stillhq.com : Mikal, a geek from Canberra living in Silicon Valley

init script

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 17:53:00 GMT

Jake Graft pointed out in a comment that I had forgotten to put the init script from the MythTV book online. My apologies.

#! /bin/sh
#
# mythbackend
#

PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin

BACKEND=/usr/local/bin/mythbackend
BACKEND_NAME=mythbackend

MYTHUSER="myth"

test -x $BACKEND || exit 0

set -e

case "$1" in
  start)
        echo -n "Starting MythTV: $BACKEND_NAME"
        su ${MYTHUSER} -c "$BACKEND -v all -d -l ${MBE_LOGFILE}" &
        echo "."
        ;;
  stop)
        echo -n "Stopping MythTV: $BACKEND_NAME"
        killall $BACKEND
        echo "."
        ;;
  *)
        echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop}" >&2
        exit 1
        ;;
esac

exit 0

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The book is doing ok

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:43:00 GMT

I must say I am pleased with the Amazon rank for the MythTV book. The ranks seem volatile though -- the other day it was doing well in "Linux books", now its doing well in "video books".

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Illegal download sites for the MythTV book

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 09:43:00 GMT

In the last week, I have discovered three download sites offering illegal downloads of the MythTV book e-book. If I can find three without really trying, I assume there are a lot more of them out there. This raises a question for which I don't have a good answer. Do illegal downloads of books increase, or decrease sales? I can see arguments either way, but I'm tending towards the belief that they don't increase sales.

Does anyone out there have any data which isn't merely anecdotal? Want to share it?

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More reviews

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 18:41:00 GMT

I just got back from a lovely four days in Tasmania, and am just now catching up with the resulting email backlog. There are some new alerts about reviews of the MythTV book in there which are worth pointing out:

I'm surprised and disappointed that the installation of MythTV through pre-built packages or a CD distributions like KnoppMyth or MythDora were not covered deeper than a sentence or two in passing. This is likely to be a turn off for readers who were hoping for a quick and simple method of getting MythTV up and going.

...

On the whole I consider this a good book that is excellent for the new to intermediate MythTV user, although advanced users may pick a few good pieces of information out of it as well. It was well written and covered most items at just about the right introductory (yes -- practical) level. Once it has taught you the basics, you can then go and look up more details online for features you want to get more information about.

http://www.mythpvr.com/mythtv/books/Practical_MythTV.html
Linked at: http://smart-home-blog.com/archives/670
Linked at: http://mythtvnews.com/2007/06/29/more-practical-mythtv-book-reviews/

I think the comments about installation technique are fair, although the method described in the book is very likely to result in a nicely working MythTV system, which was not true for the MythTV packages that shipped with Ubuntu at the time of writing (they were a quite old version). Additionally, if you already have a Linux system you want to add MythTV to, then the way described in the book is better than the CD distributions because it doesn't involve a reinstall. I think it's horses for courses -- CD distributions are better for new users, but not for advanced users.

I'll add coverage of CD distributions to my TODO list of things to cover here sometime in the future.

Another review:

My main concern would be the assumption of prior Linux knowledge. The introduction states you need limited or no experience with Linux or Unix. I think that in this case, some time should have been taken to introduce complete Linux newcomers into the Ubuntu environment, which is something that wasn't touched on an awful lot. The installation of Ubuntu was well-covered and is generally a very simple process, but after that not much time was given to familiarise the user with the Ubuntu environment used throughout the book.

The rest of the book is extremely well written, clear and is a very good companion to MythTV. True to its name, it takes a practical approach to solving problems and if you're a Linux user interested in setting up a MythTV installation, it will make a very good resource.

http://fosswire.com/2007/07/11/book-review-practical-mythtv/

Again, it is fair comment to say that we don't spend much time introducing Ubuntu apart from the bits needed to get MythTV working (we talk about installing Ubuntu on bare metal, apt, packages, LVM, disk resizing and so forth). Then again, I imagine that most people who build a PVR machine for their living room only run the PVR software on the machine, and don't tend to use the machine as a general purpose system. After all, who wants to write email on a TV sitting on the couch? Laptops are much better for that. There are also many excellent Ubuntu and Debian books out there already, so it would be a shame to lose focus on our core content and try to be too general. For those needing a more complete Ubuntu introduction I highly recommend Beginning Ubuntu, The Official Ubuntu Book and Ubuntu Hacks.

So, I'm going to chalk that up as two positive reviews, both with useful comments to consider for next time.

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Review

Sun, 03 Jun 2007 15:37:00 GMT

"If you're interested in setting up a PVR, then this is definitely a book to check out. Apress sells the paper version for $30, and offers an eBook for $15. Amazon offers it for $19.79, but I doubt that price will last long. I definitely give this book a 5 out of 5..."

http://www.yeraze.com/article.php/20070603160650701

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Book printed!

Fri, 04 May 2007 13:46:00 GMT

I got off the phone with Catherine a few hours ago, and apparently my copies of the book have arrived at home (I'm in Dublin for work at the moment). That's very exciting. Looks like now would be a good time to buy it, while it's shipping soon and still on special.

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Status

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 15:42:00 GMT

The book went to print two days ago. Now we wait for it to come back...

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Done and done

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 19:44:00 GMT

Stewart finished off the last trailing chapter of the MythTV book a week or so ago, and I finished the last copy edit (the process where we learn US grammar) just now. That means we only need to have page layout done for a chapter or so and we're home. Hurrah!

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Time for a status update?

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 17:49:00 GMT

It's been a while since I've commented on the MythTV book project, so it's worth a quick status update. We're basically into the home straight now -- we've decided what to cover in the book (which of course involves missing out on a few things which could be in there if we had infinite space and time), written the chapters (which are all now done), and are now working through technical review and copy edits.

I'll keep you posted as we get closer to final production.

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Book status

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 11:00:00 GMT

I was thinking about the delivery status of the MythTV book as I was going off to sleep last night, and it occurred to me that the book is pretty much done. It's a good feeling.

Stewart needs to finish poking a chapter on cut lists and so forth, with should be minimal effort, then he needs to work on chapters on MythWeb and VoIP (the VoIP one is half done). I need to write an updated introduction (the contents of the book have deviated from plan, although that always happens) as well as a short conclusion chapter, and help Stewart write a chapter about running the latest and greatest version of the code (and how to interact with the development community).

Then we're done for the writing. That description can be summarised as "Stewart and I appear to both be about one and a half chapters away from finishing authoring".

We of course still need to get through technical review, editorial review, replying to things those reviewers need changed, copy editing, page layout, and standing on one leg. We're getting towards the end of the project though.

When I think about it that way, I guess I read the ImageMagick book around four or five times.

You can pre order a copy of the MythTV book from Amazon for $20 US.

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Cat, bag, out

Sun, 15 Oct 2006 00:45:00 GMT

So, I guess the cat is out of the bag then... Stewart and I are working on the finishing stages of a book on MythTV. Amazon now has it listed for pre-order.

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Testing 123

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT

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