Installing SageTV on another distro?

[Ikarasu]

I'm not too familular with Linux... Especially not command base. I tried redhat before... and I liked using KDE/gnome, and other interfaces with it. I installed the linux OEM version...and I Didn't really like it much, installed option #2, and couldnt figure out how to get to a command line to even install KDE or gnome... What I want to do is use the computer as a server for all my computers (Internet server) Maybe ocasionally toy around on linux to learn from it... And have sagetTV running with TV out. I've downloaded redhat and i'm about to install it.... I havent really looked at the SageTV instalation CD... but since it's interigated... I doubt it'd be very easy to install it.... I was just wondering if it was possible? or how I'd go about installing gnome or KDE on the Gentoo distro? any help would be appreciated

[laurenglenn]

Originally Posted by Ikarasu

I'm not too familular with Linux... Especially not command base. I tried redhat before... and I liked using KDE/gnome, and other interfaces with it. I installed the linux OEM version...and I Didn't really like it much, installed option #2, and couldnt figure out how to get to a command line to even install KDE or gnome... What I want to do is use the computer as a server for all my computers (Internet server) Maybe ocasionally toy around on linux to learn from it... And have sagetTV running with TV out. I've downloaded redhat and i'm about to install it.... I havent really looked at the SageTV instalation CD... but since it's interigated... I doubt it'd be very easy to install it.... I was just wondering if it was possible? or how I'd go about installing gnome or KDE on the Gentoo distro? any help would be appreciated

At the bash prompt:

emerge --sync
emerge gentoo-sources
emerge kde

[Ikarasu]

Is that for installing KDE on the gentoo? or installing sageTV on another distro?

I dont know how to get to the command prompt in gentoo... onlything open is sageTV...and if I Close that, all I Got is a blank screen... Tried getting to a command prompt, but couldn't figure it out...

Sorry if I sound noobish... :\ havent used linux in a long time...and even then, it was basically the GUI version, with me just having to open consoles to enter the commands...never tried gentoo before But thanks again for the help!

[laurenglenn]

Originally Posted by Ikarasu

Is that for installing KDE on the gentoo? or installing sageTV on another distro?

I dont know how to get to the command prompt in gentoo... onlything open is sageTV...and if I Close that, all I Got is a blank screen... Tried getting to a command prompt, but couldn't figure it out...

Sorry if I sound noobish... :\ havent used linux in a long time...and even then, it was basically the GUI version, with me just having to open consoles to enter the commands...never tried gentoo before But thanks again for the help!

Actually the "gentoo-sources" is for when you install new device drivers.

"kde" will actually download Kde, all dependencies, and compile everything.

Seriously, I've tried other Linux versions and have gotten burned out trying to figure out how to install simple programs. Gentoo makes it real easy with the "emerge" command....

To stop Sage from trying to enter X and run the SageTV GUI, edit your ~/.xinitrc file (you may have to be under root for this). Put "#" signs in front of everything. You can have it start KDE by adding this to that file:

/usr/kde/3.4/bin/startkde

Do that after KDE is installed with the "emerge kde" command. Note that that command takes about 14 hours (at least on mine) to compile..... But it's worth it, IMO.

Lauren

[riversma]

Im glad you gave those commands. As you know the system automatically boots up quick and you cant get a command line. So how do you go root. I dont know the command to stop it from doing all the batch files. YOu said edit your ~/.xinitrc file can you do that after the system is already install?

[Ikarasu]

Blah... I feel like an idiot, Sorry for all these stupid questions...

Only prompt I can get to to type stuff, is when I put in the CD and boot up livelinux. I've tried the emerge command there... in the root dir...and it just says command not found. Cant figure out where i'm supposed to type it....

[stevech]

Is SageTV for Linux arranged so that it can be installed on another distribution? I've tried several over the last few years and found that Fedora http://fedora.redhat.com/ was trivial to get running: not one shell command needed to install and go including my USB printer. Fedora is not the older Red Hat distro, which I found unworkable. I liked Suse before trying Fedora.

[Ikarasu]

For the guy wandering how to get to prompt... lol... I was shutting my comp off...clicked power...and it exited out of x-windows, And brung me to a command prompt...typed emerge kde...and it started to install it



For the guy asking if you can install it on other distros: I aint sure. But once you get KDE installed... things should be a little simpler... I think. It's simple point and click if you just want a sageTV server/client, and not do other things on the computer...

6:00 PM.. We'll see how long it takes to install KDE thanks for the help guys :P

[AboveUnrefined]

Originally Posted by Ikarasu

For the guy wandering how to get to prompt... lol... I was shutting my comp off...clicked power...and it exited out of x-windows, And brung me to a command prompt...typed emerge kde...and it started to install it

When I hit the power button it looks like I'm in a command prompt of sorts, however it shows super magnified text on the TV screen and that text is so magnified all I see is horizontal lines of a blurb of text... I guess it has to do with my nVidia card and the TV output so I'm assuming you're using some sort of composite output Ikarasu...


To get this installed on another distro I think you probably need to play around with the install scripts that you're instructed to use on the live cd so it will point to the right places when you execute them. You'd probably skip the steps for formatting and creating partitions as you would have already done that manually with your current distro -- bear in mind that you will need to install more stuff like IVTV or whatever it's called to make your distro play with SageTV. (I would like to add that Gentoo is a very good distro to work on as it is a very powerful initial platform, very raw yet very capable)

What I really would like to do is use the overhead RAM in my system (I have 1Gig) to create a ramdisk for use with live tv so the hard drive is doing less work... IE: create a ramdisk of about 512 Mb (possibly more if it would not affect system performance) for live tv usage (maybe fits about 10-20 minutes of rewind time?) and then flush that out to the hard disk when I actually hit record on the remote... I know that this must be possible and would probably drastically improve response time for channel surfing (as if you are using a regular TV).

[laurenglenn]

Originally Posted by riversma

Im glad you gave those commands. As you know the system automatically boots up quick and you cant get a command line. So how do you go root. I dont know the command to stop it from doing all the batch files. YOu said edit your ~/.xinitrc file can you do that after the system is already install?

It took me a while to find out how to make certain things go in Gentoo, but not as long as I would've thought.....

You can get to a command line in the SageLinux by hitting Control-C when it gets to the "eth0 and DHCP" section (right near the end). It should slow down a little..... Enough time to hit Control-C.

BTW, on a seperate note, can someone email me a Sage.properties file? I just need a starting point as I tried to put in my Windows one to keep my settings, but I think I messed something up along the way. (of course take out any registration codes first)..... thx.....

Lauren

[Ikarasu]

I'll E-mail it..once I get KDE up so I can access the net and my hard drives... Still compiling.... Wow...3 hours to install so far....

[laurenglenn]

Originally Posted by Ikarasu

I'll E-mail it..once I get KDE up so I can access the net and my hard drives... Still compiling.... Wow...3 hours to install so far....

Thanks

It took my computer 14 hours to finish..... but it was well worth it....

When it's done, you can "emerge" in the background in a terminal window so you won't have to wait for it to finish first. Plus "emerge kde" installs just about everything you will need.....

Let me know how it works for you.

Lauren

[Ikarasu]

Yay.... I woke up to it finished :\

hmm.. I cant figure out how to start KDE though. I went into the 2.4/kdestart, and it just gave me a "Cant load Network X" error a hundred times. I can't figure out how to get to a text editor to edit the "~/.xinitrc " There is already a text editor on gentoo, right? or do I have to get one first?

[laurenglenn]

Originally Posted by Ikarasu

Yay.... I woke up to it finished :\

hmm.. I cant figure out how to start KDE though. I went into the 2.4/kdestart, and it just gave me a "Cant load Network X" error a hundred times. I can't figure out how to get to a text editor to edit the "~/.xinitrc " There is already a text editor on gentoo, right? or do I have to get one first?

It probably did that because X server wasn't loaded.....

edit your ~/.xinitrc file by typing (at the bash prompt)
"nano ~/.xinitrc"

nano is the text editor in Gentoo

After editing it, at the bash prompt type "startx"

Lauren

[Ikarasu]

Ah...there we go

Hmm.. it's stuck in 720 x 480 mode though... Is that a setting sageTV sets so that its TV resolution? (I know TV is 640 x 480, so maybe it's locked in) Or could it be because my video card driver isnt installed right or something? just wondering

PM me your email, and I'll send you that file

[laurenglenn]

I attached a few config files that you can copy to your /root folder. It's actually a TAR.GZ file, so rename the file from "startsage.zip" to "startsage.tar.gz" and extract it.

There's also a file in the "~" directory called ".bash_profile"

Change one of the sections so it looks like this (I only changed the section after the ELSE command and where it says "-eq 3" --- it used to say "-eq 0":
:

if [ "$installmode" -eq 3 ]; then
sh .xinitrc
else
~/startsage.sh
break
fi


When you boot up, it will ask you whether you want to boot into SageTV or KDE and then run either one.

I'm trying to get SageTV to run successfully in console mode in a terminal window in KDE...... Actually..... I may have gotten it to work, but I still need to test it some more.... Just open a terminal window... jump to /opt/sagetv/app and type "./startsage" (make sure the SageMode is set to 0..... It seems to work so far.

MPlayer (and kmplayer) actually plays the videos back well in KDE. Although, you don't get the interface.

Linux is great, but I miss Nielm's web server. If anyone has that setup under Linux, please post the instructions because it was always easier to mark a lot of shows as Don't Like / Watched with that.

Lauren

Note: files were just updated a few minutes ago. It will now change your install mode based on the option you choose so you don't have to set it before-hand.

[laurenglenn]

Actually, it does work when running under KDE.

I opened the file in kmplayer that was actively recording. Then started to play it. Unlike the Windows versions of some media players, it hit the end that it saw when I started and just kept playing...

Turn off all deinterlacing and filtering to make it play somewhat smooth.

If Sage has a simple GUI program that they could make under KDE to use the STV in order to control it and schedule shows......

Lauren

[laurenglenn]

Originally Posted by Ikarasu

Ah...there we go

Hmm.. it's stuck in 720 x 480 mode though... Is that a setting sageTV sets so that its TV resolution? (I know TV is 640 x 480, so maybe it's locked in) Or could it be because my video card driver isnt installed right or something? just wondering

PM me your email, and I'll send you that file

The 720x480 mode can be changed in xorg.conf ...... I haven't been too successful with that but you should just be able to add something in the Display section of that file with the resolution (like you see there) and it may work.....

My card does the same thing with the resolution. TV out seems to work for me only when I don't have the monitor plugged in, so 720x480 is appropriate for that (until my Media Extender comes)..

Lauren

[Ikarasu]

Yeah... I asked my friend and he told me to change it. I tried changing it there.....reloaded....and nothing changed :\ so I don't know... maybe sage has it locked or something :\

[laurenglenn]

Originally Posted by Ikarasu

Yeah... I asked my friend and he told me to change it. I tried changing it there.....reloaded....and nothing changed :\ so I don't know... maybe sage has it locked or something :\

Did you try going to the KDE Control Panel and changing the settings?

I think you have to change the xorg.conf like you did and then try that.

Let me know if it works.

Lauren