The MythTV Trap: PVR Overload…

Having screwed up my courage and built my Linux box, I was ready to install MythTV. For those of you unfamiliar with MythTV, it’s a free, open-source PVR software solution which, besides allowing you to record shows (and automatically skip commercials, transcode to other formats, etc) features a web browser, weather reports, a photo viewer, DVD player, RSS reader, music player, internet phone, Netflix subscription manager, movie times listings and more, all in one package. It also allows you to access your system from any internet connection, should you wish, and schedule recordings, etc. remotely. It’s like Tivo, without the subscription fees.

A Workaround for Uploading Pictures/Media to Your WordPress Blog for Ubuntu/Linux AMD 64 Users…

With the recent changes to the Dashboard feature of wordpress.com’s hosted blogs, users with Linux running on an AMD 64 based machine may be out of luck in trying to upload photos, music, videos or anything else. It appears a newer version of java is required, and the java plug in required to upload media is incompatible with the 64 bit architecture.

Here’s a workaround:

Digg != Ubuntu?

***UPDATE*** Well, we have our answer to the question at the end of this article: this story lasted all of about 12 hours on digg.com before being unceremoniously buried…

*******

Is “Ubuntu” a dirty word on popular site digg.com? After a pair of my articles were submitted, I checked the stories at the Digg site and noticed a user had voted to bury both of them. The comments indicated the inclusion of the term “Ubuntu” was deemed spam by this user, and served as the reason for the bury vote.

I left a comment in response but received no reply, so visited the user’s profile. Here’s what I found:

Update: Here’s a Link to a Fantastic Linux/Unix Cheat Sheet…

Thanks to a post on digg.com I came across a great site for the Linux/Unix user who’s a step beyond the newbie phase. It has clear, concise details with examples of a whole host of commands. You can find it here:

The Unix Toolbox

Setting up an M-Audio FireWire Solo with Ubuntu/Linux…

***IMPORTANT UPDATE: one of our readers has advised that recent versions of the firmware for the FireWire Solo are responsible for issues relating to an inability to get sound output from the unit in Linux. If you encounter this issue, and have already tried the suggestions in the Comments section, please consider changing your firmware version to FW_WDM_5.10.0.5036.exe (the last known good version – many thanks, laban!)

You can find it here (opens in new window):

Please also note that you shouldn’t have to update or install any firmware – it ought to work out of the box.***

***UPDATE: we’ve received some feedback from the good people at M-Audio, who have advised against leaving the unit plugged in: “…we advise against using the AC power adapter when bus power is available; this often causes problems and can possibly damage the device.” Our previous instructions to leave the unit plugged in have therefore been deleted.***

I’ve responded to a number of questions as to how to get the M-Audio Firewire Solo recording interface up and running with Ubuntu/Linux. The Firewire Solo is a device which allows one to connect a microphone or guitar/instrument to a firewire input on your computer and allows for excellent transfer rates and low latency.

I’ve promised to put together complete instructions, so, at long last, here they are. If you have any questions/ issues/ suggestions/ comments or selected curse words, please feel free to comment below.

Quick Reference Sheet for Ubuntu/Linux…

***LATEST UPDATE: AUG 10, 2008***

We’ve compiled a table of some useful commands we’ve come across as we continue to learn Linux/Ubuntu – see below. You can open the link with OpenOfficeOrg (which may show up as “soffice” in the download dialogue box or you may have to click “Open With Other Application” and navigate to /usr/bin/soffice).

We’ll be adding to these regularly – so be sure to check back often!

click here to download

System/Program Affected	Error Message/Symptom	Solution
DVD Drive – can’t mount	mount_point cannot contain the following characters: newline, G_DIR_SEPARATOR (usually /)	In a terminal #gconf-editor then click “system” then “storage” then “drives” then “_org_freedesk…” Change the value for “mount_point” from “/dev/hda” to simlpy “hda”. May require reinserting the disc.
Firewire capture from STB (Motorola 6200) fails	Black screen appears when watching live TV in MythTV.	In terminal (this is one line): #sudo /folder/name/./firewire_tester -B -P 0 -n 0 -r 5 where: P = port n= node B = repair broadcast connection. This can also be “p” for point-to-point or “b” for test broadcast connection. In terminal, use #plugreport to find port and node
No live TV in MythTV	Selecting live TV in MythTV causes a very brief flash followed by a return to main menu screen.	STB has frozen (usually on reboot of computer) and GUID no longer matches setting in mythtv-setup. Unplug and replug STB, then: In terminal: #mythtv-setup -Delete all capture cards – Add new capture card (firewire, broadcast, 400 mps; GUID must show or unplug and replug STB, then try again). – Add video source
qjackctl won’t start – error box pops up after attempting to start	Need to force bus reset	In terminal: #gscanbus Click “Force Bus Reset” Restart qjackctl.
Ardour interrupts recording/ playback with “Disk Cannot Keep Up…”	Possibly too many overlapping regions.	Delete un-needed regions until it works again.*see ardour.org for non-destructive methods.
Want to download a torrent file.	Use Bit Torrent	In terminal:#gnome-btdownload http://www.link_to_torrent
Process can’t get the priority you want/is pre-empted by other, less important processes		In terminal: #sudo chrt -f -p 99 3359 where “3359” is the PID of the process whose priority you’re altering (use ps -e to find this – see above) and “-p 99” is the priority you’re assigning the process, from 0-99, where 99 is the highest priority.
Convert .wav to .mp3		#lame -V2 /path/to/song/.wav /path/to/put_new_mp3_song.mp3
Convert all files in a folder from .aif/.aiff to .wav		Create a text file with the following: #!/bin/bash # # Usage: convertowav fileextention # if [ $1 = “” ];then echo ‘Please give an audio file extention as argument.’ exit 1 fi for i in *.$1 do if [ -f “$i” ]; then rm -f “$i.wav” mkfifo “$i.wav” mplayer \ -quiet \ -vo null \ -vc dummy \ -af volume=0,resample=44100:0:1 \ -ao pcm:waveheader:file=”$i.wav” “$i” & dest=`echo “$i”|sed -e “s/$1$/wav/”` lame -V0 -h -b 160 –vbr-new “$i.wav” “$dest” rm -f “$i.wav” fi done Copy this file to the folder with your aif/aiff files, navigate to the folder and type: #./converttowav aif
Manually transcode MythTv recordings		see: http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-23.html
List all current users – check if anyone is logged on who shouldn’t be	Informational/security	#w
List all open network files – check if files are opened which shouldn’t be	Informational/security	#lsof -i
Show details for all active connections	Informational/security	#sudo netstat -anp | less
Tools to scan for rootkits	Security	#sudo chkrootkit #sudo rkhunter #sudo unhide proc #sudo unhide sys #sudo unhide brute
Show details of a PID	Informational/security	#sudo ps -F -p <PID> where <PID> is the process ID of the program you’re examining (use ps -e to find this – see above).
Show network connections, etc.	Informational/security	#sudo netstat -tulnp
Using the Uncomplicated Fire Wall (ufw)	Security	#sudo ufw status #sudo ufw enable
View all kernel parameters	Informational	#sudo sysctl -a | sort | more
In terminal, only show one page of info at a time (ie prevent scrolling)		add “ | more” to your command, ie: #ls -l | more the “|” is above the “\” key on most keyboards, ie Shift+\
Show last 500 commands entered in a shell terminal	Informational	#history To search for a previously used command, hit “Ctrl”+”r” and type in any part of the command you’re seeking. If you know part of the command, you can also use: #history | grep <part of name> From the results returned by the “history” command, you can type “!” followed by the line number of the command you want in order to repeat that command. Note that an <enter> is implied (ie you cannot modify the command: it will execute immediately). Example: #!201
Narrow down search with “history”.	Informational	#history | grep <part of command> where <part of command> is, not surprisingly, part of the command you’re seeking.
Set up recurring jobs/programs to run automatically at set intervals	Automation	#crontab -e Format is: # +---------------- minute (0 - 59) # | +------------- hour (0 - 23) # | | +---------- day of month (1 - 31) # | | | +------- month (1 - 12) # | | | | +---- day of week (0-6)(Sun=0 or 7) # | | | | | * * * * * command to be executed Example (MUST be on one line): 27 * * * * /usr/bin/chkrootkit >> /home/user/Desktop/security Runs "chkrootkit" at 27 mins past the hour, every hour (and outputs the results to a file called "security" on the user's desktop). 15 19 * * 3 /etc/init.d/mysql start Starts mysql at 7:15pm every Wednesday. Also: string meaning ------ ------- @reboot Run once, at startup. @yearly Run once a year, "0 0 1 1 *". @annually (sames as @yearly) @monthly Run once a month, "0 0 1 * *". @weekly Run once a week, "0 0 * * 0". @daily Run once a day, "0 0 * * *". @midnight (same as @daily) @hourly Run once an hour, "0 * * * *".
Find IRQ of a device	Informational	#cat /proc/interrupts
Change the priority of an IRQ		#sudo chrt -f -p 90 `pidof “IRQ-4″` where “-p” is the priority you want to assign, “-f” assigns it SCHED_FIFO (First In First Out scheduling) and “IRQ-4” is the IRQ of the device whose priority you want to change (use #cat /proc/interrupts to determine this). MAKE SURE YOU INCLUDE THE TICK MARKS IN THE COMMAND. THESE ARE NOT APOSTROPHES; THEY ARE TYPICALLY FOUND ON THE KEY ABOVE THE “TAB” KEY.
Firefox/Thunderbird won’t allow the installation of plugins/plugins stop working		In the Profiles folder, delete the file “extensions.rdf”. Restart Firefox/Thunderbird – it will recreate the file and your extensions should work again.
Problem copying directory	Error message: “cp: omitting directory …“	In order to copy a directory and its contents, you must use the “-r” flag: #cp -r /path/to/dir1 /path/to/dir2 where “dir1” is the directory you’re trying to copy and “dir2” is the copy of the directory.
Convert FLAC to WAV		In a terminal type: #flac -d /path/to/filename.flac
Find orphaned MythTV recordings or database entries	Recordings on disk but not available to mythtv or programs listed in mythtv but not available	In a terminal, navigate to your mythtv folder and look for the “contrib” folder. Once there, in the terminal, type: #sudo ./myth.find_orphans.pl –dbhost=127.0.0.1 –pass=******** where “********” is your mysql password.
Google Notebook won’t open in Firefox	Box appears, but “Reload” is displayed.	Conflict with Tor Button plug-in – disable Tor Button to resolve. From the top menu bar, click Tools, then Add Ons. Select Disable and restart Firefox.
MySql won’t start after upgrade	MySql doesn’t start after booting; error message on attempted manual start (via: #sudo /etc/init.d/mysql start): error: “Can’t connect to local MySQL server through socket ‘/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock’ (2)’ Check that mysqld is running and that the socket: ‘/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock’ exists!“	Check: /etc/mysql/my.cnf A backup of this file (“my.cnf~”) should have been made during the upgrade. Try using the backup (note: the letters between each “#” constitute one line): #sudo mv /etc/mysql/my.cnf /etc/mysql/my.cnf.upgrade #sudo mv /etc/mysql/my.cnf~ /etc/mysql/my.cnf #sudo /etc/init.d/mysql start
Test hard drive health using S.M.A.R.T.	Reports on health status of hard drives equipped with SMART technology. Install via Synaptic or (all on one line): #sudo apt-get install smartmontools	1)Show all info about a drive: #sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda where “/dev/sda” is the path to the drive. 2)Start short self-test of drive: #sudo smartctl –test=short /dev/sda 3)Get results of self-test: #sudo smartctl -l selftest /dev/sda 4)Learn about meaning of output from 1) above: http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/faq.html#temp-seagate NOTE: in most cases, the threshold value is the LOWEST the value should go. For more details, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T. 5)Quick check of drive health: #sudo smartctl –health /dev/sda
Get info about hard drive	Informational	#sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda where “/dev/sda” is the path to the drive.
Test performance of hard drive	Informational	#sudo hdparm -tT /dev/sda where “/dev/sda” is the path to the drive. Reasonable results? Seagate 320Gb @7200RPM: Timing cached reads: 1567MB/s Timing buffered reads: 74MB/s

***UPDATE***

Well, it didn’t take long for me to stumble upon a MUCH more comprehensive guide – you can find it here:

http://blog.lxpages.com/ultimate_linux.html

Cheers!