LinHES

LinHES (Linux Home Entertainment System) is a distribution heavily based on Arch, centered around MythTV designed for Home Theater PCs (HTPCs) use. The expressed goal of LinHES is to provide a HES-appliance feel to your HTPC. Most if not all of the system configuration and operation can be accomplished via your remote control. Users can go from a blank system to a fully functional MythTV system in 15-20 minutes. LinHES makes use of mythvantage for easy configuration and modification. There is a service menu accessible right from the mythtv GUI where users can configure most of the machine right from their couch via their remote control.

• Current stable release: R6.03.00 (06-June-2010)
• Creator/lead developer: Cecil Watson
• Package Maintainers/developers: Greg Frost, James Meyer, Nathan Harris

Key Features

• Installation and setup are relatively trivial.
• Major features aside from MythTV are preconfigured (SAMBA, sshd, x11vnc, webmin, lighttpd, lirc, etc.)
• Comprehensive "Auto Upgrade" (along with backup scripts) makes upgrading a snap.
• Live Frontend allows users to run a front-end on any machine live from the CD.
• User support forums
• Partial automation of Australian EPG setup
• Native VDPAU support for both MythTV and MPlayer
• Native support for many popular SDTV/HDTV capture hardware
• Native XBMC support
• Native support for a large number of remote controls
• Hulu desktop option
• Packages for Mythtv-0.22

Divergence from the Arch Way

LinHES is meant to be an appliance and is targeted at Linux neophytes. As such, it is noteworthy to mention that although LinHES is based on Arch, LinHES doesn't conform to the Arch Way. For example:

• LinHES implements pacman's abilities more broadly philosophically.

Pacman under LinHES can and does modify package config files/other files for the user without the user's need to do so manually as is the Arch Way. Additionally, some LinHES packages will modify files owned by other LinHES packages. Both of these examples represent a divergence from the Arch Way that might not sit well with some experienced Arch users. On its own, neither example represents a "bad" thing, but they should be documented for the afore mentioned niche community.

Brief History

The predecessor to LinHES is Knoppmyth (KM). As its name implies, the initial releases of Knoppmyth were based on Knoppix, but the latest incarnations are not, although the brand-name "KnoppMyth" has been retained. From the knoppmyth wiki:

"Knoppix itself is an adaptation of the Debian Linux distribution, Knoppmyth therefore is another project that has spiralled off into its own domain. These days it would be more correct to call KnoppMyth a specialized and heavily customized Debian derivative, as there is very little Knoppix left."

The first release of KM was on 09-Aug-2003 (R1) and was based on MythTV 0.10. The latest stable incarnation of KM is R5.5 which was released on 06-Jul-2008 and is based on MythTV 0.21.2. The first release of LinHES (R6) went gold (stable) on the 26-Sept-2009, version R6.01.00 being officially released.

Both LinHES and KM can be installed and function on almost any "modern" computer. There are a set of components that constitute the so-called, "Knoppmyth Reference Platform" which is nothing more than a set of hardware that is known and certified to work out-of-the-box with KM. The hardware specifications are completely open.

Development on KM has halted and all efforts are focusing on LinHES. That said, KM R5.5 is still a very robust Mythtv-Distro.

Version History of KM/LinHES

Since the first release in 2003, there have been about a dozen major and minor versions of KM.

• 06-06-10 R6.03.00 is released (major diff is mythtv 0.23)

• 03-02-10 R6.02.00 (major diff is mythtv 0.22)

To upgrade an existing R6.01.00 box, see [this thread].

• 09-26-09 R6 goes gold, version R6.01.00 officially released

• 08-14-09 Pre-Release R6.00.09 of LinHES

• 7-6-08 Release 5.5 "Bone Marrow"

Uses a snapshot of Debian Unstable and the 2.6.23-chw-4 kernel

• 5-11-07 Release 5 Final 1 "Farewell days of my youth"

• 11-3-03 Release 4 "CoCo2"

Upgraded to MythTV 0.12

• 9-01-2003 Release 3 "Each of these my three babies"

The CD can now be use as a front-end

• 08-25-2003 Release 2 "Chicago, Chicago"

Updated to MythTV 0.11

• 08-08-2003 Release 1 "You better Belize it!"

Based on Knoppix 07-26-2003 and MythTV 0.10

R5.5/R6.x Differences Table and Equivalent Commands

This section intends to capture the differences between R5.x and R6.x as well as capture some equivalent shell commands for the user familiar with the R5 series.

Startup Scripts It is noteworthy to mention that /etc/rc.local does NOT get called at boot as it does under Arch. Instead, LinHES uses /etc/runit/1.local for startup scripts.

Core Components

Component	R5 Uses...	R6 Uses...
"The Brand"	Knoppmyth	LinHES
Parent Linux Distro	Debian	Arch Linux
Webserver	Apache2	Lighttpd

Miscellaneus Components/Shell Examples

Component	R5 Uses...	R6 Uses...	R5 Example	R6 Example
Adding a Daemon	update-rc.d	add_service.sh	# update-rc.d daemonname defaults	$ sudo add_service.sh daemonname
Removing a Daemon	update-rc.d	remove_service.sh	# update-rc.d -f daemonname remove	$ sudo remove_service.sh daemonname
Init System	sysv init	runit	# /etc/init.d/webmin start	$ sudo sv start webmin
Diskless Frontend	NFS root, shared /usr	pacman -S diskless-legacy ; config_diskless_frontend.bash	knoppmyth_diskless_frontend.bash

Package Management/Shell Examples

Package Task	R5 Uses...	R6 Uses...	R5 Example	R6 Example
Update package list	dpkg and apt-get	pacman	# apt-get update	$ sudo pacman -Sy
Install a Package	dpkg and apt-get	pacman	# apt-get install packagename	$ sudo pacman -S packagename
Remove a Package	dpkg and apt-get	pacman	# apt-get remove packagename	$ sudo pacman -Rs packagename
Location of repos	/etc/apt/sources.list	/etc/pacman.conf
Location of Package Cache	/var/cache/apt/archives	/data/var/cache/pacman/pkg
Upgrade All Installed Packages	dpkg and apt-get	pacman	# apt-get dist-upgrade	$ sudo pacman -Syu
Install from local pacakge	dpkg	pacman	# dpkg -i <file>	$ sudo pacman -U <file>

Configuration Settings

Component or configuration file	R5 Uses...	R6 Uses...	R5 example	R6 Example
/etc/fstab	device names	UUID	/dev/sda1	UUID=a6b1c6b8-eebf-4e28-8020-!309cf441bfcc

Required Hardware

A LinHES system can use most modern and "semi-modern" hardware. Some users report a fully functional system driven by an antiquated AMD Athlon (800 MHz)/nforce2 CPU/MB. For HD-playback one will need a more powerful CPU or a GPU capable of VDPAU such as an NVIDIA 8400GS, 9500GT, or GF 210. For a complete table of NVIDIA cards and their VDPAU support, see this table. Intel Atom-based PCs are also popular among LinHES users for their low heat output and ultra low power consumption. Again, this low-power CPU needs to be paired with a VDPAU compatible GPU or else view HD content will not be possible. Most Atom MB/CPU combos are paired with one, for example, see offerings by Intel and Zotac.

LinHES can also run in a virtual machine (verified to work in Virtual Box v3.0.10) if would-be users would prefer to test drive it in a sandbox.

R6 Installation Walk-through (Brief)

Boot the LinHES CD or USB media.

• Screen 1: Select the "Install or Upgrade" option. If upgrading, you will go directly to screen 10 and everything will be processed automatically based on your backups.

Warning: If upgrading from an R5.x box, make sure that you run the mythbackup script before you attempt an install of R6.

• Screen 2: Select a target file-system

• Screen 3: Select the type of install (Full/auto or Upgrade). Also assign partition sizes for the OS, swap, and data partitions. The defaults should be fine. Users can also select which file-system format is used. Currently the default is for ext3, but other options such as ext4/RFS/XFS/JFS are also available.

• Screen 4: Assign a host-name

Note: Make sure you are satisfied with the host-name you select since you cannot easily change it after the installation due to a number of other configuration files/mysql tables that will depend on it.

• Screen 5: Setup the network options. Users may select from wired or wireless configurations with all the standard options such as dynamic IP/static IP, devices, mtu size, etc.

Note: For more of MTU sizes a.k.a jumbo frames, see the Jumbo Frames article.

• Screen 6: Setup host options. Choices here include system configuration (standalone/frontend/master backend/slave backend). Initial resolution (i.e. SDTV or HDTV) and remote configure are also on this screen. The setup GUI contains many options for remote controls that are preconfigured for you. Users also set the option to use or not use mythwelcome on this screen.

Note: Make sure you understand the architecture of mythtv networks. A selection of standalone should only be made if this is and will be the only mythtv box on your network. For more on this, see [insertlink this] page on the official mythtv wiki.

• Screen 7: Setup timezone/zipcode

• Screen 8: Setup NFS options if media is stored on a remote NFS share. Also configure automatic updates

• Screen 9: Setup user accounts and passwords

Warning: Make sure to create a non-mythtv account, assign a root password and assign a mythtv password on this screen before you continue. Under R6.02.00 and higher, the screen is lacking, passwords and user creation shall be managed later through CLI.

• Screen 10: Sanity check/"Are you sure you wish to continue?" screen.

This concludes the installation. The scripts will take over and in about 5 min you will reboot into your LinHES installation.

External Links

Distro General

• Homepage: http://www.linhes.org/
• Wiki: http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/
• Forums: http://www.linhes.org/phpBB2
• Bug Tracker: http://linhes.org/flyspray/
• LinHES PKGBUILD Repository: http://linhes.org/cgit/cgit.cgi/LinHES-PKGBUILD

ISO Downloads

• Direct: http://www.linhes.org/downloads/Current/
• Torrent: http://linuxtracker.org/index.php?page=torrent-details&id=69c6f0bf37677f85d550a550f4fd324e2699e467

Miscellaneous

• Interview with Cecil Watson - Hour-long interview with Cecil Watson (04-Apr-2010) by Patrick Davila and Daniel Frey (MythTV Cast).
• Interview with Cecil Watson - Another hour-long interview with Cecil Watson (18-Oct-2009) by Kevin Kittredge (A Geek and his Wife). This interview was recorded after R6 went stable.
• Interview with Cecil Watson - Hour and a half-long interview with Cecil Watson (11-Feb-2009) by Dann Washko, Lincoln Fessende, Allan Metzler, Patrick Davila (The Linux Link Tech Show).
• Interview with Cecil Watson - Written interview with Cecil Watson (20-Jan-2009) by Gareth J. Greenaway (SCALE). The interview was done in preparation for SCALE 2009; this is where Cecil disclosed the name change in R6.
• Interview with Cecil Watson - Hour-long interview with Cecil Watson (07-Oct-2007), by Kevin Kittredge (A Geek and his Wife). Here you can hear about R6 while still in alpha/beta stages.
• Interview with Cecil Watson - Half an hour-long interview with Cecil Watson (19-Jul-2006), starting at 28', by Dann Washko, Lincoln Fessende, Allan Metzler, Patrick Davila (The Linux Link Tech Show).
• Interview with Cecil Watson - Quarter-long interview with Cecil Watson (30-Oct-2005), starting at 23', by Leo Laporte (The Tech Guy Labs). At the time, a re-mastered Knoppmix distribution was seen as a breakthrough innovation in the HTPC field.
• KnoppMyth R5.5 Demo Install Video - Showcases the ease of installation of R5.5; note that the R6 installation process is very different from the R5.5 installation process!
• KnoppMyth Changelog - Changelog for Knoppmyth.
• tjc's KnoppMyth R5.5 Hints and Tips - Recommended read if you plan to install R5.5; note that this post hasn't been updated for the R6 series!