Migrating from MythTV to LinuxMCE

[Zxarr]

Greetings,

I've recently been thinking about moving from MythTV to LinuxMCE, so I can start dabbling into the home automation side of life.

I currently have a MythTV backend with three satellite receivers attached along one front end (specs at bottom).  How easy is it to throw LinuxMCE onto the backend, which is running MythDora 10.21 (Myth upgraded to 0.22), without losing my MythTV backend and all of the recordings?

Should I invest in a separate box for the LinuxMCE core?

And should a new machine be needed for the core, what about H/W recommendations?

Current machines:
Backend:
   Dual Xeon 2.8Ghz
   6Gb RAM
   16GB SCSI HW Raid 1 for OS
   1TB HDD Raid 1 storage + 1 external 1TB for nightly rsync
   1 PVR-500 (dual input)
   1 PVR-150
   1 CommandIR II 4 port iR transceiver

Frontend:
   Zotac ION-ITX-A-U (Intel Atom 330 Dual Core + nVidia ION Chipset)
   2Gb RAM
   16Gb Flash card (replacing HDD)
   USB-UIRT2 (with the gray Phillips MCE remote)
   Samsung 46" using the VGA input


Thanks in advance!

[jimbodude]

Read the entire FAQ
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/FAQ

LinuxMCE uses MythTV for recording.  There isn't a "clean" way to import recordings that I have found - you need to be comfortable editing databases using SQL and have some understanding of how MythTV is put together.  I have done this before using the directions from the MythTV website, but it's been a while.  Basically, you back up the recordings and metadata tables from the database, move the recording files to the new hardware or place in the file system (LinuxMCE uses a very specific file system organization that you must conform to - see FAQ), import the database, update the file paths, and install MythTV.  Then, MythTV takes care of updating the MythTV database schema to the latest version, and LinuxMCE takes care of setting up the tuner cards and listing sources.  I'm not sure what version of MythTV you are using, but it should be less than or equal to LinuxMCE's current version (0.22-fixes) for this process to work.

LinuxMCE is not compatible with MythDora - you must install Kubuntu 0810, and then install LinuxMCE on top of that.

Most of your hardware looks fine.  The only thing that stands out is the CommandIR IR transceiver - I don't believe LinuxMCE has a device template for that, and adding it is probably not trivial.  The most popular and best supported IR transceiver device is the USB-UIRT.

Search the forums and wiki for the ION board you have - there may be special setup considerations.