Interview with Cecil Watson - LinHES
Most people who are using a commercial Personal Video Recorder today are unknowingly using an open source-powered appliance. Unfortunately many aspects of these devices remain closed. There have been many efforts to offer a completely free & open alternative to these devices. One such effort is the KnoppMyth/LinHes project. SCALE had the opportunity to chat with the project leader for this open source media center project, Cecil Watson.
- Gareth J. Greenaway
Gareth: What’s your background, Cecil?
Cecil: For the past 8 plus years, I’ve been working for a biometrics company. Prior to that, I was a sysadmin for a .com. In addition to being a basic rifleman in the Marine Corps, I was a computer technician. I’ve been involved with computers professional and as a hobby for about 25 years now. I’ve been using Open Source at home exclusively for over 10 years now.
Gareth: How did you get started in the free & open source community?
Cecil: I first started using Linux a little over 10 years ago. It started simply because I got tired of the promises made by Microsoft and the frustration of using an unstable operating system.
Gareth: So how did KnoppMyth start?
Cecil: KnoppMyth started as a result of me wanting control of my TV. I thought about getting a Tivo, however I found it lacking in terms of features. At the time Tivo just a digital VCR with a program guide. I was looking to display my photos, listen to my music and play a game or two, all on my TV. This wasn’t something that could be done with a Tivo six years ago.
The first program I used was “vcr”. While it allow me to have a computer based VCR, it wasn’t enough. After some searching, I found MythTV. With MythTV and its plugins, I found what I was looking for! The only difficulty was compiling it. That isn’t to say MythTV was difficult. The difficulty was in getting it’s dependencies and their dependencies compiled. I wasn’t new to compiling software, it just took a little bit of time to get everything resolved. But once I did, I was a happy camper!
Initially, I wanted to setup a website and provide details on setting up MythTV on Linux Mandrake (my distro of choice at the time). In addition, I always wanted to try Debian because of dpkg. I figured if there was a package for MythTV, it would have been easier to install. At about this same time I learned about Knoppix. I played around with it and thought it was great! Linux running live on a CD!
One of Knoppix’s latest features around the time I first discovered it was the ability to be installed it to a hard drive. After installing I was able to use Matt Zimmerman’s deb’s for MythTV and it’s plugins! It was as easy as adding a source, apt-get update and apt-get install! This was far easier than installing from source. It was about the same time, I learned about remastering Knoppix!
This is it I thought. This will be my contribution. I will remaster Knoppix with MythTV.
Gareth: How much of Knoppix remains in KnoppMyth?
Cecil: The Release 5 series is built from scratch with Debian and the Knoppix goodies. It has been a long time since it was remastered.
Gareth: What were the origins of LinHES?
Cecil: I’ve actually called my home entertainment system The Linux Home Entertainment System for a long time now. Almost since the beginning of KnoppMyth.
Gareth: Is LinHES currently using anything from the KnoppMyth base or have you started from scratch?
Cecil: The reason for the name change is because we are no longer using Knoppix (I cannot thank Klaus enough). In addition, we are no longer using Debian. With Release 6, we’ve totally started from scratch again. LinHES is derived from Arch Linux. Arch Linux has a philosophy of keeping it simple, which has been my philosophy with KnoppMyth. In addition, Arch has an outstanding package management system in Pacman.
Gareth: What other advantages have you found in using Arch over Knoppix and Debian? Will you continue using Arch or do you think you’ll eventually derive your own distribution for LinHES from scratch?
Cecil: Simplicity. It is far easier to create a package for Arch than Debian. LinHES is derived from Arch and it will remain as such. Arch and Pacman really allow us to make LinHES our own. KnoppMyth was a mix of debs, binaries compiled from source and built with CheckInstall. Everything in LinHES is packaged. This makes it far easier for us to maintain!
While our initial plans for R6 were more grandiose in regard to its deviation from Arch, we’d had to scale it back some due to the untimely passing of R. Dale Thomas. However, I’m happy with what we have and were we are going!
Gareth: Dale’s passing was definitely a blow to the community. He will be missed. What are the current goals of LinHES?
Cecil: The same goals as with KnoppMyth: to make it as easy as possible for anyone to setup their own HTPC! Given hardware that is supported by Linux, a KnoppMyth install can be done in under twenty minutes. That is from blank hard drive to live TV. Once installed, KnoppMyth performs beautifully as an appliance. That is after all, the goal.
With LinHES, we’ve taken what was KnoppMyth and added a great graphical installer and “Service Menu” written by James Meyer. These use the same libraries as MythTV. So, from install to configuration to daily use, you have an appliance that flows in its look and feel. We really think we’ve hit the nail of the head! Do you know of any other Linux distro that can be installed with nothing more than a remote? 
The Service Menu is where all configuration is done. Need to configure an IR Blaster to control your “cable box”? Do it from the Service Menu. Need to configure NFS or SAMBA? Do it from the Service Menu.
KnoppMyth Release 5.5 introduced The Tweaker by Bob Igo and mythic.tv . The Tweaker is an automatic hardware configuration utility. Some folks noticed that they had little hardware configuration to do. That’s because The Tweaker automatically found their tuner card and setup MythTV appropriately! The Tweaker will be continually improved.
Gareth: What are the future plans for LinHES? What features do you see being added?
Cecil: Like with KnoppMyth, we hope to improve it with every release. Unlike KnoppMyth, each release doesn’t mean a new ISO; upgrades are done over the network! With KnoppMyth before upgrading, you had to backup, boot off the ISO and select auto upgrade. While this worked fine, the new method will mean faster updates. Of course, this feature will remain in LinHES.
The Service Menu is also something we will continue to improve. Any option we introduce will be configurable graphically.
Gareth: Can you give us some more insight into the Service Menu? What kind of functions does it do? What future additions would you like to see the Service Menu have?
Cecil: Let’s say you’ve installed LinHES on a standalone system. A few months down the line, you decide to add a frontend in your bedroom. Ordinarily, this would involve modifying a few configurations by hand. With the Service Menu, you simply change your ‘System Type’. By default we install all the official MythPlugins. Don’t use MythGame? Go to the service menu and remove it. Got a wireless NIC you need to configure? Need to password protect your local website? All this and more can be done from the Service Menu.
At the moment, we are busy buttoning things up for our SCALE release. So I can’t thing of any specific new feature. But we each release of KnoppMyth, we support more hardware and features. We plan to do the same with LinHES. With LinHES, any new feature will be easy to configure!
Gareth: Do you see any collaboration with XBMC & Boxee happening?
Cecil: There is nothing official. For me, a media center must include PVR functionality. However I know members of the KnoppMyth/LinHES community have asked about XBMC, Boxee, Elisa and others. One of the things LinHES gives us is the ability to create our own packages. So while packages may not be ready when LinHES is unveiled at SCALE 7x, I do plan to make packages for the above mentioned media centers.
Gareth: Do you take inspiration from these other projects? What features do they currently have that you could see incorporating into LinHES?
Cecil: Good question. No, I cannot say that I take inspiration from them. That is because in LinHES, while the end goal is to be a media center and an appliance, it relies on MythTV for media center functionality. I’ve been using MythTV for over six years and so far, they have not disappointed me! KnoppMyth/LinHES is about the entire package, Linux, NFS, MPlayer, Xine, Webmin, V4L2, IvyTV, etc. All these items must come together as one, that is our focus.
Of the programs I mentioned, Elisa is the only one I’ve played with extensively. It has a great GUI and is fast! XBMC and Boxee both look great as well. The MythTV UI is being reworked and 0.22 is looking great!
Gareth: Boxee is an attempt to take an open source media center project into a commercial space.
Does your current employment assist with your work on KnoppMyth/LinHES?
Cecil: No, they don’t. I choose to keep the two separate.
Gareth: Do you see that changing in the future? Would you want to get paid to do LinHES or do you want to keep the two separate?
Cecil: I currently work for a biometrics company so there is no synergy with what I do in regard to KnoppMyth/LinHES.
Getting paid to work on LinHES could mean one of several things. It could mean that a company is interested making it their own. Instead of giving it away feature packed, the free version would be stripped down and folks would then have to pay for a “full” version. That isn’t something I’m interested in.
It could also mean that a company may want to brand LinHES for their specific hardware. That is something I would be interested in as long as it has no affect on LinHES features. Or if a company wanted support for their specific hardware in LinHES I’d be open to that.
When I first started KnoppMyth, I didn’t look at is as a money making opportunity. I looked at it as a way to give back to the community that had given me so much. That is still my primary focus. Making money on LinHES would be something I would do under my own terms.
Gareth: In what direction do you see the future of open source media center software going?
Cecil: That is hard to me to answer as I don’t actually work on a “media center” software such as MythTV, Elisa, XBMC, etc. While I am aware of the various solutions out there, I use MythTV and it’s plugins 99.95% of the time. Based on what I’m currently aware of I’d say greater power, improved GUIs and flexibility.
At the end of ‘08, nVidia released Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix or VDPAU. With the certain nVidia based chipsets, VDPAU will offload work of video decoding from the CPU to the GPU. So, if you have older hardware but to be able to play HD content, . With VDPAU, you don’t have to buy an entirely new system. All you need is a supported video card and the latest nVidia drivers. However, you’ll have to upgrade to MythTV’s trunk or wait for 0.22 to be released. The new GUI in MythTV 0.22 is also being improved. The new themes being developed simply look great!
The various media center solutions have a UPnP client so, media on your network can be discovered with no end user configuration. MythTV can function as a UPnP server. The ’social’ aspects of Boxee should be interesting. I personally cannot wait to see that at SCALE 7x!
Gareth: Working on a project like KnoppMyth must be time consuming. Why do it?
Cecil: Yes, it is time consuming. The original impetus was to give something back to the community. In doing so, a community has formed around KnoppMyth. That is something I didn’t predict or anticipate. Along the way, I’ve met some good people. Although I will never meet most of them face to face, I consider them my friends. They are the reasons continue to try and improve KnoppMyth/LinHES.
Gareth: Wrapping things up, is there anything you’d like to add?
Cecil: Yes, thanks for the opportunity. To celebrate the release of KnoppMyth/LinHES Release 6, I’ve built two systems that will be on display at SCALE. The systems will be running R6. One will have the trunk of MythTV (0.22) displaying its new features. Both systems are HD capable and both will have an HD tuner included. At the end of SCALE, these systems will be raffled off. Tickets are $10.00 each and will go towards covering the cost of building the systems, etc. I’ll have more information on the systems on knoppmyth.net shortly. Thanks again for opportunity and for inviting me & LinHES to SCALE.
Gareth: You’re welcome! Thanks for taking the time to speak to us today. We’ll see you at SCALE 7x!
Cecil: You’re welcome and thanks for having me.
Stop by booth 23 at SCALE 7x and check out the exciting work being done by the LinHES team.