Windows or Linux for v7?

[surge]

I'm currently a W7 Media Center user but seeing it stagnate and with the introduction of the new Sage extender, I'm once again looking at SageTV.

Are there any benefits of putting Sage on a Linux vs Windows server?
(aside from the usual not having to deal with all the Windows updates)

Is anything lost or gained by going with one OS vs the other?

[MrD]

I moved to Linux for the beta -- I had a linux license.

Linux has been more stable in my opinion, but it does need a little more care and feeding though.

My linux server has server hardware though, my XP server does not -- that could be the difference.

The HD-PVR drivers are pretty stable on the Linux end too, however, there is a bug in the pre 2.6.35 drivers that prevent you from resetting the HD-PVR while sage is running. It will generate a kernel oops. But if you stop sage and reset the hd-pvr there is no problem.

[ecsrun]

The last time I decided between sagetv for linux and windows.. the thing that prevented me from going with Linux was the commercial skipping ability. There was no easy way to setup commercial skipping unless you were willing to run comskip using WINE or some other windows emulation.

Has this changed?

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by ecsrun

The last time I decided between sagetv for linux and windows.. the thing that prevented me from going with Linux was the commercial skipping ability. There was no easy way to setup commercial skipping unless you were willing to run comskip using WINE or some other windows emulation.

Has this changed?

Not that I know of. I took a quick look at Myth's "commskipflag" but I think that puts the commercial info into Myth's database and does not produce .edl files. Maybe I'll look at that again to make sure.

Why are you against running comskip under wine? It runs just as good, maybe better, than under Windows.

[Fuzzy]

also realize, that you can't, unfortunately, move your license from one platform to another. If you buy a linux license, you are stuck with linux, unless you want to purchase another full license for the windows version.

[cenwesi]

Originally Posted by MrD

.... but it does need a little more care and feeding though.

.....

care to explain what care and feeding you are referring to here?

[cenwesi]

Originally Posted by ecsrun

The last time I decided between sagetv for linux and windows.. the thing that prevented me from going with Linux was the commercial skipping ability. There was no easy way to setup commercial skipping unless you were willing to run comskip using WINE or some other windows emulation.

Has this changed?

Nothing wrong with running comskip.exe under wine. In fact it runs just fine... if you need a script to auto generate the files once sage is done running, shoot me an email and i will be glad to send it to you. Wrote it about 2yrs ago and it is working just fine.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by cenwesi

Nothing wrong with running comskip.exe under wine. In fact it runs just fine... if you need a script to auto generate the files once sage is done running, shoot me an email and i will be glad to send it to you. Wrote it about 2yrs ago and it is working just fine.

<ShamelessPlug>CommercialDetector will run comskip under linux as well. Just install wine and then CommercialDetector.</ShamelessPlug>

[MrD]

Originally Posted by cenwesi

care to explain what care and feeding you are referring to here?

You need to understand unix shell scripting to a certain extent to be able to automate starting and stopping the server.