Mythtv with IVTV and LIRC on Ubuntu 6.10
Tuesday, October 31st, 2006Here are the steps I took to install mythtv 0.20 on Ubunty Edgy Edge 6.10
- Perform Basic Desktop installation:
I chose the full desktop install here because it is easiest to do and has almost everything you will need for a full working system. If you are a minimalist you should consider the server install as it will install very little extra bloat, however in the end I doubt you will really notice any problems with the desktop install.Answer the questions about the keyboard layout you have and your time zone and then create a new user. DO NOT name this user mythtv, that is apparently a no-no because this user is created later by the package. I’m not sure that is still true and you are welcome to experiment, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.
On step 5 choose “Manually edit the partition Table and set up your partitions. I choose to partition my system in the following way:- /boot 100 mb ext3
- / 5gb ext3
- swap 512 mb swap
- /video all the rest xfs
If you have multiple drives you will want to use lvm to concatenate them into one big device and mount it on video. For help with this google “lvm howto” or drop me a line.
restart your computer, take out the cd, and login as your new user.
- Install IVTV
I got most of this information from the MythTV wiki- go to System -> Administration -> Software Sources and enter your password if prompted
- check all 5 boxes to active all software repositories click close and then reload
- Open up a terminal under Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal I explain what I’m doing and then give the command in bold
- Install the programs necessary to compile software
sudo apt-get install build-essential gcc - Find your kernel version
uname -r
For me this returns 2.6.17-10-generic or this there are two parts the first is the kernel version which is everythign before the first - (2.6.17) the second is the build which is the rest (-10-generic) write these both down or remember them - Install the raw kernel headers and source
sudo apt-get install linux-source-2.6.17 linux-headers-2.6.17-10-generic
Notice that the source uses just the kernel version and the headers uses the entire kernel name - Download the latest drivers from http://ivtvdriver.org you should take special care to download the right driver for your kernel in my case it is 0.7.1
- Unpack the drivers - they are probably on your desktop cd ~/Desktop to get there
tar xf ivtv* - then make and make install
cd ivtv*
make
sudo make install - sudo depmod -a
- Get and install the firmware for the cards - this is loaded every time on boot and is not stored on the card directly
wget http://dl.ivtvdriver.org/ivtv/firmware/firmware.tar.gz
tar xf firm*
sudo cp v4l-c* /lib/firmware - make ivtv load on boot
echo ‘ivtv’ |sudo tee -a /etc/modules - Create ivtv aliases sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/aliases
Scroll down to alias char-major-81-* and replace it with:
alias char-major-81 videodev
alias char-major-81-0 ivtv
If you have more than one PVR card you will need to add an extra ivtv line for each of them (eg alias char-major-81-1) - depmod -a
- modprobe ivtv
- dmesg
You should see a bunc of info for each of yoru cards… if not then go find help on google! - Grab a beer, you have earned it
- Install LIRC for your remote controll
- Start by installing the LIRC daemon and related files along with Ncurses which is used when you are configuring the driver
sudo apt-get install ncurses-dev lirc - Visit LIRC CVS snapshot page and download the latest snapshot. I needed to use lirc-0.8.1pre2.tar.bz2 becuase it is the only once compatible with the 2.6.17 kernel
- extract lirc, it is probably on your desktop so cd ~/Desktop
tar xjf lirc* - cd lirc*
- ./configure
Choose option 1 and then option 5 and then g which is the Hauppauge remote that came with your pvr-x50 card then choose option 3 “Save and run configure” - make
- sudo make install
- sudo depmod -a
- sudo modprobe lirc_i2c
- sudo mode2
This will let you test out yoru remote, point and click you shoulc see some output, hit ctrl-c when you are done. - Set up lirc to load at boot
echo ‘lirc_i2c’ | sudo tee -a /etc/modules
sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/aliases
add the line “alias char-major-61 lirc_i2c” whre it belongs in the list. - Edit the lirc udev rule and move it to where it goes, I’m assumign that you are still in the lirc source directory, if not go there
gedit contrib/lirc.rules
make it look like this KERNEL=”lirc[0-9]*”, NAME=”lirc/%n”, MODE=”0666″ all that is differnt is that you append the MODE=”0666″ to the last line.
sudo cp contrib/lirc.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/90-lirc.rules - Move the configuration files from our new driver where they belong and overwrite the generic ones
mv /etc/lircmd.conf /etc/lirc/
mv /etc/lircd.conf /etc/lirc/ - All set, reboot your system to be sure ivtv and lirc come up ok and then we will install myth
after you reboot you can type irw in the reminal and hit some more buttons on yoru remote, you should get output coresponding to your key presses
- Start by installing the LIRC daemon and related files along with Ncurses which is used when you are configuring the driver
- Install mythtv
- First install mysql database and configure it
sudo apt-get install mysql-server
mysqladmin -u root password xxxAAAxxx < - replace xxxAAAxxx with your own password. Don't forget this password it is very important.
- First install mysql database and configure it
- Install myth and myth-themes
sudo apt-get install mythtv mythtv-themes - Give the new mythtv user a password
sudo passwd mythtv - Log out and then log back in as the mythtv user
mythtv-setup
There are plenty of guides on this so I won’t go into details. Make sure you go through menus 1-4 and if you are in teh US be sure you are set to use cable and not broadcast, that is really annoying
sudo /etc/init.d/mythtv-backend start
/etc/cron.daily/mythtv-backend
todo: need to add info on using a different WM probalby ratpoison