Linux version, anyone tried it?

[perrin21]

Is it any better or more stable. I love my Apple Mac, it never crashes and im dreaming of the day i can ditch windows xp for something better. I had a TIVO and it Never crashed once in 2 years (sky plus crashed twice in first hour) . Guess im just unlucky but if anyone wants to give me some advice here i'll listen. Ive never used Linux before but i will just be using Sage and thats it so if i can make it work then i'll be happy. Will it still support Windows media audio? as most of my music is encoded in this format and i don't want to convert my files? Im worried my graphics and sound card won't be supported in linux. Does everything look and feel the same on linux version? is it easy to configure and use? what version of linux is supplied? ive been looking at mandriva 2006 and that looked quite good can i still use that?

Mark

[perrin21]

another question, will my media center remote still work with very little configuration on linux version?

[roxy99]

The linux version comes with its own distro. Buy another harddrive for your system so you can easiliy reswap your windows system if you can't get it to work. Too bad there's no linux trial. I am sure its gotta beat windows because linux is much more robust.

[Ozymandias]

that's what I was thinking. I want to get rid of my windows box as well, but I love the way SageTV works. I've been waiting for the Linux version to come out, but I have a real hard time spending $79.95 for it without getting to check it out first. Problem is, I can see why they don't have a trial. Linux is open source and all. Makes it kind of hard to lock it down to 30 days or whatever.

So where do we find the happy medium? Online authentication is the only way to resolve that. I just wonder if they can pull it off. I don't think I'm going to buy the linux version without checking it out first.

[samson]

I wish I was aloud to sell you mine it it was an impulse and I could not get it working

[HairBear]

same here... I also can not get it to work. Why can we not sell it? I asked for a refund 3 days from purchase and I was told I could not return it cuz it had been activated. To see if it even installs, it has to be activated or it won't run.

[AboveUnrefined]

The Linux version will work with what it states what works, that's it... if you can get linux to work with whatever you want to work AND re-create the environment in which Sage works in Linux then it'll probably work (given that your computer has enough horse power to work easily with LIRC, none of this differentiation between gentoo or redhat stuff... linux is linux and those who know what they are doing know that...).

All I can feedback into this is that I noticed that Sage Linux will crash with low hard drive space (a large database with over 200 Gb of programming)... something I hope they fix soon.

[Dekard]

Originally Posted by Ozymandias

So where do we find the happy medium? Online authentication is the only way to resolve that. I just wonder if they can pull it off. I don't think I'm going to buy the linux version without checking it out first.

They have online activation already..

[AndyS]

Don't forget that the Linux version is actually the OEM solution that Sage were gratious enough to release to the general public. It's not a solution that is intended for the casual user. It was designed to be integrated into custom hardware using drivers provided by the manufacturer building the hardware that it will run on.

I think that some are expecting too much here. This is truly not a plug/play solution but then it was never intended to be so.

Maybe they should put "Buyer Beware" on the purchase screen!!!

Andy.

[roxy99]

Originally Posted by AndyS

Don't forget that the Linux version is actually the OEM solution that Sage were gratious enough to release to the general public. It's not a solution that is intended for the casual user. It was designed to be integrated into custom hardware using drivers provided by the manufacturer building the hardware that it will run on.

I think that some are expecting too much here. This is truly not a plug/play solution but then it was never intended to be so.

Maybe they should put "Buyer Beware" on the purchase screen!!!

Andy.

You are right. Linux is a bit special since by its nature is open source so very hard to wrap a commercial project within it since so much is beyond Sages control.
Maybe if they provided a recommended hardware list-- ie- purchase this particular brand of motherboard, etc. I guess when OEM, that's what it comes down to.

My take on it is that Sage is trying to get an OEM to pick up and assemble a turnkey solution that would compete with MS MCE units.

[AndyS]

Originally Posted by roxy99

My take on it is that Sage is trying to get an OEM to pick up and assemble a turnkey solution that would compete with MS MCE units.

That's why the Linux version was created - so that turnkey units could be sold that run Sage under the covers (with a custom STV and so-on).

In fact it has already happened - I saw a very cool demo from Sage at CES based on a (I think) Japanese vendor that is selling into that market.

Andy.

[Dekard]

Originally Posted by roxy99

You are right. Linux is a bit special since by its nature is open source so very hard to wrap a commercial project within it since so much is beyond Sages control.
Maybe if they provided a recommended hardware list-- ie- purchase this particular brand of motherboard, etc. I guess when OEM, that's what it comes down to.

My take on it is that Sage is trying to get an OEM to pick up and assemble a turnkey solution that would compete with MS MCE units.

This already exists.

[HairBear]

I had the MediaREADY 5000 not too long ago which worked pretty well besides having to reboot every 24 hours. That is the first OEM manufactured with SageTV Linux version, is it not?

[Dekard]

Originally Posted by HairBear

I had the MediaREADY 5000 not too long ago which worked pretty well besides having to reboot every 24 hours. That is the first OEM manufactured with SageTV Linux version, is it not?

As far as I know.. why did you have to reboot it so often?

[Finn Nielsen]

It seems to work reasonably well. There is almost no Linux documentation, however. Just a few installation instructions, and the manual for Windows version of the software.

If you are familiar with Linux, you should be able to find your way around. You might need to do a few extra installation steps. (I installed as option 2).

To get into the root account: First install software as specified. Then reboot distribution CD, chroot to installed image, change root password. Now, you can ssh into the SageTV box from another system, do smb mounts and transfer photos, music, etc into the new box. I didn't find any installation instructions describing this.

Once you have your root account, you can also add new options to the installed Gentoo Linux - like nfs.

The Linux software doesn't explain how to get your mediaMVP started. Do a find command, looking for mvp.bin. This is the SageTV dongle file that has to be downloaded to your mediaMVP. You will need to set up DHCP appropriately to make the dongle file load. It can actually load from another server on the network - not necessarily from your SageTV server.

I would have preferred to receive the product as an RPM install, or even better as a GPL'ed release. However, it works pretty well, especially in comparison to Hauppauge's standard Windows XP software. So, I won't complain.

[zoop]

or... i believe the default root password is "sage" when you install from the iso

/jer

[HairBear]

Originally Posted by Dekard

As far as I know.. why did you have to reboot it so often?

It would just freeze up after 24 hours or so. I have no clue why.