At home I have a media center PC (custom built from spare parts) on which I run Windows XP and the wonderful open source Media Portal. But being the increasingly open-source freak that I am, I wondered if I could use Linux instead?
Someone recently recommended KnoppMyth to me, which is a distro of Linux specifically tailored to make installing MythTV (media center software) as trivial as possible. It combines Knoppix (a version of Debian that boots straight from a CD) and MythTV as well as some clever scripting.
Installation was relatively painless (one small script problem was caused by having my hard drive as a slave with no master). It detected and installed my PVR-150 TV card, graphics card, tv output, etc and then all I had to do was configure MythTV and use the additional configuration scripts for things like the infra-red remote and receiver. It all worked.
But it still takes quite a lot of configuration. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a huge step in the right direction and with just a little more work it’ll be there, but right now my Windows+Mediaportal setup takes no maintenance. I can plug in extra devices, I can easily demo stuff, etc. It’s handy. I don’t think I could do that with Linux in a TV quite so easily! But another year’s time? Here’s hoping!