mythtv frontend starts before network up

I've just had this when putting mythfrontend on a nice fujitsu box that obviously runs pretty snappy.

When the FE starts it takes you to the initial config screen I think because the eth0 if is not up in time.

There are various suggestions as to how to fix this but a simple one that worked for me was to:

1. Uninstall the network manager in xmbc (not sure this is essential, but I don't need it):
   

   # apt-get remove network-manager
   

2. Configure /etc/network/interfaces by adding:
   

   auto eth0
   iface eth0 inet dhcp
   

pfSense rebuild, Nov 2012

So everything had worked fine since Feb, (except I never got openvpn working) until my ISP died last Tuesday. Constant rebooting of the BT adsl router (in bridge/modem mode) and the Alix box brought no joy. In the frantic attempts to fix something I screwed up the pfSesne install, mainly when I started removing/moving interfaces.
NB! changing LAN IF will remove things like the static reserved IP info! Should have done a backup!

WiFi WAN

Desparately tried to get the ' WLG-1500SMA WLAN 11G USB ' adpaptor to work as a 2nd WAN IF (driver = zyd0), did eventually, (by using setting 'BSS (infrastructure)' not AP as for the built in ath0 IF) - only connected to the phone when no wifi security! However it seemed quite flakey and would keep falling over after maybe 30min.

The 'fix' for the TalkTalk adsl involved having one of their routers. Couldn't ask why as I was not around when the guy called. So I'm now using this as my WAN eth IF. This uses DHCP on vr0 of pfSense to talktalk rtr.

Rebuilding the IPsec:

All looked ok for IPSec and initially said interface was up, but I sooned managed to make that dissapear! Main problem with above setup was the talktalk router being in front of pfSense and routing/NAT issues for IPSec traffic (known to be complex).

Reinstating the BT Voyager 190 router in bridge mode:

I soon tried to ditch the talktalk router to simplify the ipsec issue but could never get a WAN IF up when set to pppoe as I used to do. Think what happened is that in panic of above I reset the 190 to default firmware (the preinstalled AOL, on: 192.168.1.1). This was never gonna work. Reinstalled the Dynalink 3.29a f/w changed ip to 192.168.0.1 and found the bridge mode settings (did I ever find them before?), buried in sub-menus on the adsl connection 'write' icon. ensure change set 0/38 and vc-mux (not defaults?). Change WAN IF from dhcp to pppoe (why not pppoa?) and immediately ISP IP/DNS becomes the WAN IP info. Hoping IPsec can now be re-estblished as it was before?... Yes it can, when I made the settings match TC...

1980 Starcraft Starmaster 1906 xl Restoration

Here's a picture record of my PopUp Camper restoration. The story really starts here on the fantastic popupportal.com forum. Without the info and encouragement there I would never have gotten very far.

After tearing things to bits for several days this was the first thing to go in the right direction. I had to lap and glue two 1/4" ply sheets to be able to make 11' lengths of 1/2" to make the new roof side bars

Here's the new side bars. We can't (easily) buy 12' sheets of board in the UK. The old aly from the roof is in the background. I had scraped all the polystyrene off it, very strongly glued. At this point I thought I would use the original aly roof on my new frame.

At 7' wide the front and back boards were able to be cut from regular 1/2" 8x4' sheets. I used external W&B grade ply throughout, not marine.

New roof frame about done. Was surprised how long it took me to make. woodwork is not my forte. The flags went up for eurovision song contest!

compared to the original manufacturerI added the three addition crossbars on the roof to prevent sagging. Have to say my roof still sags a bit...

after spending several hours fettling the old aly skin, when i found several corrosion holes in it i decided i needed something better. the last straw was after i placed it on the new frame and when it rained it still sagged into the centre seam and started dripping. Why did they put a seam down the middle???

I decided I wanted a roof skin without a seam. It took ages to source this but I managed to get an end of roll piece of 'roofing coil' it used to make roofs of artic trailors and trucks etc. we had a manufacturer locally who was very helpful.

the roofing coil sheet is 8' 4" wide. ideal. i only need 7'. It is, at 0.9mm, thicker than the original. the only dissapointment was I couldn't get it with a stucco effect, this is just smooth. It is a devil to handle when you undo the coil - spings flat

To bond the wooden frame to the aly I made a wooden 'former' which replicated the curvature of the roof, laid the aly on it, glued the wooden frame too it using 'no more nails' type glue, then weighed it all down with part from the plough I'm renovating.

I bonded the polystyrene sheeting to the aly and wooden frame using special bostik contact adhesive that was designed not to melt styrene. At £30 for 5 litres it wasn't cheap and it took it all.

To make the roof lining I bought white faced hardboard which has a plastic coating similar to the original. I used the same glue as above, but this has not worked well at all. My sheets are peeling off the styrene and this is adding to the slight sag in my roof I suspect. ahhhh!!! I intended no nails in the middle of my roof, just gluing the sheets and using the original plastic jointing strips to cover the gaps between the 4' sheets. I have had to whack in some additional staples into the additional wooden struts I added. not good.

Add caption

around the same time as getting the roofing coil I jacked up the body of the pup to drag out the chassis. By this stage I had decided to change the front hitch and axle to a UK one from a donor caravan. The chassis was in for serious surgery.

The oringinal leaf spring axle. big question was could i use an axle from a donor caravan in it's place. they were all torsion type, not leaf spring.

I used 100mm x 50mm box to make my new A frame for the chassis. Here's the new front bar tacked in place. Someone said, "don't bring home a wreck Mark and make the back garden look like a scrapyard"

you can see my donor torsion axle on the left. quite amazed to find that the mounting plates for it fitted quite nicely to the chassis where the spring hangers had been mounted. i just needed to make a plate to bolt the two sets of holes together

Goodbye Sur Act III 2" ball hitch. Not sure all my angle grinding was very neighbour-friendly...

The axle fitted in nice between the inset part of the chassis

the new steel for the A frame was considerably heavier than the original - i'm an old farmer after all

I used the grid of the patio slabs to make sure everything was square.I should work for NASA!

Getting there, winding gear box tacked in place too now.

soon after this the chassis went to be shot blasted. Thanks to lads at CP Blasting, Creswell. they also painted the chassis for me.

i had hope that the 13" wheels that came with the caravan axle would fit. Unfortunately they were just a bit too tight to the wheel arches. This was exacerbated by the fact that the new axle was 2 " wider than the original

here's the original wheels. they are 12" 5 stud 4.5" pcd. I had to get 12" 4 stud 100mm PCD to fit my new axle. Fitted 145R12C tyres. Trailer sits real nice and level with those behind the range rover, just like it did with the original gear

chassis bac from the shot blasters. should be good for another 32 years now! the colour is chosen to match the original colours. The 'mood board' for the colour pallate is described as something unmentionable by some members of my family. For anyone interested my paint guys matched the colours to BS4800 colours thus; the brown - 08-B-29; the red - 04-D-45; the cream - 10-B-15. these colours appear not to have a standard set of names under the BS4800 scheme.

At this stage, knowing the deadline was tight Andy turned up to help for three days. you are a star!
Also Owen and Gertjan helped.

hitch on with brake linckage attached. Owen and Gertjan put all the brakes back on. I had removed all that before shot blasting, didn't want to get chilled iron in them.

had the mount the winding gear slightly higher than normal to allow the brake rod to pass under. Works fine!

Winding gear back in. owen did this. i also removed the little pulleys from the chassis before blasting.

brake balancer. brake a re really sharp!

amazingly the holes i had to drill in the new A frame for the winding wires to pass through lined up nicely! The wire I bought to remake the broken one was 2mm 7/19 316 stainless from ebay. I used 2mm ferrules. I couldn't run to the proper tool for crimping these ferrules (£50), so a squashed them in the vice then used a cold chisel to crunch them more down the middle. Don't know if they'll last for ever, but they've kept the roof up for a five day stint so far.

After the aly was bonded to the roof i was able to trim it to the proper width.

Here I'm testing a little bit  of the aly to see how well it wraps around. I should have wainted until the aly side plates were on of course. getting over excited!

 I used at etch primer on the bare aluminium. then two coats of base, four coats of topcoat.

 you might have seen that when i got the pup someone had decided to paint the lower panels cream to match the upper part.

here they're going back to the original red


 
 Some of the red panels going back on!

roof, new wheels, and top fridge grill all getting top coated

ditto.

At this point with 5 days to go before the August bank holiday deadline Myles came over to help put the roof on. Thanks mate!

roof on!

At this stage there were still several hours of frenetic activity. wiring of lights, new floor to screw down, all hatches to put back on, canvas to hang, roof seal to insert (fiddly), etc etc. Like the whole project it all took a lot longer than I'd imagined!! Spent three hours on it the morning we went away. i have a very patient wife

But - we're camping!! greenbelt 2012, August bank holiday! Everyone amazed I'd got it finished, including me. It was a shell inside, but sound to use with a new floor. I rigged the original cooker to the LPG. We'd had the beds recovered. The weather at greenbelt was absolutely terrible, including torrential downpours. the pup had a full test but was totally dry throughout!

The canvas was all pretty good apart from two top bits of rot in one of the bed awnings. thanks to M & N Canvas Services Ltd, Sheffield who turned a repair around in less than a week and all for £20. they had some old stock canvas that was a great match for the colour too.

thanks to all my friends for their help. not least Kenny a stevecaseys.com RV. He supplied original parts which I was pleased to be able to get. Thanks to Ross anf Jennifer at Lilleker Antique Auto for shipping those parts to me

Mythtv tweaking and nfs

Sound on mythlounge:
(newer setup, Dec 2011, using S/PDIF mobo o/p) choose:
ALSA:dmix:CARD=NVidia,DEV=1
again only STEREO works
this is using the "HDA NVidia, ALC888 Digital" device
these allows firefox sound to work with myth.

playback setting:
VDPAU High Quality



NFS server: exports need adding to /etc/exports on the (file)server

1. install:

apt-get install nfs-kernel-server 

2. on the server create the /export shares:
root@server:/home/markp# mkdir -p /export/Music_flac
root@server:/home/markp# mkdir -p /export/Music_mp3
root@server:/home/markp# mkdir -p /export/photos

3. bind the /export filesytem to the actual locations, add to fstab so happens auto on boot:
#NSFv4 server share settings:
/home/markp/Music_flac /export/Music_flac      none    bind    0       0
/home/markp/Music_mp3  /export/Music_mp3       none    bind    0       0
/home/myserver_groups/photos   /export/photos  none    bind    0


4. set the nfs conf options as suggested at:
NFSv4 setup from ubuntu community.

5. place the exports in /etc/exports:
/export       192.168.1.0/24(rw,fsid=0,no_subtree_check,sync)
/export/Music_flac 192.168.1.0/24(rw,nohide,insecure,no_subtree_check,sync)
/export/Music_mp3 192.168.1.0/24(rw,nohide,insecure,no_subtree_check,sync)
/export/photos 192.168.1.0/24(rw,nohide,insecure,no_subtree_check,sync)

NFS setup for client

1.:
sudo apt-get install nfs-common

2.For mythmusic set directory as /home/markp/Music_flac
For mythgallery (photo viewing) set directory as /home/myserver_groups/photos
The above directories allow mythfrontend on the main fileserver to use their real locations

3. create the mount points referred to on the client:
sudo mkdir -p /home/myserver_groups/photos
mkdir -p /home/markp/Music_flac
mkdir -p /home/gracep
mkdir -p /home/meganp
mkdir -p /home/crossing_groups
mkdir -p /home/markp/myserver_groups
mkdir -p /home/sheridanp
mkdir -p /home/markp
4. add this to fstab to mount the nfs shares on the client on boot:
#nfsv4 mounts
192.168.1.10:/Music_flac /home/markp/Music_flac nfs4 _netdev,auto 0 0
192.168.1.10:/photos /home/myserver_groups/photos nfs4 _netdev,auto 0 0



nfs4 file permission issues: although the flac files could be accessed fine on the client, the photos wouldn't allow access to the subfolders, 'permission denied'
chmod to 777 on the server fixes.

Album art issues in mythmusic:
although I thought mythmusic was picking up the image that it can display when using the the visualiaztion 'album-art' from the flac tag, it would appear it doesn't. Rather it is relying on a jpg being in the folder of the flac files. This file can be called anything.jpg but cannot be a hidden file, ie start with a full stop.

Recognised & Regarded vs. Authorised to Service

R&R and AM -  the low down:
Recognised and Regarded.  This is no longer the category which applies to people in LEP situation.  The category is "Authorised to Serve" (AM).

(This change occurred six or seven years ago.  R and R means that a person
is fully under the discipline of our Conference, resulting in people being
fully under two disciplines, which obviously doesn't work. AM means that a
person is under the discipline of their own Church but authorised by and
accountable to the Methodist Church for relevant parts of their work.)

As soon as we know who the person is, we can start the ball rolling (it
must come via the District).  The President of Conference would be asked
to approve it.  I've never known a case of refusal.

fonts in Ubuntu

Put extra/new fonts in /usr/share/fonts/truetype

setting up new users etc in new ubuntu install to sync with UIDs at TC

logout of gui, drop to shell (ctrl+alt+F1).

sudo adduser <newusername>

then add newusername to group sudo

exit

login to shell in that new name

sudo usermod -u <newUID> <usernametochange>

Mobile phones in car

trying to do a number of things here:
1. Charge two phones, samsung galaxy and iphone
2. pipe sound from either phone via car ICE

the usb+3.5mm stereo to iphone connectors are powered via a cigar socket to usb adaptor which has an additional usb A type socket soldered to it's board

freesat mythtv firmware hauppage problem

Although the card is seen on the system, and in Mythtv, the Hauppage DVB-S2 tuner needs some non-free firmware to make it work:
cat /var/log/kern.log
Apr 7 08:35:22 mythserver kernel: [ 711.136979] cx24116_firmware_ondemand: Waiting for firmware upload (dvb-fe-cx24116.fw)...
Apr 7 08:35:22 mythserver kernel: [ 711.140459] cx24116_firmware_ondemand: Waiting for firmware upload(2)...
Apr 7 08:35:22 mythserver kernel: [ 711.140466] cx24116_firmware_ondemand: No firmware uploaded (timeout or file not found?)
Apr 7 08:35:22 mythserver kernel: [ 711.140473] cx24116_cmd_execute(): Unable initialise the firmware

It won't tune until the firmware is installed, so:
sudo apt-get install linux-firmware-nonfree

Reboot, then :
markp@mythserver:~$ dmesg | grep cx24116
[ 37.916332] cx24116_firmware_ondemand: Waiting for firmware upload (dvb-fe-cx24116.fw)...
[ 38.071137] cx24116_firmware_ondemand: Waiting for firmware upload(2)...
[ 42.916930] cx24116_load_firmware: FW version 1.26.90.0
[ 42.916948] cx24116_firmware_ondemand: Firmware upload complete
[ 45.166018] cx24116_firmware_ondemand: Waiting for firmware upload (dvb-fe-cx24116.fw)...
[ 45.171222] cx24116_firmware_ondemand: Waiting for firmware upload(2)...
[ 50.036655] cx24116_load_firmware: FW version 1.26.90.0
[ 50.036675] cx24116_firmware_ondemand: Firmware upload complete
mythtv tuning now works...

mdadm administration and maintenance

check status of a raid:
root@server:/home/markp# mdadm --query --detail /dev/md0
/dev/md0:
Version : 0.90
Creation Time : Wed Jun 16 11:12:17 2010
Raid Level : raid1
Array Size : 732571904 (698.64 GiB 750.15 GB)
Used Dev Size : 732571904 (698.64 GiB 750.15 GB)
Raid Devices : 2
Total Devices : 1
Preferred Minor : 0
Persistence : Superblock is persistent

Update Time : Mon Mar 26 08:37:54 2012
State : clean, degraded
Active Devices : 1
Working Devices : 1
Failed Devices : 0
Spare Devices : 0

UUID : a796fd2c:740124f9:01f9e43d:ac30fbff (local to host server)
Events : 0.7867161

Number Major Minor RaidDevice State
0 8 17 0 active sync /dev/sdb1
1 0 0 1 removed

the two disks of my md0 are sdb1 and sdc1. Add back whichever is degraded:
root@server:/home/markp# mdadm --add /dev/md0 /dev/sdc1
mdadm: added /dev/sdc1
root@server:/home/markp# mdadm --query --detail /dev/md0
/dev/md0:
Version : 0.90
Creation Time : Wed Jun 16 11:12:17 2010
Raid Level : raid1
Array Size : 732571904 (698.64 GiB 750.15 GB)
Used Dev Size : 732571904 (698.64 GiB 750.15 GB)
Raid Devices : 2
Total Devices : 2
Preferred Minor : 0
Persistence : Superblock is persistent

Update Time : Mon Mar 26 08:53:20 2012
State : clean, degraded, recovering
Active Devices : 1
Working Devices : 2
Failed Devices : 0
Spare Devices : 1

Rebuild Status : 0% complete

UUID : a796fd2c:740124f9:01f9e43d:ac30fbff (local to host server)
Events : 0.7867463

Number Major Minor RaidDevice State
0 8 17 0 active sync /dev/sdb1
2 8 33 1 spare rebuilding /dev/sdc1

notes for Circuit Website

the images for staff team:

Used gimp to resize img to 300x400. (feathered edges and rounded corners nice, but showed up a white border against the blended 'fade background' of the content section background.) gimp crop settings saved as 'website portrait'.

On site: set image size as 200 width (height scales proportional)

headers using showtime for Circuit website

To specify which showtime banner show to use: edit the template (main is: Trinity: ShadowMenu Tab + 2 columns: showtime banner ) and insert the tag in the header section:
{* Start Header, with logo image that links to the default start page. Logo image is changed in the stylesheet "Trinity Layout: Top menu + 2 columns + showtime banner" *}

{Showtime show='3'}
{* this holds the name of the site on the right side *}

{sitename}

{* a link back to home page and the header left image/logo, text is hidden using CSS *}

{cms_selflink dir="start" text="$sitename"}

---

{* End Header *}

To edit the padding around the banner edit the parameters in the associated 'layout' stylesheet:
div#header {
/* adjust according your image size */
height: 60px;
margin: 0px;
padding: 0.5em 0 0.2em 0;
/* you can set your own image here, will go behind h1 a image */
/* background: #f4f4f4 url([[root_url]]/uploads/ngrey/bg_banner.png) repeat-x left top; */
/* border just the bottom */
border-bottom: 1px solid #D9E2E6;
}

We're so frustrated about the DDOS effect - and apparently some of you are VERY ANGRY. We're really sorry; it's out of our hands. -- Raspberry_Pi (@Raspberry_Pi)

backup and updating of cmsms

go into control panel of webhost, use phpmyadmin and do simple db backup to an sql file.

Haven't found a better way of musing ftp than nautilus in ubuntu. don't think I have ssh access (sadly), so:

1. download a backup of the /html/urlname folder of the webserver
2. if doing a differential upgrade (for minor releases), download the package (the 'base' version = english only, fine), then copy the individually different files from local into the correspoding folders on webspace - tedious - is this the best way??)
3. because I'd deleted the install folder (as advised?) I had to also get a replacement copy of that folder from the 'full' version and copy that up to.
4. then access the update page: www.urlname/install/upgrade
5. follow instructions, which will include need to creat/make writable config.php

pfSense 2.0.1 on alix

copy nanobsd image to cf card, ensure correct /dev/sd[x] is specified!:
markp@server:~/Desktop$ sudo zcat pfSense-2.0.1-RELEASE-1g-i386-nanobsd.img.gz | dd of=/dev/sde obs=64k
1947456+0 records in
15214+1 records out
997097472 bytes (997 MB) copied, 331.56 s, 3.0 MB/s
markp@server:~/Desktop$

If you get permission denied to /dev/sdX chmod to 777 for the card. Takes a while, keep cool!

next setup an ubuntu machine to be a serial terminal (console) client. I'm using minicom:
sudo apt-get intall minicom
the usb to serial adaptor that came with the RR Diag Tool seems to be seen OK on an 11.10 machine:
markp@markp-samsung-lt:~$ dmesg | grep tty
[ 0.000000] console [tty0] enabled
[ 1119.022531] usb 2-2: pl2303 converter now attached to ttyUSB0
so ttyUSB0 is the name of my terminal. (normally ttyS0 for a 1st serial port)
In minicom Cntl-A, then choose a letter to navigate the program. O = setup options.

Serial port settings should be thus:
Baud rate: 38,400
Data: 8 bit
Parity: None
Stop: 1 bit
Flow control: None
Terminal: ANSI

Despite the above being the recommended settings, I found that I had to set both the client and the alix baud rate to 9600 to prevent ASCII gibberish showing on the terminal(?) (in minicom there are flow control settings for both hardware and software (?) I set both to none.

At this stage pfsense is booting in the terminal shell just as it would in a normal vga output. Assign the nics etc.


Everything looking perfect until I came to activate the mini-pci card that came with my 'Full N' alix bundle. The card in the bundle is an N card and after failing to get it to activate after saving settings for it (BIOS did detect it initially ok as an ath0), I learn that freeBSD 8.1 (which pfsense 2.x is based on) has no support for N wifi devices, and only provisional drivers in the newer freeBSD 9. SO WHY BUNDLE THAT CARD in my ebay package which describes the board as 'great for pfSense'?! Ho hum, got a b/g card coming instead, but looks like pfSense's ability to have a wifi AP built into the box will be fine.

Even more exciting, my USB2.0 wifi nic is spotted fine on the alix's usb socket and acts as a gateway/WAN getting adsl from my phone fine. I plan to use this as a backup WAN for when adsl goes down. pfSense's multi-wan features put it way above domestic routers.