ATSC TV on Cambridge Linux computer

[Tom Metro]

Laura Conrad wrote:
> I didn't manage to configure MythTV at all.  The configuration
> program took over my whole screen, and I found it hard to
> navigate...
> Is there a magic word for at least telling it to be in a
> window, and not full-screen?

That was one of the first things I changed in my MythTV setup.

Run mythfrontend (not the setup program) and select the Utilities/Setup 
menu, then Setup, Appearance. Use the arrow keys to navigate to the 
"Next>" button and hit space to go to the next page. On that page 
navigate to "Hide Mouse Cursor in Myth" and hit the right-arrow key to 
un-check the box. Then move down to "Run the front end in a window" and 
hit the right-arrow key to check the box. Finally work your way though 
the "Next>" buttons until you have exited the setup screens.

I'm not sure if these settings will be reflected in the mythtv-setup 
GUI, but fortunately you only have to tolerate it for a short while.

After these changes you'll be able to switch normally among windows on 
your desktop while the front-end is running. However it doesn't scale 
the window at all, so on my system, the addition of a title bar causes 
the bottom edge of the window to get cropped. And being able to see the 
mouse pointer helps some in dealing with the setup screens, but they're 
still a pain to use and inconsistent in how they treat navigation keys 
(arrows and tabs). This is probably less of an issue if you're using a 
TV remote, instead of trying to impose normal computer UI conventions on 
the interface. Still, if it isn't something that can only be done via 
the MythTV front-end, I use mvpmc on my MediaMVP.

  -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/

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