New v6.3 instructions?

[Peggysis]

I see there is a new Linux version available (under "Other Downloads" on the download page). It lists a "tarball" and a "Debian package installer" - wait! Debian?

So, is this in *addition* to Gentoo support (rendering the old instructions, which are *still* using the Gentoo 2006.1 ISO, obsolete), or has SageTV dropped its preference for Gentoo and switched to supporting Debian instead?

I really don't care what flavor of Linux my SageTV server runs, as I don't use it for anything else, but I want to install what SageTV says to install. I also want it to be pretty painless. I do not like having to jump through hoops downloading this package and emerging that package to get it working.

Anyone upgrade to 6.3 yet using the "Debian package installer"? Does this make it easier to install all the dependent software for a vanilla Debian system? Inquiring minds want to know!

-Judy

[ecoolman]

Hi Judy. Installing SageTV on any other distro is relatively painless. Here's the instructions for non-Gentoo:

http://sagetv.com/linuxOEMinstallAdv.html

The debian package should work on most Debian based distributions. Here's the complete list of them here:

http://distrowatch.com/search.php?ca...&status=Active

Most responses to a recent poll showed most Linux sagetv users (myself included) are using Ubuntu, which is also a debian derivative distro:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28688

Using Ubuntu Gutsy, the following single command-line should install the SageTV dependencies all at once:

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre libfaad2-0 libmad0 liblame0

After this, you can simply install the SageTV debian package using the following:

sudo gdebi sagetv-server_6.3.5_i386.deb

This will prompt you for the activation key, then you're good to go. You don't need to install IVTV or many other TV tuner drivers as listed in SageTV's instructions, because Ubuntu installs many of them by default. Here's the list supported by Gutsy out of the box:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupp...entsMultimedia


Eric

[Peggysis]

Thanks, Eric!

I will try your instructions on Ubuntu, which I've been wanting to try anyway, and post back with details the next time I upgrade. Hopefully, that will be soon.

Thanks again.

-Judy

Originally Posted by ecoolman

Hi Judy. Installing SageTV on any other distro is relatively painless. Here's the instructions for non-Gentoo:

[snip!]

Eric

[Peggysis]

I successfully installed the SageTV Linux Server v6.3 on Ubuntu 7.10 this weekend, and can connect and watch shows from my Windows XP test box. Woopie!

I didn't even have to add anything to the boot scripts, the install package must have done that for me.

However, I typically watch from my HTPC system (which I haven't upgraded yet) and configure/test on the Server. Unlike my Gentoo experience, the linux client was a separate install this time.

No problem, I just followed similar steps for the client (download the tarball and install package, extract, run installer, test). The client runs, but I'm getting a playback exception when I try to watch a show that I'll need to hunt down.

I'm not requesting help right now. I'll want to do my research and set up debugging, but I don't have much time during the week. I'll get back with more info later.

Thanks again for your help, Eric. I promise to include my install notes when I've got it *fully* working. If anyone wants them sooner, and you don't care about watching on the Ubuntu system, let me know, and I'll send them. It really is as easy as Eric said it was.


-Judy

[Peggysis]

Turns out I had some missing libraries. Everything is working great now, and I have a system that can do other things besides SageTV (vmware, perhaps? )

I've formatted my notes into a PDF and attached them. They include configuration as well as installation and debugging information.

I know they're probably a bit detailed for most of the folks here, (sorry, can't help it, I do tech support for a living), but I'm sure someone will find them useful.

-Judy

[ecoolman]

Originally Posted by Peggysis

I've formatted my notes into a PDF and attached them. They include configuration as well as installation and debugging information.

Hi Judy, thanks for taking the initiative on this! I'm sure a lot of users will find it helpful in the future. Here's a few corrections and considerations:

1) In ubuntu, you don't need to download the tarball. The tarballs are for non-debian based distros like Fedora and Suse (or an alternative for debian users that want more control over where things go).

To make things even easier, when you click the Debian package on the download page, you can tell the browser to open the file with GDebi package installer, and you won't even need to drop to the console, it'll fire up a graphical package installer. The one issue with this though, is that it looks like the installer is hung when it's asking for the activation key. You need to click the 'detailed view' button to see and enter the key at the prompt, then it will continue fine.

2) The debian installer automatically creates all of the required directories and sets their permissions for you. I don't think it goes as far as sharing them through samba though. Sharing isn't required for remote clients and placeshifters, but can be useful for maintenance.

3) You can remove sun-java6-jre from the prerequisites list, I noticed afterwards that the debian package installs the sun-java5-jre automatically.

4) You'll find files much must faster using slocate and it doesn't required root privileges. This took under 2 milliseconds:

ecoolman@zd8000:~/sagetv$ time slocate libjawt.so
/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.03/jre/lib/i386/libjawt.so
/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.13/jre/lib/i386/libjawt.so
/usr/lib/jvm/java-7-icedtea/jre/lib/i386/libjawt.so
/opt/java/IBMJava2-142/jre/bin/libjawt.so
/opt/java/ibm-java2-i386-50/jre/bin/libjawt.so

real 0m0.171s
user 0m0.160s
sys 0m0.008s

[rmahlert]

What am I doing wrong.. why won't sage auto run at boot in full screen mode?

Last time I installed the linux version was with the gentoo instructions on the Sage website. I upgraded my system and decided to try the Ubuntu install on this thread.

Maybe my searching on the forum was wrong, but I couldn't find anything.

Thanks,
Rob M

[rz888951]

Hi Rob,

Can't confirm this works because my linux server is headless in the basement running to my MVPs, but try...

System-->Preferences-->Sessions--><Startup Programs>tab

Add

Name: <whatever you fancy>
Command: /opt/sagetv/client/sageclient.sh -fullscreen 127.0.0.1

[schmots]

I did an ubuntu install checking your list for requirements.. it works great.. better than great.. even full divx playback on a mvp with only a 500 mhz

[hanki]

I tried the debian package installer with server 6.6.2 and ubuntu 9.04... It never prompted me for the license key. what am i doing wrong?

[loonsailor]

How did you do the install? Should have been something like 'sudo gdebi sage.deb', or you could use dpkg. Is that what you did? What was the result? Is sage running? (You can find out with 'ps ax | grep sage').

[hanki]

Loonsailor. I was an idiot, I didn't see that you had to manually enter the

cd /opt/sagetv/server
./keygen.sh

Another problem now is everytime I shut the server off or add a piece of hardware, I have to reinstall the server.deb I cannot seem to stop sage, where are the directions to shut it down?

H

[loonsailor]

I use the init script to start / stop sage

> sudo /etc/init.d/sagetv start|stop|restart

You can also use /opt/sagetv/server/{startsage,stopsage}. You shouldn't need to reinstall the .deb!

[RocKKer]

...and if the init script stop method doesn't stop sagetv, you can always kill the sagetv process using the brute force method. First, check to see if it is running:

ps -ef|grep sagetv

If it is running, then use sagetv's process id in the kill command (ie):

kill -9 20186
(the "-9" is for added effect!)

Then another:
ps -ef|grep sagetv

just to make sure it's killed, after this you should be able to start the sagetv process using the init script method.

(You may have to preface the kill command with sudo, I su to root, so I don't do that.)

[bcjenkins]

Try this:

kill -9 `cat /var/run/sagetv.pid`

B

[RocKKer]

yup bcjenkins.....even slickerer!

[Peggysis]

Originally Posted by RocKKer

kill -9 20186
(the "-9" is for added effect!)

Just to clarify, a -9 signal to the kill command is known as a "sure kill". It forces the process to die without cleaning up, because it cannot be caught.

I do NOT recommend using it unless necessary because of this. I don't know that SageTV would leave resources locked if it is used, but I've seen it happen with other applications. If you routinely use this signal to kill SageTV, and find you cannot get it to restart afterward, this could be the reason...

-Judy

[bcjenkins]

The stopsage script tries to kill it but can time out. If it fails you need run kill -9

B

[loonsailor]

True. But 'kill -9' should be a last resort, not normal procedure. In this case, maybe it's OK, but it's just a bad habit to get into.

Much better to use the script (/opt/sagetv/server/stopsage) or the init.d script (/etc/init.d/sagetv stop). If it doesn't work, go for the kill, or maybe even a reboot if things are really messed up.

[dshields]

Originally Posted by loonsailor

I use the init script to start / stop sage

> sudo /etc/init.d/sagetv start|stop|restart

You can also use /opt/sagetv/server/{startsage,stopsage}.

I'm running Kubuntu 9.10. I installed SageTV using the deb.
Do I need to manually add a sagetv start command or will the service automatically start when I boot up?