Pundit-R + Gentoo + MythTV

Manage your television time-shifting with open source software MythTV on the Gentoo operating system.

1. Introduction
2. Hardware
3. Gentoo Installation
4. Kernel Configuration
5. Alsa
6. X Setup
7. ATI TV-Out
8. ivtv
9. lirc
10. MythTV
11. MythWeb
12. MythStreamTV, Torrentocracy, MythStream, and MythPodder
13. MythFrontend

Documentation

1. Introduction
Why spend big bucks on a Windows Media Center Edition computer when you can build a linux-based PVR for half the price? Open source solutions like MythTV and Freevo provide free and alternative solutions to building your own PVR. Check out features and screenshots of MythTV to view some of it's best qualities.

2. Hardware

    Barebone system: Pundit-R
        Case: Asus Pundit-R Barebone Case DVI, 4-in-1 card reader, PCMCIA, FireWire IEEE1394, USB 2.0
        MotherBoard: ASUS P4R8L based on ATI RS300 chipset (SATA, onboard LAN, Video, 5.1 Sound)

    CPU: Intel Celeron 2.4 GHz
    Memory: DDR 333 512mb
    Hard Drive: ATA 160gb
    DVD: LITE-ON DVD R+/- RW +/-
    Tuner Card: Hauppauge PVR-500

However there are many other hardware choices that can be made....Other resources:
    We prefer the pundit mythtv frontend as a comprehensive hardware selection and installation tutorial
    MythTV Hardware custom system for 500
    Super $500 Myth Project
    If you'd like to pimp your ride, here are some slick looking custom cases

3. Gentoo Install
    Choosing an OS is a very important part to any project. I am a native Debian user and have worked extensively with Fedora. There are solid howtos for these operating systems:
    Debian Howto
    KnoppMythWiki
    FedoraMyth(TV)ology HowTo

    I made the decision to go with Gentoo, because there seems to be a strong Gentoo following amongst the #mythtv-users crowd as well as several solid howtos.
    MythTV and Gentoo GNU/Linux
    Hardware Setup Mythtv - Gentoo-Portage Wiki

    In efforts to automate the Gentoo install, freethefuture.com and kazer.org are collaborating to bring you the super duper Gentoo Installation Script.
        Download and burn Gentoo Univeral LiveCD
        Boot with default kernel options.

wget http://www.kazer.org/part.sh
chmod +x part.sh
./part.sh && ./part2.x86.sh

        choose username, hostname, and localdomain
        if you need to configure your cpu - more /proc/cpuinfo
        proxy server? just press enter unless you have a proxy server.
        for formater /home just type oui
        you can check the progress by typing alt+f2 and ls -sh /mnt/gentoo (full output of script is also available by typing alt+f12)
        configure grub:
            root (hd0,0)
            setup (hd0)
            quit
        now setup your network - nano /etc/conf.d/net... edit the file to fit your needs (don't forget gateway)

    If everything went fine, you're done with the basic gentoo installation!

4. Kernel Configuration
   First you will have to make sure a few modules are installed in the kernel.

cd /usr/src/linux
make menuconfig

Device Drivers --->
    Networking Support --->
        Ethernet (10 or 100Mbit) --->
            <*> 3 COM Cards
                <*>     3c590/3c900 series (592/595/597) "Vortex/Boomerang" support

    I2C support --->
        <*> I2C support
           I2C Algorithms --->
                <*> I2C bit-banging interfaces

    Multimedia devices --->
        <M> Video For Linux

Cryptographic options --->
    [*] Cryptographic API
        <*>   MD5 digest algorithm
        <*>   SHA1 digest algorithm

General setup --->
    [*]   Kernel .config support
    [*]   Enable access to .config through /proc/config.gz

Processor type and features --->
    Processor family (Pentium-4/Celeron(P4-based)/Pentium-4 M/Xeon) --->
        (X) Pentium-4/Celeron(P4-based)/Pentium-4 M/Xeon
    [ ] Symmetric multi-processing support

    Next will upgrade kernel to a more recent release:

emerge sync
emerge -Dup world
emerge -av gentoo-sources
cd /usr/src
rm linux
ln -s linux-2.6.12-gentoo-r10 linux
cd linux
cp ../linux-2.6.11-gentoo-r5/.config .
make menuconfig

make && make modules_install
cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/bzImage-2.6.12-r10
ln -s /boot/bzImage-2.6.12-r10 /boot/vmlinuz-beta
nano /etc/grub/grub.conf

copy the 3 lines title, root and kernel and change vmlinuz to vmlinux-beta and rename title

5. Alsa

emerge alsa-utils
rc-update add alsasound default
/etc/init.d/alsasound start
alsamixer

unmute your sound levels by pressing m and increase volume.

6. X Setup

emerge fluxbox

If you would like to start X upon boot for each user you will need to type:

echo "exec fluxbox" > .xinitrc

    Here is my working xorg.conf file

7. ATI TV-Out
    /dev/agpgart (AGP Support): MODULE
    Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 4.1.0 and higher DRI support): DISABLED

emerge -C ati-drivers

    If you get these errors:
        (EE) open /dev/fb0: No such device
    this means that you don't have vesa FB installed

        (EE) fglrx(0): [agp] unable to acquire AGP, error "xf86_ENODEV"
        (EE) fglrx(0): cannot init AGP
    Be sure to use the ATI AGP driver in character devices, and to load it if it's compiled as module

        http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-2442329.html#2442329

        If the picture is in black and white
        Check the standard : was PAL-M in the config, switch to NTSC-M

        Also, add CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/init.d /etc/rc.d /etc/hotplug /etc/udev /etc/pam.d" to your make.conf file so that etc-update don't bother you with the files in theses directories.

8. ivtv
    As of ivtv 0.4.0, it is now recommended that you:

emerge ivtv

   Then put the following lines into the configuration file /etc/modules.d/ivtv
        alias char-major-81 videodev
    alias char-major-81-0 ivtv
        alias char-major-81-1 ivtv
        options ivtv ivtv_std=1,1 tuner=57,57

    If you would still like to build from source, here's how:

wget http://www.ivtv.tv/releases/ivtv-0.3/ivtv-0.3xx.tgz
tar -zxf path-to-ivtv-0.3xx -C /root/
cd ivtv-0.3xx/driver
make && make install

wget http://hauppauge.lightpath.net/software/mce/mce_cd_v27a.zip
mkdir ~/pvrfirmware
unzip mce_cd_v27a.zip -d ~/pvrfirmware
cp ~/pvrfirmware/WinTV-PVR-150500MCE_2_0_30_23074_WHQL/HcwMakoA.ROM /lib/modules
cp ~/pvrfirmware/WinTV-PVR-150500MCE_2_0_30_23074_WHQL/HcwFalcn.rom /lib/modules
ln -sf
/lib/modules/HcwFalcn.rom /lib/modules/ivtv-fw-enc.bin

    Note: You can also use the driver cd that came with the card.

    Then update and load the module:

modules-update
modprobe ivtv

Once you get ivtv installed, if you would like to test your card manually...

emerge mplayer
mplayer /dev/video0
mplayer /dev/video1

If you would like to use KaZeR's ivtv tester which outputs some useful information on your card.

wget http://www.kazer.org/ivtvtester.tgz
tar xzvf ivtvtester.tgz
wget http://www.kazer.org/update.sh

chmod +x update.sh
cd /root/ivtvtester
./update.sh
rm test.mpg *.png
cat /dev/video0 > test.mpg
cp test.mpg ivtvtester
ncftp -u username server 
mplayer test.mpg -vo png -z 9
ivtvctl -a
ptune.pl -c 34

    You can view my file at http://kazer.homeip.net:81/~fosten/

9. lirc
    I have yet to order a remote control for my box, however if you're looking for additional information a good resource is the Gentoo HOWTO_LIRC.

10. MythTV
    Before we emerge mythtv we should get media-fonts/corefonts

emerge corefonts

Now lets get all the deps for myth, and then the masked version of myth.

echo "media-tv/mythtv ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords    
echo "media-plugins/mythvideo ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
echo "media-plugins/mythdvd ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
echo "media-plugins/mythbrowser ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
echo "media-plugins/mythgallery ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
echo "media-plugins/mythgame ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
echo "media-plugins/mythmusic ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
echo "media-plugins/mythnews ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
echo "media-plugins/mythweather ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
echo "dev-perl/SOAP-Lite ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
echo "x11-themes/mythtv-themes ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords

If you are planing to use myth through an X server, run this command.

echo "media-tv/mythtv -directfb" >> /etc/portage/package.use

We can now emerge mythtv and some optional plugins

emerge mythtv mythvideo mythdvd mythbrowser mythgallery mythmusic mythnews mythweather

MythTV should now be installed and ready to configure.

useradd -G users,audio,video,games,wheel mythtv
passwd mythtv
mkdir /home/mythtv
chown -R mythtv:users /home/mythtv

Now let's setup mysql.

/usr/bin/mysql_install_db
/etc/init.d/mysql start
mysqladmin -u root password new-password (new-password should be your new password)
rc-update add mysql default
mysql -u root -pnew-password < /usr/share/mythtv/database/mc.sql
mysql -p
drop database test;

    If you're in USA to get your tv listings you need to create a zap2it account use the certificate code: ZIYN-DQZO-SBUT.

    Now startx and run mythsetup.

    Be sure to associate your tuner card with a tuner in step 2. Capture card type should be mpeg-2 encorder card (pvr-250, pvr350) In step 3 configure the channel data. In step 4, associate your tuner in step 2, with the channel data in step 3. (You need to add your user to the video group if Input Connections in blank.)

    Now run mythfilldatabase

    To run mythfilldatabase as a daily cron job, issue the command:
        # crontab -u mythtv -e
    Add the line:
        0 1 * * * mythfilldatabase

    I needed to adjust my clock.

rm /etc/localtime
ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/EST5EDT /etc/localtime
date

    And my program guide was off by -6:00.
        mythsetup
        video sources
        set to -6:00

    If you've already run mythfilldatabase, then you will need to erase your previous channel lineup

mysql -p
use mythconverg;
delete from program;

    Now you should have a working MythTV! Check it out, browse some of the features, and record away!

    If you'd like to monitor precious elements of your backend server, feel free to download this perl script and submit your results. Visit http://www.kazer.org/index.php?page=mythtv

    If you're planning on adding additional mythfrontend boxes to your network, you will need to configure your backend to accept connections from multiple clients.

       nano /etc/mysql/my.cnf
       comment # out the line     bind-address    = 127.0.0.1

    Then setup mysql

use mysql;
update user set host='%' where user='mythtv';
select user,host,password from user;
select user,host,db from db;
update db set host='%' where user='mythtv';
show databases;
delete from db where db like 'test%';
flush privileges;

Then you should set up a samba share

/etc/init.d/samba start
cp smb.conf.example smb.conf
nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

        set the workgroup
        add this stanza as a publicly accessible directory
           [mythtv]
           comment = MythTV Buffers
               path = /home/store
               public = yes
               writable = no

11. MythWeb
    The first plug-in we will look at it is the web-based GUI MythWeb.

echo "media-plugins/mythweb ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
emerge mythweb
/etc/init.d/apache2 start
rc-update add apache2 default

    Browse to "http://name_or_ip_address/mythweb/" to access the web interface.

    nano /etc/conf.d/apache2
    change the line to APACHE2_OPTS="-D PHP4 -D DEFAULT_VHOST"

    Now we want to secure our MythWeb installation.

htpasswd2 -c /usr/local/sbin/httpd-passwords MYUSER1
htpasswd2 /usr/local/sbin/httpd-passwords MYUSER2

Please make sure you DO NOT use the -c after the initial user, as this will overwrite the file and start from scratch.

Modify ownership of the file as follows:

chown apache.apache /usr/local/sbin/httpd-passwords
chmod 640 /usr/local/sbin/httpd-passwords

    Now nano /etc/apache2/vhosts.d/00_default_vhost.conf and add the following section:
        <Directory "/var/www/localhost/htdocs/mythweb">
            Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
            AuthType Basic
            AuthName "MythTV"
            AuthUserFile /usr/local/sbin/httpd-passwords
            Require user MYUSER1 MYUSER2
            Order allow,deny
          Allow from all
        </Directory>

    Modify the password file location and required users per your needs.

12. MythStreamTV, Torrentocracy, MythStream, and MythPodder
    MythStreamTV
        KaZeR is the maintainer of a developmental ebuild of MythStreamTV so please visit his site http://kazer.org/index.php?page=code for more information.

    Torrentocracy

mkdir -p /usr/local/portage/media-plugins/torrentocracy
mkdir -p /usr/local/portage/media-plugins/torrentocracy/files/
cd /usr/local/portage/media-plugins/torrentocracy
wget http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=92054

    put the patches in the files directory
    nano /usr/local/portage/media-plugins/torrentocracy-0.11.ebuild
        change these lines:
            RDEPEND="|| ( ~media-tv/mythtv-0.18 ~media-tv/mythfrontend-0.18 )"

            DEPEND=">=net-p2p/bittorrent-3.4.0"
        to:
            RDEPEND="|| ( ~media-tv/mythtv ~media-tv/mythfrontend )"

            DEPEND=">=net-p2p/bittorrent"

cd
ebuild /usr/local/portage/media-plugins/torrentocracy/torrentocracy-0.0.11.ebuild digest
echo "media-plugins/torrentocracy ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
FEATURES="-sandbox" emerge torrentocracy
rc-update add bittorrent default

MythStream

emerge libxml-perl XML-DOM XML-XQL
wget http://home.kabelfoon.nl/~moongies/sw9vc4htz2/mythstream-v0.16_5.tar.gz
tar xzvf mythstream-v0.16_5.tar.gz
cd mythstream-0.16_5
qmake mythstream.pro
make
make install

       cd /usr/share/mythtv
       add the following stanzas in the corresponding files:

       in library.xml

            <button>
                <type>STREAM</type>
                <text>Play Internet streams</text>
              <action>PLUGIN mythstream</action>
              <depends>mythstream</depends>
            </button>

           in media_settings.xml

            <button>
                <type>STREAM</type>
                <text>Stream settings</text>
                <action>CONFIGPLUGIN mythstream</action>
                <depends>mythstream</depends>
            </button>

           in themes/blue/theme.xml (for the default theme)

            <buttondef name="STREAM">
                <image>stream.png</image>
                <offset>50,40</offset>
            </buttondef>

cd mythstreamweb
sh install.sh

    The script will ask for the mythweb location. The command locate program_detail.php will return the correct directory.

    MythPodder
    To install CastPodder:

echo "dev-python/wxpython unicode" >> /etc/portage/package.use
echo "x11-libs/wxGTK unicode" >> /etc/portage/package.use
emerge -av libxml2 pyxmms wxpython
wget http://borgforge.net/frs/download.php/8/CastPodder-3.1.tar.bz2
tar xvjf CastPodder-3.1.tar.bz2
cd castpodder
./install.sh

    You will now need to make the changes outlined at http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5609

    If you're running a debian system you can simply download and run the runipodder.sh script from the previous thread.

13. MythFrontend
    Small embedded computers with little or no moving parts built on mini-itx or soekris boards offer relatively inexpensive solutions for installing a wide-array of slimed-down linux distros and packages. A mythfrontend client is perfectly suited for a diskless architecture because the master backend server does all of the hard work.

    As I set out to build my diskless frontend, I found a good amount of information. If you're looking for hardware suggestions some good resources for quiet PCs are silentpcreview.com and endpcnoise.com. Diskless frontend machines are addressed at length in this mythtv-users thread and a linuxpunks.org blog mentions the setup of a gentoo-based diskless frontend. I decided to go with the VIA EPIA-MII6000E because I wanted to install the operating system on a CompactFlash Card and add a wifi card to the CardBus slot. If you plan to use NFS to PXE boot over a network, the VIA EPIA-ME6000 is sufficient.

    Here are the Froogle results for each component:
        VIA EPIA-MII6000E or VIA EPIA-ME6000
        Morex 3688 Mini-ITX case
        PC2100 DDR266 DIMM
        Sandisk CF 512mb or 1gb
        Panasonic CW-8123/8124/UJ845 Slimline Slotloading DVD drive

    As a hardware guide we will use:
        EpiaHowto
        Epia M II - Gentoo Linux

    For an operating system we are going to look at:
        Embedded Gentoo
        Tiny Gentoo

    Also of use:
       Build your own Gentoo install / boot / rescue LiveCD and USBStick

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