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Just spent the last 3 days trying to get a MythTV box setup on Mum’s wireless network. I had everything working at home but when I tried to set it up on Mum’s machine it just wouldn’t connect to the network.

It could connect if I turned wireless security off, and it could see the network when the security was turned on but flat out refused to connect to the network with the WPA and passphrase. It turns out after much angst, upgrading of routers and rebooting of the system, that Ubuntu can’t accept some special characters in the WPA password. Ubuntu has the bug listed in their bug tracker.

I also found the command /etc/init.d/networking restart quite useful as it allows you to see the network reboot interactively and identify any issues that you might have with your /etc/network/interfaces file.

I got the Lian Li TR-3 and a bunch of quieter fans for my MythTv box. The installation of the TR-3 was pretty simple and it fitted into my Antec case without a problem. Also despite mentions of it nearly being impossible to use the brief instructions (it only has 2 buttons) explain how to control the device without to many problems.

The only issue I had was with the backlight for the LCD. I don’t like bright lights next to the TV, I have already disabled the case lights on my machine and disconnected the HDD light. Lian Li has used one of those super bright blue LEDs to illuminate the display. Unfortunately this was a heap brighter than everything else in the AV cabinet and in a darkened room nearly brighter than the TV itself. Also the display has a continually moving power monitor and a HDD graphic that moves when the hard drive is in use, making it quiet distracting.

Unfortunately it does not have an option to turn off or dim the backlight of the display, and I had to either dim the display or move it inside the case and replace the front bezel. A quick look at the lit display showed that the light was on the left hand side of the screen.

Removing the screws on either side of the TR-3 bezel reveals the LCD display. The LED light and a diffuser are located on the left hand side of LCD display. I snipped both wires, but you only need to cut one of the connections. I am happy with the display not being on at all. If you wanted to dim the display instead you could put a resistor in place and reduce the LEDs brightenss.

Obviously this treatment voids the warranty of your device, and you want to make sure that it works before chopping any wires. Getting the TR-3 back together is pretty easy. Just put the buttons in the bezel and then lay the circuit boards into the bezel.

For all your Australian TV listings I have found Shepherd to be great.

Two things to catch beginners out. The first is making sure the channel names match up with those set in the backend of Myth TV. These need to match exactly or you will miss out on channel information.

The other is to make sure you install it as the user that is going to run the the listing as the configuration and other details are stored in your home directory. In the case of Myth installed by apt on Ubuntu this means the installation needs to point to the mythtv user.

For anyone trying to get a DViCo Fusion Dual Digital 4 PCI card working under Linux, then the following article is a great help.

I was using Ubuntu, and the following guide got me the rest of the way to a working MythTV.