MythTV Configuration

My MythTV setup has changed several times since I first started with MythTV. Here are my systems as of July 2009.

Backend

• Ubuntu Intreped Ibex 8.10 with Mythbuntu add-on


• GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P motherboard


• AMD Phenom II 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor


• Nvidia GeForce 9400GT video card


• Hauppauge HVR-1600 capture card


• Hauppauge PVR-150 capture card


• HDHomeRun Networked Digital TV Tuner used to capture over the air digital TV

Frontend 0

• Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope 9.04 with Mythbuntu add-on


• ZOTAC GF8200-C-E NVIDIA GeForce 8200 Mini ITX Motherboard


• AMD Athlon 64 X2 5050e Brisbane 2.6GHz Dual-Core Processor

Frontend 1

• Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope 9.04 with Mythbuntu add-on


• Dell XPS M140

Frontends via UPnP or Network Share

• PS3


• Popcorn Hour

Keyboard Shortcuts and Your Default Browser

I rarely use the system menu to start applications. I use keyboard shortcuts instead. Keyboard shortcuts are convenient time savers. To configure the shortcuts I use gconf-editor or CompizConfig Settings Manager (if I have Compiz turned on). Lately I've been using Chromium as my browser. Since Chromium is under heavy development it occasionally becomes unusable and I have to switch back to Firefox. I was hard-coding the browser command in my keyboard shortcuts. This became problematic with frequent browser hopping. I now use the xdg-open command when defining my keyboard shortcuts. xdg-open opens a file or URL in the user’s preferred application. Below is a screen shot of my keyboard shortcuts defined in gconf-editor on Ubuntu Juanty 9.04.



In the screen shot above notice that in the metacity keybinding_commands I have

xdg-open http://gmail.com

where I used to have

firefox http://gmail.com

Now when switching browsers I don't have to update each keyboard binding command I just change my default browser in Ubuntu by clicking through the menu: System / Preferences / Preferred Applications / Web Browser.



xdg-open is more convenient for this browser hopper.