The MediaMVP is a small, diskless Linux computer which obtains its operating system via TFTP. From the information page at http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_mediamvp.html:
"MediaMVP is a Linux based digital media receiver based on a powerful IBM PowerPC processor. It includes a hardware MPEG decoder to process digital video movies, while music and digital pictures are software decoded by MediaMVP's processor. It receives the digital media from a PC via an Ethernet LAN, decodes the media and outputs video through composite and S-Video connections, and audio through stereo audio output connectors."
The mvpmc project uses the MediaMVP hardware and replaces the software that the MediaMVP runs. Because the MediaMVP boots completely from the network, changes made to the software aren't permanent - you can always switch back to using the Hauppauge-supplied software with the Windows server.
This HOWTO is for version 0.2.0 of mvpmc and for CVS.
There are a few different ways to getting the mvpmc software running on your system. The easiest is to download a pre-compiled version of the software and to install that on a system running dhcp and tftp.
The second method is to download a copy of the software from CVS and compile it on your own. This is more difficult, since it involves loading cross-compilers and other development tools, but will allow you to stay up-to-date with the most recent code committed to sourceforge.
If you're new to the mvpmc and just want to get the system running as quickly as possible follow the steps outlined in Configuring your boot host for DHCP and TFTP, Obtaining mvpmc, and Creating the dongle.bin.mvpmc.config file.
If you're more experienced, or want to run newer software, you'll follow the same basic sequence of steps with the addition of configuring a cross-compiler environment.
The mvpmc performs a diskless boot from the network. If you are using a pre-compiled binary from the MVPMC project page you won't need to install the compiler as specified in the Configuring your compile host section.
# apt-get install dhcp atftpd
By default, the Debian DHCP server will not listen to any of the interfaces.
Edit the dhcp configuration file and look for the line that looks
like: INTERFACES="" and change it to something like
INTERFACES="eth0"
# joe /etc/default/dhcp
You will also need to create a directory called tftpboot.
# mkdir /tftpboot
# chmod a+rwx /tftpboot
# urpmi dhcp-server tftp-server
Mandrake will create the tftpboot directory for you automatically.
To simplify this HOWTO, execute the following command to create a shell
variable for the actual location of your tftpboot directory:
Debian:
# export TFTPBOOT=/tftpboot
# export TFTPBOOT=/var/lib/tftpboot
You will need to edit your /etc/dhcpd.conf file. In the
example below, we're setting up a subnet 192.168.10.100 through
192.168.10.250. The DNS servers are 63.240.76.4 and 204.127.198.4 Our
default gateway is 192.168.10.1 and we are going to permanently assign IP
address 192.168.10.57 to our MediaMVP. Most of these values are not used by
the MediaMVP, but this is how you could use a linux DHCP server in your own
environment.
NOTE: You must replace 00:0d:fe:00:a2:ab with the MAC
address of your actual MediaMVP. If you use the MAC address in the example,
your setup will not work.
option domain-name "local";
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
option domain-name-servers 63.240.76.4, 204.127.198.4;
allow bootp;
allow booting;
#option ip-forwarding false; # No IP forwarding
#option mask-supplier false; # Don't respond to ICMP Mask req
subnet 192.168.10.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
option routers 192.168.10.1;
range 192.168.10.100 192.168.10.250;
}
group {
next-server 192.168.10.50; # IP address of your TFTP server
host mvp { # NOTE: Change the hardware ethernet to the MAC address of your actual MVP
hardware ethernet 00:0d:fe:00:a2:ab;
fixed-address 192.168.10.57;
filename "dongle.bin.mvpmc";
option root-path "/home/mvp,rsize=4096,wsize=4096,nolock";
}
}
Make sure that dhcp is started.
Debian:
$ su
# /etc/init.d/dhcp start
# tail /var/log/daemon.log
Mandrake:
$ su
# service dhcpd start
This HOWTO is developed on a machine running Debian unstable, but the basic configuration of each of the steps should be similar between distributions. It also focuses on running the MediaMVP with MythTV, so if you would like to see instructions on using ReplayTV please submit them.
Debian: Install required libraries and programs:
# apt-get install autoconf libtool bison flex wget unzip libjpeg62-dev
# urpmi autoconf libtool bison flex wget unzip libjpeg62-dev
Download the mvpmc toolchain: http://mvpmc.sourceforge.net/dl/mvpmc_toolchain.tar.gz
$ su
# mkdir -p /opt/crosstool
# chmod a+rwx /opt/crosstool
# exit
$ wget http://mvpmc.sourceforge.net/dl/mvpmc_toolchain.tar.gz
$ tar -xzvf mvpmc_toolchain.tar.gz
$ cd mvpmc_toolchain
$ ./mvpmc-uclibc.sh
powerpc-405-linux-uclibc-hello2
/opt/crosstool/powerpc-405-linux-uclibc/gcc-3.3.3-uClibc-0.9.23/lib/gcc-lib/powerpc-405-linux-uclibc/3.3.3/../../../../powerpc-405-linux-uclibc/lib/libstdc++.so:
undefined reference to `Sqrtf'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
dongle.bin is the name of the Linux kernel and ramdisk that Hauppauge supplies for the MediaMVP. The mvpmc project creates a new version of this file, replacing Hauppauge's frontend software with mvpmc.
You will need to place a copy of the Hauppauge-supplied dongle.bin
file into your tftpboot directory. The mvpmc build procedure will
be looking for the software in that location.
Download the Hauppauge Windows server software from
http://hauppauge.lightpath.net/software/mediamvp/mediamvpsetup_24_23096_web.exe
and extract the dongle.bin file:
$ wget http://hauppauge.lightpath.net/software/mediamvp/mediamvpsetup_24_23096_web.exe
$ unzip -Ln mediamvpsetup_24_23096_web.exe dongle.bin
$ cp dongle.bin $TFTPBOOT
Download the pre-compiled binaries from sourceforge from the links in the
Downloads section of the webpage. Make sure that you grab
dongle.bin.mvpmc-0.2.0 and copy it to your tftpboot directory.
$ cp dongle.bin.mvpmc-0.2.0 $TFTPBOOT
Please note that the filename in your tftpboot directory must match the
filename configured in dhcpd.conf; if you download
dongle.bin.mvpmc-0.2.0 or any other pre-compiled file, you will
either need to rename the file, update dhcpd.conf or use a symlink.
See the Tips and Tricks section for an
example of using a symlink.
Once you are done downloading and copying the software, jump ahead to the Creating the dongle.bin.mvpmc.config file
If you will be using CVS, you will need to do the following steps. Anytime you are prompted for a password, press ENTER.
$ mkdir mvpmc
$ cd mvpmc
$ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/mvpmc login
$ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/mvpmc co build
$ cd build
$ mkdir release
$ cd release
$ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/mvpmc login
$ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/mvpmc co mvplib
$ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/mvpmc co mvpmc
$ cd ..
$ cd ~/mvpmc/build
$ autoconf
$ CC=/opt/crosstool/powerpc-405-linux-uclibc/gcc-3.3.3-uClibc-0.9.23/bin/powerpc-405-linux-uclibc-gcc \
./configure --with-mvpmc-mediamvp --with-mvpmc-host
$ make populate
$ make configure
$ make
When the compile is complete, copy the mediamvp/dongle.bin.mvpmc
file to your tftpboot directory.
$ cp mediamvp/dongle.bin.mvpmc $TFTPBOOT
When the MediaMVP is booting, it will try to download the
dongle.bin.mvpmc.config file from the tftp server. If you would
like your MediaMVP to automatically start the mvpmc application, you could
make your config file look like the example below. In this case,
192.168.10.50 is the IP address of the masterbackend MythTV server. We are
creating a mount point called /var/myth and then mounting the
directory using NFS. The -r parameter instructs mvpmc to look for
the recordings in /var/myth/video
rdate -s 192.168.10.50
mkdir /var
mkdir /var/myth/
mount -t nfs -o nolock,rsize=4096,wsize=4096,nfsvers=3 192.168.10.50:/var/myth/ /var/myth/
mvpmc -f /etc/helvR10.fnt -s 192.168.10.50 -r /var/myth/video &
See the NFS section of the MythTV HOWTO http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-21.html#ss21.9 for examples on how to configure NFS.
The mvpmc software can also use the Myth protocol directly rather than using
NFS. If you would like to use the Myth protocol, the
dongle.bin.mvpmc.config would look like this.
rdate -s 192.168.10.50
mvpmc -f /etc/helvR10.fnt -s 192.168.10.50 &
Once you have created the file, copy it to $TFTPBOOT:
# cp dongle.bin.mvpmc.config $TFTPBOOT
The /var/log/daemon.log file will show that DHCP has started.
When the MediaMVP boots, you should see something similar to this in your
logs:
Nov 25 14:09:48 masterbackend dhcpd: DHCPDISCOVER from 00:0d:fe:00:a2:ab via eth0
Nov 25 14:09:48 masterbackend dhcpd: DHCPOFFER on 192.168.10.57 to 00:0d:fe:00:a2:ab via eth0
Nov 25 14:09:48 masterbackend in.tftpd[1470]: connect from 192.168.10.57 (192.168.10.57)
Nov 25 14:09:48 masterbackend tftpd[1470]: Trivial FTP server started (0.6.2)
Nov 25 14:09:48 masterbackend tftpd[1472]: Serving dongle.bin.mvpmc to 192.168.10.57:3909
Nov 25 14:10:04 masterbackend dhcpd: BOOTREQUEST from 00:0d:fe:00:a2:ab via eth0
Nov 25 14:10:04 masterbackend dhcpd: BOOTREPLY for 192.168.10.57 to mvp (00:0d:fe:00:a2:ab) via eth0
Nov 25 14:10:05 masterbackend dhcpd: DHCPDISCOVER from 00:0d:fe:00:a2:ab via eth0
Nov 25 14:10:05 masterbackend dhcpd: DHCPOFFER on 192.168.10.57 to 00:0d:fe:00:a2:ab via eth0
Nov 25 14:10:05 masterbackend dhcpd: DHCPREQUEST for 192.168.10.57 from 00:0d:fe:00:a2:ab via eth0
Nov 25 14:10:05 masterbackend dhcpd: DHCPACK on 192.168.10.57 to 00:0d:fe:00:a2:ab via eth0
Nov 25 14:10:05 masterbackend tftpd[1473]: Serving dongle.bin.mvpmc.config to 192.168.10.57:2048
If you wish to maintain multiple versions of the dongle.bin
file, it's easy to use a symlink. For example:
# cd $TFTPBOOT
# ln -sf dongle.bin.mvpmc-0.2.0 dongle.bin.mvpmc
This will allow you to have multiple versions of the code available, and you may switch between them by updating the symlink.