are generally simple configuration or driver install issues. Searching the forums is also highly recommended.

    3 ) Serial port changes:

      3.1) The serial mouse setup in the default xorg.conf file can cause the X server to grab and lock the serial port, which can make it inaccessible for other uses. Removing or commenting out that InputDevice section in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf and restarting X will free it up.

    4) The switch to udev for hot-pluggable devices may cause some of the device names to change, especially USB devices.

      4.1) The lirc device has changed from "/dev/lirc" or "/dev/usb/hiddev0" to "/dev/lirc0". This should be taken care of by the "lirc-reconfig.sh" script which is run during setup.

      4.2) For audio you may have to run alsaconf, and change "/dev/dsp0" to "/dev/dsp" in the setup.

      4.3) Switching to udev also means that removable storage devices (CDs, USB drives, ...) should be pretty much "plug and play" with no extra setup required, however, the default mount points may have changed as a result. For example my USB thumbdrive is now automatically mounted on "/media/usbdisk" when it is plugged in. A second drive gets mounted as /media/usbdisk-1 and so on.

    5) IVTV driver changes:

      5.1) The version of the ivtv driver included in R5F1 uses different input names and numbering to conform to the standard V4L2 interface, and if you are upgrading from a version older than R5E50 the DB configuration contains references to the obsolete names. If you don't follow the "Post Install Setup" directions below this will cause all sorts of bizarre and mysterious errors.

      5.2) The module options for the ivtv drivers have also changed a great deal, even versus R5E50. The KM upgrade scripts try to handle the most common obsolete options, but there are just too many possible options and too many places people can hide them to get everything.

      5.3) With the new version of the ivtv drivers many settings which you used to be able to adjust with ivtvctl, must now be done using the v4l2-ctl utility. Run it with the --help option for a complete list of the command options. The /etc/init.d/set_ivtv_params script can be used to force normal defaults at startup for cards which come up with strange ones. It can also be customized for users who need nonstandard initialization. To enable it at boot time use:
      Code:
      update-rc.d set_ivtv_params defaults


      5.4) The new drivers also mean changes to the PVR-350 output. If you have problems you may need to add the following line to your /etc/mythtv/modules/ivtv file as per the IVTV Troubleshooting page
      Code:
      options ivtv-fb osd_compat=1


      5.5) The new drivers also require new firmware, even versus R5E50. If you have problems, make sure you've shut the machine down (powered off and unplugged) for 1-2 minutes to force the old firmware to be cleared.

    6) Remote access changes:

      6.1) For improved security, direct ssh access as the "mythtv" and "root" users and for users with blank passwords has been disabled in /etc/ssh/sshd_config. For ssh access as root you must login as user created during phase 1 installation, run "su - root", and provide the root password.

      6.2) IE interoperability with digest authentication can now be achieved by running the following command:
      Code:
      ToggleWebSecurity.sh -all

      If security is already enabled, you may need to run it twice to first toggle it off, and then back on. IE should actually work without any changes for a new install, the only place where this may be an issue is for an upgrade.

      6.3) Freenx was replaced with VNC for remote desktop access. The VNC password is preconfigured to "mythtv" and can be changed by editing the -passwd value in the command that starts x11vnc in the /home/mytht/.fluxbox/apps file. There's no way to do this topic justice here so I'll have to refer you to the x11vncHowTo page on the wiki.

      6.4) When setting up mysql for a MBE/SBE/FE multi-machine configuration (LinHES), the /etc/mysql/my.cnf file no longer contains a 'skip-networking' line to comment out. Instead, you can either comment out the bind-address line or change it to your machines primary IP address (this requires static IP address assignments). If you have multiple active network interfaces, change the IP address to that of the NIC facing your other machines.

    7) Other changes to included software modules and packages:

      7.1) Some of the theme names have changed versus pre-R5E50 builds, often in subtle ways. In particular I'm aware that Isthmus (with an upper case "I") is now spelled isthmus (with a lower case "i"). If you are not seeing any OSD information while watching live or recorded TV this is most likely the problem. Simply go into the setup menus and pick a different OSD theme. If you have a theme which won't even let you get to the menus see this thread - "Picking a new theme from the command line"

      7.2) The full kernel source is no longer included, however, the kernel headers needed to compile modules are. I have personally compiled both ivtv and nVidia drivers using these. Cecil has also made the full kernel source available via this thread - "So you want the kernel source..."

      7.3) Cecil has taken a more conservative approach on codecs in recent releases. So far everything I've tried has just worked, however, if you encounter some old video, in a format that used to work but doesn't any more, see this posting for details on installing extra codecs - HowTo: Update mplayer & install new CODECs

      7.4) MythArchive has replaced MythBurn. MythArchive has a full blown GUI which can be accessed under Optical Disks -> Archive Files from the main menu. The old MythWeb interface has been removed. If you are upgrading from an older version (before R5C7?) you may need to manually create the "archiveitems" table. See this thread for details. http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15163

      7.5) The atscscan and dvbscan utilities have been replaced with a single unified scan program.

Known Issues

There are also a handful of known issues, mostly minor and with known work arounds:

    1) If the mythtv backend process doesn't appear to come up after an upgrade or install (one symptom is an empty recordings list) give it a few minutes. There appears to be a race condition here while it is trying to upgrade the DB. If it doesn't come up after 3-4 minutes, running /etc/init.d/mythtv-backend restart as root should get it back. You can also do this using the Alt-3 key shortcut from the GUI desktop.

    2) There is a known IVTV driver issue with some PVR-150 and PVR-500 cards glitching (tearing, pixellation) when using the default 480x480 recording profile and VBI encoding. Using a 720x480 capture resolution and/or turning off VBI is strongly recommended for these cards. If you change the capture resolution, don't forget to adjust your recording bit rates to match or image quality may suffer. For more details, see the postings by ethernut in this thread - http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=13097.

    3) There seems to be some kind of bug in the mythtv-setup utility (one of the MythTV modules) which produces bogus entries in the cardinput table. If you get an error about "Card 0 (type) is set to start on channel 2, which does not exist.", see the "Post Install Setup" section below.

    4) The udev hardware detection can result in unstable device name assignments. The biggest problems people typically have with this is in systems with multiple different capture cards. Search for the writeup that bruce_s01 did on pinning down the device assignments.

    5) Software suspend issues. There are still certain things that don't want to restart. If you use software suspend, you'll have to keep an eye out for these and deal with them on a case by case basis. Pay special attention to any areas where you have to do special hardware initialization.

    6) There is a known false alarm with the restore scripts sanity checking. See this thread for more details. http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15246

    7) There is a newer IVTV driver available which addresses certain LIRC problems which some people have had with the Hauppuage grey/silver remote connected to their PVR cards. See this wiki page for upgrade instructions: http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/index.php?page=CompileIvtv-0.10.0

Hints for Upgrading or Installing

This information is intended to apply equally whether you're doing an "Auto Upgrade" or a manual upgrade. Much of it also applies you're doing a fresh install.

Please note, Auto Upgrade only works if you originally did an Auto Install. If you did a manual install you need to do a manual upgrade. The important distinction between auto and manual install here has to do almost entirely with your disk layout, and in particular if your root partition and swap are in the "expected" locations. Whether you've manually added new software or patches on top of that original install generally doesn't matter. On the other hand, if you had started with an auto install, done all the device name fixups required, and moved the disk to a different location on the IDE bus, auto upgrade wouldn't work. See this post for more details about the expected disk layout - http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=96417 See the Pamphlet for details on doing a manual upgrade.

Phase 0 - Before you upgrade:

A lot of the information below depends on which version you're upgrading from. If you've forgotten which release you're currently running, you can find out using the following command as root:
Code:
cat /etc/KnoppMyth-version

    1) Make a backup using the mythbackup script and verify that it worked. In more recent versions, like R5D1, the verification is done automatically as part of the backup, in older versions you must do it manually. You can't do an upgrade without a valid backup.

      1.1) If you are upgrading from a version of KnoppMyth before R5C7, you should manually convert your old style backup into a new style backup by archiving all of /etc /root and /home. Upgrading from an old style backup is not well tested and not guaranteed to work, so please don't skip this step. As root run the following commands:
      Code:
      cd /
      tar zcvf /myth/backup/savedfiles.tar.gz ./etc ./root ./home

      The leading ./ on these three directory names is important. Don't forget it, or your backup/restore won't work properly!

      1.2) Check that the backup worked! If you already have /usr/local/bin/checkbackup.sh or /usr/local/bin/checkbackup on your system, run that. Otherwise get the check_backup.sh script which can be found on the MythBackupAndRestoreHowTo page on the wiki. Note that you may need to make a simple change to the tar commands in that script, as described under Known Changes item 1.2 above, to match the actual compression types of your backup files. If there is an error in the backup, please report the messages produced by the checkbackup script.

      1.3) You should also run the following command to check that you don't have multiple compression formats for a given backup filename which will cause confusion later:
      Code:
      ls -l /myth/backup/savedfiles.tar* /myth/backup/mythconverg.sql* |
       sed '/\.[0-9]$/d'

      It's OK if the savedfiles.tar and mythconverg.sql compression (or lack thereof) are different. On my system it produces these healthy results:
      Code:
      root@black2:/# ls -l /myth/backup/savedfiles.tar* /myth/backup/mythconverg.sql* | sed '/\.[0-9]$/d'
      -rw------- 1 root root 13715983 Dec 30 14:20 /myth/backup/mythconverg.sql.gz
      -rw------- 1 root root  7958370 Dec 30 14:21 /myth/backup/savedfiles.tar.gz
    See the "Taking advantage of the enhanced backup and restore scripts" posting for more information on using backup and restore. Also see the "Known Changes" section above for more things to beware of.

    2) Make a list of any add ons you've installed or extra configuration you've done while you've still got the old install to refer to.

    3) Make a note of your current hostname. This is very important, since changing the hostname can make various DB entries keyed by hostname useless. The following command will print your hostname:
    Code:
    hostname

Phase 1 - When you boot from the CD:

    1) Pick the appropriate boot options.

      1.1) Using the "tv" option on your boot command is strongly recommended. Otherwise the install defaults to a potentially unreadable 1280x1024 resolution. This is one of those "more is not always better" cases. ;-) For example:
      Code:
      tv testcd

      1.2) Always use the "testcd" option in your boot command or the "Check Media" option on the main menu if this is first time you've used a given CD with the machine. If the validation fails do not continue the upgrade! For example:
      Code:
      tv testcd

      1.3) If the installer hangs probing for SCSI devices boot using the "expert" or "noscsi" options. Note that "expert" needs to be the first thing in the boot command list. For example:
      Code:
      tv noscsi testcd

      or:
      Code:
      expert tv testcd

      1.4) If your motherboard has the Intel ICH8 chipset, add the the "intelfix" option to enable support for this new chipset. The installer takes care of the rest. For example:
      Code:
      tv intelfix testcd

    2) Do not use the name "mythtv" when prompted to create a user account. The mythtv user is already created automatically. Don't forget to make a note of that user name and the passwords you pick for that user and the administrator (root) accounts.

    3) Make sure you use the same hostname (machine name) during the upgrade! Look at the notes you made before the upgrade and enter that name when prompted. Using a different hostname will cause a number of nasty problems with various tables in the DB, particularly the settings table, which uses the hostname as one of its keys. Changing the hostname is a project beyond the scope of these hints.

Phase 2 - After the install from the CD and reboot

Phase 2a. Before entering the root password to start the setup dialogs:

To do any of these tasks you'll need to switch to an alternate virtual console using Ctrl-Alt-F1 and login there as root.

    1) If you're using LVM with the standard volume group name of "vg" use the recreate_lvm.sh script to restore it. Otherwise you'll need to edit the script to use the "right" volume group name for you system. This is a nondestructive operation and only gets the system to recognize what is already there. You can also create an lvm volume group during an install by using the create_lvm.sh script. Search the wiki for "LVM" for more details.

    2) If you have some other nonstandard disk arrangement you may need to correct your /etc/fstab and mount the updated partitions. Especially /myth! The restore will fail if it can't find the /myth/backup directory.

    3) If X isn't working out of the box, you may need to merge certain setting from your old working XF86Config-4 into the new /etc/X11/xorg.conf. It's also not uncommon to have to force the Nvidia driver install. Please see the "Known Changes" section above for more details.

    4) Do any other fixups that you need to complete before the Phase 2b Setup Dialogs run.
When you have completed any tweaks, use Alt-F7 to switch back to the GUI desktop virtual console screen.

2b. Setup dialogs:

    1) Make sure you get the timezone right. This is easy to screw up and will lead to really annoying problems with your program guide at the very least. If you botch this see the ProgramGuideIsOff page on the wiki.

    2) If there is an error in the restore, please check the logfile /var/log/restore.log and report the messages after the line that says "Sanity checking your restore..."

    3) Make a note of the passwords you pick.

Phase 3 - Post install setup:

    1) IVTV driver (Hauppauge PVR and compatibles cards) configuration:

      1.1) If you are upgrading from a version of KnoppMyth before R5E50, and you have a PVR card, you must drop all of your card definitions and recreate them! This is necessary because the version of the ivtv driver included in this release uses different input names and numbering to conform to the standard V4L2 interface, and the DB configuration contains stale references to the obsolete names. If you do not do this, you will see all sorts of bizarre and mysterious errors.

        1.1.1) Stop the backend using the Alt-2 hot key from the GUI.
        1.1.2) Run mythtv-setup using Alt-S from the GUI.
        1.1.3) Select "2. Capture cards" and clear all of your capture card settings by choosing the option to "(Delete all capture cards)" there.
        1.1.4) Still under "2. Capture cards" recreate the entries for all your cards using the "(New capture card)" option there.
        1.1.5) Back on the main mythtv-setup menu select "4. Input connections" and reestablish the correct mappings from capture card input to video source there.
        1.1.6) Exit mythtv-setup.
        1.1.7) Restart the backend using Alt-3 from the GUI
      The directions for GettingBackIntoMytTVsetup and the configuration walk through on the BlackScreenWatchingTV troubleshooting page on the wiki may also be helpful when redoing this configuration.

      1.2) If you are getting errors/warnings when you try to exit mythtv-setup along the lines of "Card 0 (type) is set to start on channel 2, which does not exist.", you may need to manually delete the offending rows in the cardinput table. These are generally rows with the cardid = 0. If the following commands show a cardid (especially 0) in the cardinput table which is not listed in the capturecard table you should remove all references to it:
      Code:
      root@black2:~# mysql mythconverg -e "select cardid, videodevice, defaultinput from capturecard"
      +--------+-------------+--------------+
      | cardid | videodevice | defaultinput |
      +--------+-------------+--------------+
      |      1 | /dev/video0 | Tuner 1      |
      |      2 | /dev/video1 | Tuner 1      |
      +--------+-------------+--------------+
      root@black2:~# mysql mythconverg -e "select cardid, sourceid, inputname from cardinput"
      +--------+----------+-----------+
      | cardid | sourceid | inputname |
      +--------+----------+-----------+
      |      1 |        1 | Tuner 1   |
      |      2 |        1 | Tuner 1   |
      +--------+----------+-----------+

      As far as I can tell, valid cardid and sourceid values now start from 1 rather than 0. To remove the offending records:
      Code:
      mysql mythconverg -e "delete from cardinput where cardid=0"


      1.3) You may also need to update your ivtv module options to work with the new drivers. The KM upgrade scripts try to fix the most common obsolete options, but there are just too many possible options and too many places people can hide them to get everything. Remember you need to reboot for these changes to take effect! See this sticky thread for more details - IvyTV not working with new releases

      1.4) Just to be on the safe side, shutdown and power off your machine (unplug it if necessary to make sure it's really off) for 1-2 minutes to make sure that the old firmware is cleared and the new firmware will be uploaded to the card.

      1.5) Finally, you may want to upgrade your IVTV driver to 0.10.3 as discussed above under Known Issue #7.

    2) Redo any add ons or extra configuration that you noted earlier. (Check first to make sure that it hasn't already been added as a new standard feature.) For example:

      2.1) Restoring your NFS setup (If you have a .bz2 for your backup file rather than .gz use jxvf instead of zxvf in the tar command below.):
      Code:
      mv /etc/exports /etc/exports.orig
      cd /
      tar zxvf /myth/backup/savedfiles.tar.gz ./etc/exports
      /etc/init.d/nfs-common start
      /etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server start
      update-rc.d nfs-common defaults
      update-rc.d nfs-kernel-server defaults


      2.2) Restoring your webmin setup. This assumes that your LAN is using the 192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0 private network IP range. If you are using a different range (e.g. 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0) correct the "allow" line below accordingly.
      Code:
      echo "allow=127.0.0.1 192.168.1.0" >>/etc/webmin/miniserv.conf
      /usr/share/webmin/changepass.pl /etc/webmin root YOURPASSWORDHERE
      /etc/init.d/webmin start

      update-rc.d webmin defaults

      This may not work until you reboot.

      2.3) Restoring your lirc setup. To recover any LIRC customizations you've made from your backup:

        2.3.1) You must have run the lirc-reconfig.sh script during the Phase 2b setup. If you skipped it or don't remember, run it now and choose the appropriate settings.

        2.3.2) Due to the udev and other changes noted above, restoring your old /etc/lirc/hardware.conf is not recommended. If you do, you must make sure that the DEVICE and MODULES settings are correct.

        2.3.3) Restore your old files from the backup, make any device name corrections needed, and reboot. (If you have a .bz2 for your backup file rather than .gz use jxvf instead of zxvf in the tar command below.):
        Code:
        mv /etc/lirc/lircd.conf /etc/lirc/lircd.conf.orig
        mv /home/mythtv/.mythtv/lircrc /home/mythtv/.mythtv/lircrc.orig
        cd /
        tar zxvf /myth/backup/savedfiles.tar.gz ./etc/lirc/lircd.conf ./home/mythtv/.mythtv/lircrc
        reboot

    3) Be very careful about doing apt-get install to add extra packages, even though the /etc/apt/sources.list is pointing to the stable repository. Do not attempt to do an apt-get upgrade or an apt-get dist-upgrade, this is almost guaranteed to roach your system. When using apt-get:

      3.1) Don't ever use the -y option.

      3.2) Always review the list of packages it wants to add or remove.

      3.3) If in doubt say "no".

OBTW - As Cecil said in the R5D1 thread:
cesman wrote:
Let's not turn this into my upgrade didn't work thread.

In pursuit of that goal, I will not answer questions in this thread which do not involved an update/correction/clarification/additional information/... on the upgrade hints posting, and would request that others do the same. On the other hand, if I've botched something above, or it's unclear don't be shy!

Before posting questions please search the forums and see the TroubleShooting pages on the wiki to make sure it's not a greater or lesser FAQ.

Many thanks to the testers and all other the folks who've worked through the early installs and upgrades to provide the solutions listed here. ;-)


Last edited by tjc on Sat Sep 01, 2007 11:32 am, edited 14 times in total.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri May 11, 2007 9:40 pm 
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Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2004 11:00 am
Posts: 9551
Location: Arlington, MA
OBTW - Some versions...

- MythTV 0.20.1-fixes as of changelist 13420 - http://svn.mythtv.org/trac/log/branches/release-0-20-fixes
- IVTV drivers versions 0.10.1 - http://dl.ivtvdriver.org/ivtv/stable/ChangeLog-0.10
- Linux 2.6.18-chw-13 #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Mar 6 19:57:00 PST 2007


Last edited by tjc on Fri May 18, 2007 5:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.


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 Post subject: A couple of tips
PostPosted: Sun May 13, 2007 12:36 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 6:57 pm
Posts: 90
I didn't see this in this post, but just in case it will helps someone...

Those of us that run multiple frontends need to
edit /etc/mysql/my.cnf and enter the backend ipaddress in the line bind-address =

Those of us that have PVR-150 cards that always lose their place when rebooted need to add this line to the end of /etc/init.d/bootmisc.sh (or somewhere it will be run at boot time)

/usr/local/bin/ivtv-tune -c 3

Hope this helps. I know I seem to forget these every time I upgrade. :)


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon May 14, 2007 12:05 pm 
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Joined: Thu Feb 12, 2004 2:54 pm
Posts: 392
Location: Beaumont, CA
x11vnc is used when you want to connect in remotely and view your actual desktop. It acts like the windows version of vnc or pay versions like gotomypc or logmein.com. What you do on the screen will be seen by everyone viewing your mythbox.
You may want to use "standard" vnc server so that you can connect in remotely and do admin work or run the front end to load new music, setup videos, or work from a terminal (but I'd recommend ssh if you just need to work in a terminal). People viewing your mythbox will not see what you are doing.
To turn off x11vnc edit /home/mythtv/.fluxbox/apps and delete the [startup] [/usr/bin/x11vnc... line. As root apt-get install tightvncserver. As mythtv user (su mythtv) type vncpasswd and enter in the password you want to use. To run the vncserver type:
Code:
vncserver :1

you can also force a desktop size by using the geometry:
Code:
vncserver :1 -geometry 800x600

You can also put this in the /home/mythtv/.fluxbox/apps file.
Code:
[startup] {vncserver :1 -geometry 800x600}

However I suggest ssh into the box and then run the vncserver from command line. If you want access through your firewall, forward the port (in this example, display :1 is port 5901) to the IP of your mythbox. If you still want to use x11vnc you will want to forward port 5900 to your mythbox.

_________________
ASUS A7N266 Micro-ATX Motherboard
Athlon 2200 processor
512K Kingston PC2100 Memory
MicroAtx Case
2 PVR250's w/remote
eVGA e-GeForce mx4000 (64 Ram with Tv/Out (Svideo))
Lite-on DVD cd-rw combo
120 GB Western Digital


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon May 14, 2007 6:47 pm 
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Posts: 9551
Location: Arlington, MA
See this thread for a discussion on saving alsactl/alsamixer settings so that they're restored after a reboot http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15206

grg3 wrote:
Those of us that have PVR-150 cards that always lose their place when rebooted need to add this line to the end of /etc/init.d/bootmisc.sh (or somewhere it will be run at boot time)

/usr/local/bin/ivtv-tune -c 3

I would recommned using the /etc/init.d/set_ivtv_params script discussed under Known Changes 5.3. These are the types of card setup issues that it is intended to deal with.


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PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 7:19 am 
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Posts: 389
Under R5F1, I'm still having troubles with mythstreamtv. I added:
Code:
#ln -s /myth/streamtv/ /usr/share/mythstreamtv

This is from the very helpful post by phmoore511 at:
http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=79386#79386

It seems like everything would be working now if VLC would not die immediately on execution. Is anyone else having VLC problems?

-Nathan


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 Post subject: ALSAMIXER settings fix
PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 9:24 am 
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Posts: 804
Location: Minneapolis, MN
I discovered that with a new install of R5F1, changes made in the ALSAMIXER program (such as unmuting the audio channels) would not get saved to disk, so they would be forgotten after a reboot.

To fix this on the new install I had to type the following from a command line right after making ALSAMIXER changes and closing ALSAMIXER.
Code:
sudo alsactl store

After that, the audio settings were remembered.

Good luck!

_________________
KnoppMyth R5.5, Asus A8N-VM CSM (nvidia 6150 onboard video), AMD Athlon 64 dual-core 4200+, two 1GB sticks DDR 400, HD-3000 HDTV card, PVR-150 card, Iguanaworks RS-232 IR receiver/transmitter, Pioneer DVR-110 DVD burner


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 11:05 am 
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Posts: 359
tjc, I wouldn't DARE attempt an upgrade without a printout of your post by my side. -- THANK YOU!!!

Two suggestions in the spirit of "Drunken Monkey" detail:
1. As the very first step in "Before you upgrade" I would advise upgraders to consult their "Upcoming Recordings" I typically spend about 2 hours from starting phase zero until I feel the system is good-to-go; but I make a very deliberate effort to take it slow. Still, if someone runs into trouble it might be wise to have a 4-6 hour window of downtime before something gets recorded. (or something you don't mind missing... I would never do an upgrade on Superbowl Sunday for example.)

2. For the steps to resrore LIRC:
Quote:
2.3.2) Restore your old files from the backup and reboot (If you have a .bz2 for your backup file rather than .gz use jxvf instead of zxvf in the tar command below.):
Code:
mv /etc/lirc/lircd.conf /etc/lirc/lircd.conf.orig
mv /home/mythtv/.mythtv/lircrc /home/mythtv/.mythtv/lircrc.orig
cd /
tar zxvf /myth/backup/savedfiles.tar.gz ./etc/lirc/lircd.conf ./home/mythtv/.mythtv/lircrc
reboot


2.3.3) Due to the udev changes noted above, restoring your old /etc/lirc/hardware.conf is not recommended. If you do, make sure that the DEVICE setting is correct.

I think 2.3.2 and 2.3.3 should be swapped, or the instruction to reboot should be moved to a 2.3.4. If the hardware.conf is wrong the reboot doesn't help.

Thanks again for all the hard work by Cecil, tjc, and everyone involved in the process.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 5:53 pm 
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Posts: 9551
Location: Arlington, MA
jmckeown2 wrote:
Two suggestions in the spirit of "Drunken Monkey" detail:
1. As the very first step in "Before you upgrade" I would advise upgraders to consult their "Upcoming Recordings"

IMO anybody who needs to be told to allow enough time either isn't going to find the directions, read them, or pay attention anyway, and I try not to waste energy telling people things they're going to ignore. ;-) Unless of course I plan to document the fact and use it to twist their arm later. :twisted:

jmckeown2 wrote:
2. For the steps to resrore LIRC:
I think 2.3.2 and 2.3.3 should be swapped, or the instruction to reboot should be moved to a 2.3.4. If the hardware.conf is wrong the reboot doesn't help.

Sounds like a good idea to me. I've rearranged those steps as suggested.

OBTW - See this thread for a number of helpful suggestions if you've got intermittent lirc issues - http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15219


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 Post subject: DPI 100 x 100 only
PostPosted: Sat May 19, 2007 10:22 am 
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Joined: Sun Sep 25, 2005 3:50 pm
Posts: 1013
Location: Los Angeles
Quote:
2.3) The use of DisplaySize to get a particular DPI value has been superseded, at least for the nVidia driver, by the following settings in your Monitor section:
Code:
        Option "UseEdidDpi" "FALSE"
        Option "DPI" "100 x 100"


No matter what I changed this opton to, my display still displayed at 100 x 100 dpi. I found the problem to be in /etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc

Change:
Code:
exec /usr/bin/X11/X -dpi 100 -nolisten tcp


To:
Code:
exec /usr/bin/X11/X -nolisten tcp
to solve the problem. Now, my monitor section option works. I did a manual install of R5F1 (in case it matters).

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 Post subject: Apt-get key
PostPosted: Sun May 20, 2007 2:06 pm 
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Posts: 1013
Location: Los Angeles
Quote:
) Be very careful about doing apt-get install to add extra packages, even though the /etc/apt/sources.list is pointing to the stable repository. Do not attempt to do an apt-get upgrade or an apt-get dist-upgrade, this is almost guaranteed to roach your system. When using apt-get:

3.1) Don't ever use the -y option.

3.2) Always review the list of packages it wants to add or remove.

3.3) If in doubt say "no".


In case anyone else has run into this, when I run
Code:
# apt-get update
I get an error at the end that says
Quote:
W: There is no public key available for the following key IDs:
B5D0C804ADB11277
W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems


To fix this, run the following command:
Code:
# gpg --recv-key --keyserver wwwkeys.eu.pgp.net B5D0C804ADB11277
# gpg --export B5D0C804ADB11277 | apt-key add -
and then run
Code:
# apt-get update
again.

I've found it to be a good idea to run apt-get with the -s switch before commiting to adding a package. So, something like this:
Code:
# apt-get -s install <package name>
There have been a few instances where I apt did not allow me to review what it was going to do before applying the changes. By adding the switch, it runs a simulation so you can be sure you know what's going to happen before it happens.

(Editied to fix possible line wrap issues)

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My Hardware Profile


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue May 22, 2007 7:48 pm 
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Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2005 10:55 pm
Posts: 3161
Location: Warwick, RI
Hi,

For those that use a pvr350 card for tv out, this may be of value also.
http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic. ... 14719ff15b
Submitted by koneill
Quote:
Option "TVOutFormat" "COMPOSITE"
Option "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"
#Above 2 Lines added by KJO


It allowed me to obtain a video output after an upgrade, I still don't get audio on the dongle connectors but is a different topic...

Mike


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri May 25, 2007 7:19 pm 
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Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2004 11:00 am
Posts: 9551
Location: Arlington, MA
I've added a pointer to the restore checking false alram thread here - http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15246

More if I ever figure out a good fix...


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun May 27, 2007 10:13 pm 
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Joined: Sun May 29, 2005 5:47 pm
Posts: 65
Hi all:

I had trouble with my remote not working correctly on a fresh install R5F1.
It was skipping keys and logging several errors regarding misunderstood keys. However, all the keys it complained about were set correctly in lirc configuration files. I had been running R5C7 before that and had no problem with the remote.

I have a chaintech 7nif4 motherboard using a Haugpauge PVR-250 for a remote receiver.

Apparently, there was a conflict between the IR keyboard receiver and the lirc. I found a solution in the following thread:

http://www.mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewto ... sc&start=0

To save everyone the time from sifting through the thread for a solution (as I found the discussion a little bit confusing), I will document the commands that worked for me:

Code:
> su
> mv /lib/modules/2.6.18-chw-13/kernel/drivers/media/video/ir-kbd-i2c.ko /lib/modules/2.6.18-chw-13/kernel/drivers/media/video/ir-kbd-i2c.ko-notneeded
> shutdown -h now


Note, I did a "-h" halt instead of a reboot "-r". I'm not sure if the halt is necessary but it is what I did a halt and was recommended in the thread.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2007 8:36 am 
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Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2004 11:00 am
Posts: 9551
Location: Arlington, MA
mark60050 wrote:
http://www.mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15219&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

That's a borked URL. Try this instead: http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15219 BTW - I already linked to this same thread several posts up on Fri May 18, 2007 7:53 pm.


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