Success!! Oh my god that was way more difficult than I thought it would be. I’d like to coin the Law of Multiple Linux Installs, but I can’t do the math to figure out the equation. It just seems that new Linux distros always require multiple installs before you get comfortable — inversely proportionate to the amount of distros you have used in the past… Or something like that.

Anyway, Mythbuntu lives! I finally got it running like a champ on the media center machine. I must say I love all the features it has in comparison to Windows Media Center… But, Windows Media Center was FAR easier to get goin. I’ll pay the price of a less user friendly install for the increased freedom I have, though. It’s nice to be able to rip DVDs into your media library just by clicking a button on your media center. Also, there is commercial detection, master/slave configurations for multiple frontends and backends, and best of all it was $0…

So, highly recommended if you are looking for a media center solution.

So, I’ve come so very close to getting my PVR working with MythTV and Kubuntu. So very close, yet still so very far away. Some of my Gentoo experiences have really come in handy, because the GUI tools for doing things in Linux are still quite lacking, but I’m still unable to get my signal to go through on MythTV. If I cat the video device, I can pull an MPG out of it, so I know the tuners are working. But, Myth pops with a blank screen. I think I just need to change the display method, but I found a solution that I think I might like better.

Enter MythBuntu.  MythBuntu is basically a stripped down Ubuntu distro which has Myth on it. It is intended for stand-alone Myth boxes, so I think it will be perfect. I burned the iso this morning, and will be installing it tonight. Hopefully with some success, so I can turn my attention onto some of my web dev projects which have been sorely neglected for some time.

Rhys has been really missing the PVR. It’s weird to think that he has never known TV without a PVR. He doesn’t understand the concept that he cannot watch whatever he wants whenever he wants. Man… How DID we live with out PVRs in the past!?

I’ll report back with my review of MythBuntu later. Wish me luck, gang!