I’ve been working for months, on and off (mainly off, occasionally on), trying to get MythTV — Open Source TiVo — working. Bit by bit, I’m making progress. (I should note that for some people – better people than I – MythTV simply installs and runs.)

I am a slightly competent Unix user who can grep his way out of a paper bag, so long as no regular expressions are required, but that’s about my limit. So getting Linux-based MythTV installed feels like it requires me to issue complex magical incantations. Get one syllable wrong, and instead of the mouse turning into a white charger, you’ve given your sister boils for seven years.

Nevertheless, progress has been made, including last night when I actually got the Linux box to output to the TV. Rather than having to watch TV on the computer screen, I could actually watch on my TV. Woohoo! Of course, I don’t yet have sound, the IR Blaster required to control the cable box still doesn’t work unless you shell out of MythTV and give it a raw Linux abracadabra, and it doesn’t record the shows you’ve told it to record. (I’m guessing that that last problem has to do with how I’ve set up Zap2It, the publicly-available channel guide.) One step at a time, my friend, one step at a time.

Last night’s breakthrough in getting “tv out,” as it’s called, was achieved by following instructions at WriteMe. I have a Hauppauge PVR-350 card, so I was able to take the instructions verbatim, especially when it came to the lines updating /etc/modules.conf. (If you use KnoppMyth to install MythTV, as I did and which I recommend, you’ll want to brush up on your vi, since that’s the only text editor it comes with, at least AFAIK.) And before you do anything else, make sure that within the MythTV graphical interface, you’ve gone to the TV setup page and have clicked the box saying that you want the video card to output to the TV. Not that anyone would be foolish enough to miss that step and then spend hours cursing MythTV, Linux, Open Source, and the post-Industrial Age.

Now that Congress is about to reinstate the Broadcast Flag, requiring digital hardware to prevent the unlicensed copying of digital content — i.e., you can’t record a frame of the Simpsons unless The Man lets you, and you may not, by the force of law, skip over the commercials (no kidding) — MythTV is a better idea than ever. Plus, once it’s up and running, you have free TiVo with all the innovations that clever hackers can devise. It’s TiVo with a future. Reclaim your eyeballs! [Tags: mythtv]

Categories: Uncategorized dw