http://www.fourthlaw.com serious wastes of time Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:03:58 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en [photopress:linux.jpg,full,centered] Here is a link to my article on Linux.com.  It is my first effort, and while it turned out pretty well, I think I'll do some things different next time.  And there will be a next time. :) http://www.linux.com/feature/144179 Give it a read and let me know what  you think! http://www.fourthlaw.com/2008/08/20/mythtv-frontend-article-published-on-linuxcom/ [photopress:kjr.jpg,full,centered] Allow me to take a break from our regularly scheduled blogging to present the "Keep the Joint Running Podcast" from Bob Lewis of IS Survivor Publishing with yours truly. It is available by searching the iTunes store or directly via RSS with this link: http://www.avmypodcast.com/file/KJR/273.xml We've been working on this cast now for ... http://www.fourthlaw.com/2008/07/31/keep-the-joint-running-podcast/ [photopress:xebian.jpg,full,centered] It's been a little too long since my last post--apologies.  Here's what I've found out since: The pre-built Xebian/Myth distro seems to have trouble finding my backend server.  Which is strange, as they are both on the same 100MB network segment.  It complains about no UPnP sources. Apparently no one can watch ... http://www.fourthlaw.com/2008/07/28/smart-home-media-project-xebian/ [photopress:logo_mysql_sun.gif,full,centered] Well, this little issue hit me with a brief feeling of deja-vu.  It is the exact same trouble that I faced trying to get Nessus security scanner frontend to write data to a MySQL database.  I don't know when exactly it changed, but new versions of MySQL writes passwords in ... http://www.fourthlaw.com/2008/07/14/mysql-authentication-woes-mythtvdb-and-xbmc/ Yes, I will now be referring to these efforts as the Joseph Baxter's Smart Home Media Project (tm).  There's no way I'll be able to resist coming up with some sort of logo for that, I'm sure. :) [photopress:xbmc.png,full,centered] So, now to the part that, quite frankly, spooked me a little.  Yeah, ... http://www.fourthlaw.com/2008/07/02/smart-home-media-project-phase-ii-hack-that-xbox/ I'm very happy with MythTV up to this point. It is no where near as fragile as I feared it might be--in fact, it seems to be quite robust. A recent power outage knocked its pins out from under it, but by the time I checked, the machine ... http://www.fourthlaw.com/2008/07/01/mythtv-final-wrap-up/ [photopress:mythtv.png,full,centered] It is official - I am a MythTV user.  Well...let's ammend that:  I am in the possession of a fully installed and functional MythTV backend server.  There were two things wrong with the Channel Changer program: I didn't know that the current directory is not in your path.  SO--just because you ... http://www.fourthlaw.com/2008/06/26/mythtv-is-up-and-running-changing-channels-via-serial-cable/ It shouldn't be this hard.  Unlike peeling an onion, I feel more like I'm slicing a bushel of them.  <sniff>  Ok, I'm better now.  I was just feeling a little fragile there for a moment... [photopress:onion.jpg,full,centered] Allow me to make with the status. First, the Cable box is connected back up, along with ... http://www.fourthlaw.com/2008/06/25/mythtv-makes-me-cry-motorola-dct2xxx-serial-port/ Last night completed the second to the last step of my Mythbuntu adventure:  Adding in the second hard drive. [photopress:hard_drive.jpg,full,centered] Well, this would all be easier if I wasn't trying to do it so low rent.  Right now in the Myth box there is only 512MB of RAM and two 40GB Western ... http://www.fourthlaw.com/2008/06/24/mythtv-storage-groups-and-linux-hard-drives/ [photopress:weather_channel_logo.png,full,centered] I found it.  And was subsequently able to record over 12 Gigs of The Weather Channel!  Yippie!  (That was just the channel I left it on for testing.) Ok, here's how it went down:  I finally swallowed my pride and dug through the mythtv-backend.log.  Well, actually, I opened up a terminal, ... http://www.fourthlaw.com/2008/06/23/myth-works-all-the-weather-all-the-time/