As far as I know, vxWorks is not freely available. The company that I work for pays for it for use in their products.
What the poster meant is that there are several variants of vxWorks available. There are variants for MIPS and ARM (which most cable modems are based off of nowadays), PPC and x86. So, you can run vxWorks on an x86 if you want.
While uncapping a cable modem cannot change monthly download limits, uncapping a modem certainly can remove speeed limits imposed on the upstream. That's one of the major reasons for uncapping a modem, to get more upstream bandwidth.
There's two sides to how much bandwidth is allowed to your cable modem, the modem, and the headend, called the CMTS (Cable Modem Termination System). As part of the modem's configuration file, there's either a Class of Service (DOCSIS 1.0) or a Quality of Service (DOCSIS 1.1/2.0) that controls how much upstream and downstream bandwidth you can get. On the CMTS, you can setup policies that dictate how much upstream and downstream bandwidth the CMTS will allocate per modem.
Most operators enforce the limits at the CMTS end (additionally specifying it in the modem config file), so that the values given to the cable modem are used just so that the modem doesn't waste it's time trying to push out/grab more bandwidth than the CMTS will let it have (in that case, the CMTS just wastes clock cycles in dropping packets from modems). However, if you don't enforce the values at the headend, then whatever the modem thinks are the correct values stands, and if you alter the config file, well, you've just increased your bandwidth.
Not only that, these people are in danger of getting cable access cut off to everybody in the world using Motorola SurfBoard modems.
The article states DOCSIS 1.1 cable modems are immune, but that's a pipe dream. Cable modems that are prepared for DOCSIS 1.1 (which many 1.0 modems are) are signed by an X.509 key, that is controlled by the central DOCSIS repository at CableLabs. If CableLabs hears about this (and no doubt they will, they talk with cable operators on a regular basis), this could trigger them to revoke Motorola's X.509 key, and if the cable operators follow the revocation lists, then no Motorola modem with that X.509 key will work. (Note: This is all public knowledge, CableLabs makes their specifications freely available to everybody, if you know where to look).
But, the key is that it's up to the operators to make sure that they're using code signing processes properly. And a lot of these DOCSIS 1.0 modems are actually DOCSIS 1.1 capable. Getting around the signing process is fairly trivial, since these guys already know how to hack around the serial port. Once you have serial port access, especially with vxWorks, there's a lot of things you can do (which can override the signing processes in place). Worst case, you desolder the flash chip, solder in a socket, and reprogram the chip with a flash programmer.
I could see Motorola giving these people some major grief.
Slightly off-topic, but being from Ontario originally, my opinion is not that you need more doctors, it's that you need more doctors to service the remote regions of the province.
From what I understand, there are lots of doctors in the Toronto area, and very few in the more northern places like Sudbury, North Bay, Thunder Bay/surrounding region and other smaller communities. Doctors don't want to work those areas (despite subsidies from the provincial government) because living in those places tends not to be as pleasant, and there isn't as much money to be made.
That's the thing that I think Anonymous Coward doesn't understand (unless he/she's intentionally trying to goad me). A lot of people have lowered their salary expectations because they'd rather have some money coming in each month than nothing at all.
My salary requirements were never high to begin with, because as I (incorrectly) stated in one of my other posts, being a software engineer is a hobby that turned into a business (that's what I meant to say anyway). So, I get a natural sense of enjoyment from my job, even if I'm not getting rich doing it.
I agree completely, I'm happy to be working at all. My bills are being paid, and I make enough to stash some money aside for savings. My expenses are going down because my rent decreased (only $50 per month, but it's a start), and I'm being wiser about what I spend my money on. I drive a used car from 1997, not a brand new 2004 BMW.
One of my co-workers was unemployed for 11 months before landing this job (he did some odd jobs, but didn't have steady employment). My ex-roommate has now been unemployed for close to a year. I'm just happy to have a job and have money coming in.
As opposed to what? Boycotts? Protests? They don't work (or rarely do). If I spent all day fighting for the causes I feel are just, I'd have no time for a job.
People want cheap goods, and right now, don't care that they're selling their country's future for them. You can only do so much to fight for your job.
The best that you can do is, "go with the flow" and try to wiggle yourself into a job that you can't lose.
And if you mean that I'm happy go lucky because I just don't care, well, then yes, you're right. I am not entitled to a job in my chosen profession, I am not entitled to a job. If I have to leave the IT industry for something else, then I'll do it, if it means survival.
I think that his point is that the outsourcing is forcing Americans to lower their wage expectations. This should then in turn force the people providing the essentials of life (like food, housing, etc.) to reduce their prices when people can't afford to pay them. This should cause a ripple effect going upward through the chain.
There is one problem in thie scenario though - if you can't pay the rent, your landlord will evict you. He won't lower his rents until most of his properties are vacant and can't be filled. And he can't lower his rents until the government lowers it's property taxes (so that he can make money). By then, there's lots of hungry and homeless people.
I'm curious... Why do you think I'm, "happy go lucky about my career, and it will bite me in the ass?"
I love writing software and messing around with computers as I'm sure the rest of us here do. When things get so bad in the IT industry that I can't get a job and make a decent living, I'm prepared to switch fields.
It's a business that has the benefit of being a hobby for me.
For the record, I'm 28 years old. Young in terms of the industry, at the point where I'm too senior for junior jobs, too junior for senior jobs. I'm an embedded systems programmer, specifically at the moment, cable modems. The company that I work for at the moment has seven people working at the American office.
I started out as a Junior Programmer at Sega making $45,000 per year, and when I the entire Dreamcast team was axed, I was making $55,000. My next job started at $70,000, and I was making $77,000 when the company closed down. My current job is my third one.
Yes, I make a lot less money, but most of the extra salary was going to taxes anyway. The nice thing about working for such a low salary in this area is that I feel completely justified in working 9-5, and that's what I do. My employer has no qualms about that whatsoever.
I do consider this job to be temporary, until I can find something else - not necessarily paying better, but a better employer. Believe me, I had to fight for what I got, I had to negotiate extra vacation days in lieu of salary, but there's only so much that you can do. I was basically told that I would agree to their terms or not get the job, and having been out of work for two months, I wanted something, anything, just to get some money coming in.
I have no need for lots of money, I have no need to be rich. I do save up for a rainy day, and have my six months of living expenses saved up (I needed to use some of it when my previous employer closed). Overall, I'd say that I'm pretty happy, and I like having a 40 hour work week, cramming as much good code as I can into a device with a 140MHz MIPS CPU and 8MB of RAM (and about 900K of flash to store it in).
By the way, it's very unlikely that you'd get $135K in the Valley now, unless you had a Masters degree and 10 years experience.
I could live with a salary reduction to the level that those in India make. However, before that can happen, my cost of living has to go down to what those in India are paying. Since I live in the Silicon Valley, I don't see that happening anytime soon.
I'm a software engineer. I don't care about getting rich, I enjoy my job. All I ask is that I can make enough to pay my bills, have a little extra money for spending, and be able to save up for my retirement.
I don't make $100,000 per year (I actually make about $55,000), and I'm able to do that now, so I'm happy. I have about five years of professional experience, and tons more if you count the demos I did during my teens on the Commodore 64, and the other software I've written or contributed to in my free time.
You want me to work as cheap as a foreigner? Make my cost of living go down to the same as that foreigner.
And for the record, yes, I believe that most white-collar Americans are grossly overpaid.
I did RTFA (albeit after making the initial post), and discovered that the guy really shouldn't be bashing MythTV.
First of all, he didn't order the correct hardware. Had he checked out the MythTV e-mail list archives (here), he would have found that there were people who had to cut their Pundit cases in order to accomodate two PVR-250 cards, and thus might have considered that he might have problems with the fit of his DVD drive (search term, "Pundit", page 5).
Then, even further, he didn't read the manual that came with his hard drive and CD-ROM on how to set the jumpers.
As for his problems with the floppy, well, I can understand that. That would probably drive me nuts, but he could have signed up for the MythTV e-mail list, or checked the archives again.
He never made it past the install of Fedora, never mind getting to MythTV. Therefore, he has absolutely NO right to bash MythTV! The Linux installation, maybe. Did you RTFA?
Now then, I'll agree that it's possible that the step-by-step instructions might not work for everybody, usually if there's problems, you can post on the MythTV e-mail list. In fact, that's where Jarod compiled the instructions from, lots of people on the MythTV list (as well as other information from the net). Lots of people have reported success following Jarod's instructions, and the people that do have problems usually get up and running after some questions on the e-mail list.
Well, if that works for you, more power to you. MythTV was a good solution for me, and Snapstream was your solution.
I compare Linux to using Windows NT 3.5 and NT 4.0 - you have to look at the HCL (Hardware Compatability List) before purchasing your hardware to make sure it's supported. Otherwise, you're on your own.
The DIY approach does cost more, unless you happen to have the hardware lying around.
But, as many other people have stated, with the setup guide mentioned in the article (which I also mentioned in another post), you can install all of MythTV via apt-get. This gives you much more functionality than a TiVo, as you get not only timeshifting of TV, but you also get the ability to do picture slideshows, watch/rip DVD's, playback videos (stored on the hard drive), view the weather forecast, and play games under MAME. Plus, there's more and more features coming out daily, and the software is getting more and more solid. Plus, I love the ability to have two tuners (so that I can record two shows and watch one simultaneously).
For me, it was no question, I decided to go with the DIY approach. I figured if I couldn't get MythTV working (which thanks to Jarod's page it's a no-brainer), I could always go with Windows and SageTV. Only downside to the DIY approach is the form factor - many people doing MythTV are using micro-ATX hardware, I'm using full-ATX hardware (two tuners, an Ethernet card plus a sound and video card take up a lot of room). Plus, the TV information tends to be screen-scaped (from where depends on where in the world you live), and the providers like to break the screen scraper every now and then.
-- Joe
Re:MYTHTV does this allready!
on
Build Your Own PVR
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· Score: 5, Informative
I'll add another to the "me too" count, MythTV works fine for me. I even own one of the supposedly troublesome combos of a VIA KT400 chipset and a PVR-250, and it's working fine. We'll see how that works when I put another PVR-250 in the mix, but for now it works.
As a bonus, there's a website that has step-by-step instructions, using apt-get for everything on Fedora Core 1. You could pretty much copy/paste the directions, and have a MythTV machine up and running in less than one hour. That website would be here.
Heck, in some cases, malloc and free don't work very well.
I do a lot of work in vxWorks. The version that I routinely use in supporting a legacy product (5.4) doesn't do any collection on the free'd spaces. Thus, you can very easily kill the system by doing something like this: while (1) {
ptr = malloc(rand());
free(ptr); }
Eventually you'll wind up where memory is so fragmented that it can't find an appropriately sized chunk for a given size, even though there's plenty of memory available.
It's easier to just use malloc to grab a bunch of memory for yourself, and then manage it with your own code that divides it up.
I've been working on a new home project for a couple of months in wxWindows now, and I must say, I'm very impressed with it.
I've done Qt programming in the past (no GTK though), and toyed around with Windows GDI, but wxWindows actually seems to make more sense to me - it just seems easier than both of those (that could be because I haven't used Qt or GDI in a bit though).
I disagree on the extra layer of complexity for the programmer though - it's nice to be able to develop your main application using only one toolkit, and have most of the cross-platform issues taken care of for you (there are some limitations, but you plan for these). This is why I was initially attracted to Qt (but stopped using it after looking into wxWindows). I do agree that it is an extra layer of complexity/dependency for the end-user, but that's what pre-compiled binaries with installers are for.
The main thing that I like about wxWindows is that I'm planning for my application to run on many platforms, so it fits the bill perfectly. The application won't look exactly the same on Windows and Linux/UNIX with GTK or Motif, but it will be reasonably close, which is a huge bonus.
I used vgetty about five years ago with a U.S. Robotics ISA 56K VoiceModem, and it worked great, although it was a little flakey at times.
The one thing that I loved about it, which most typical answering machines don't allow for, is that I could call in and check my messages, and it could even tell me whether or not I had messages waiting by changing the number of rings before picking up.
Of course, I don't have a land line anymore, I don't keep any machines on 24/7 anymore (except the MythTV machine), and I get free voice mail with my cell phone.
If you believe that's how the Canadian system works, then you're horribly mistaken.
In Canada, you're not supposed to vote for the party, you're supposed to vote for the candidate who best represents your "riding" (territory). Whichever party captures the most ridings then becomes the ruling party, and they elect a Prime Minister (typically the head of their party).
If you don't like the people running the parties, then get into a party and make a change.
Back when I was living in Canada, I never voted for the particular party, I always voted for the representative of my district whom I thought served my needs best.
Unfortunately, this also has the drawback that if the party of your representative does not make it into power (assuming that your representative does), then your representative may have his/her hands tied when it comes down to issues involving your community.
Yes, of course, officially. Officially at the border crossing, Customs can rip your car apart, have you strip completely naked (while looking for contraband), and throw you in a jail cell just for looking at them funny. Rarely seems to happen though (or at least I haven't heard about it).
Officially when I moved from Canada to California, the movers were supposed to get all of my personal belongings (that they moved) certified with Customs so that if I move back to Canada, those items can be stricken from the list of items I'd have to pay import duties on. I doubt they did it, and I've probably lost the moving sheets anyway by now (that was four years ago, after all).
At this point, I think that Canada is desperate for people to come in and spend money, so they're willing to overlook a few minor infractions here and there.
When my ex-roommate moved back to Canada from California, he didn't pay a cent at the border on his stuff - and he bought everything, with the exception of his car in the U.S. In fact, the only thing they cared about was his car, for some strange reason. They completely ignored the dark blanket covering up his goods (the blanket was there so that while he was partked at hotels in the middle of the night, people wouldn't see his stuff and try to steal it).
That Canadian is supposed to declare that they purchased it in the United States when they re-enter Canada via Customs, and pay import duties on it, like a good little Canuckian.:)
However, many people don't, especially if it's an item (like an iPod) that they could easily say that they owned it before hand. Especially at busy ports of entry, Customs officials (at least a couple of years ago anyway) are general hesitant to stop the flow of traffic (whether it be cars or people at airports) unless they figure something major is going on (or see something so glaringly obvious that they can't ignore it).
If you move into Canada, and have acquired posessions abroad, they will also charge you duty on them as well. I recall that the company I was working for at the time, in California, was considering relocating the QA team (which was almost exclusively Canadians) back to Canada, and rent office space there. In order to get our test lab equipment into the country though, we were looking at paying somewhere around $100,000 to get it through Customs.
I deal with this stuff every Christmas when I go back to Canada to see my family. The bitch of it is that I'm treated better by Canadian customs than U.S. Customs (probably because I'm Canadian and have a Canadian passport).
It's the unlimited possibility that lead me to make a MythTV machine as well. I figured that I could probably find a Tivo variant with dual-tuners, but then it only lets me record and watch TV.
I love the MythWeather module, and MythGame, I don't really use the others, but I like knowing that I have them there.
To me, it's definitely worth the extra money that I put into it.
True, but if you live in North America, in exchange for free listings, you have to keep updating your software.
XMLTV grabs North American listings from Zap2It, and they regularly make changes to their website to break the screen scraper.
Additionally, Comcast has seen fit to keep monkeying with the channel lineup in my area, thus causing me even more grief.
I love my MythTV machine, but I'm willing to pay a few dollars a month to get program listings that will load every night without me having to muck around with it.
While we technically don't have to get approval to sell our products, if we want the cable operators to buy our products, we usually have to get them DOCSIS certified through CableLabs.
Yes, we can sell them without certification and claim DOCSIS compatability, but the cable operators usually like to see that shiny gold star (so to speak).
There are companies that submit every certification wave for approval, which is every quarter (and submitting is not cheap).
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As far as I know, vxWorks is not freely available. The company that I work for pays for it for use in their products.
What the poster meant is that there are several variants of vxWorks available. There are variants for MIPS and ARM (which most cable modems are based off of nowadays), PPC and x86. So, you can run vxWorks on an x86 if you want.
-- Joe
While uncapping a cable modem cannot change monthly download limits, uncapping a modem certainly can remove speeed limits imposed on the upstream. That's one of the major reasons for uncapping a modem, to get more upstream bandwidth.
There's two sides to how much bandwidth is allowed to your cable modem, the modem, and the headend, called the CMTS (Cable Modem Termination System). As part of the modem's configuration file, there's either a Class of Service (DOCSIS 1.0) or a Quality of Service (DOCSIS 1.1/2.0) that controls how much upstream and downstream bandwidth you can get. On the CMTS, you can setup policies that dictate how much upstream and downstream bandwidth the CMTS will allocate per modem.
Most operators enforce the limits at the CMTS end (additionally specifying it in the modem config file), so that the values given to the cable modem are used just so that the modem doesn't waste it's time trying to push out/grab more bandwidth than the CMTS will let it have (in that case, the CMTS just wastes clock cycles in dropping packets from modems). However, if you don't enforce the values at the headend, then whatever the modem thinks are the correct values stands, and if you alter the config file, well, you've just increased your bandwidth.
-- Joe
Not only that, these people are in danger of getting cable access cut off to everybody in the world using Motorola SurfBoard modems.
The article states DOCSIS 1.1 cable modems are immune, but that's a pipe dream. Cable modems that are prepared for DOCSIS 1.1 (which many 1.0 modems are) are signed by an X.509 key, that is controlled by the central DOCSIS repository at CableLabs. If CableLabs hears about this (and no doubt they will, they talk with cable operators on a regular basis), this could trigger them to revoke Motorola's X.509 key, and if the cable operators follow the revocation lists, then no Motorola modem with that X.509 key will work. (Note: This is all public knowledge, CableLabs makes their specifications freely available to everybody, if you know where to look).
But, the key is that it's up to the operators to make sure that they're using code signing processes properly. And a lot of these DOCSIS 1.0 modems are actually DOCSIS 1.1 capable. Getting around the signing process is fairly trivial, since these guys already know how to hack around the serial port. Once you have serial port access, especially with vxWorks, there's a lot of things you can do (which can override the signing processes in place). Worst case, you desolder the flash chip, solder in a socket, and reprogram the chip with a flash programmer.
I could see Motorola giving these people some major grief.
-- Joe
Slightly off-topic, but being from Ontario originally, my opinion is not that you need more doctors, it's that you need more doctors to service the remote regions of the province.
From what I understand, there are lots of doctors in the Toronto area, and very few in the more northern places like Sudbury, North Bay, Thunder Bay/surrounding region and other smaller communities. Doctors don't want to work those areas (despite subsidies from the provincial government) because living in those places tends not to be as pleasant, and there isn't as much money to be made.
-- Joe
I hear ya!
That's the thing that I think Anonymous Coward doesn't understand (unless he/she's intentionally trying to goad me). A lot of people have lowered their salary expectations because they'd rather have some money coming in each month than nothing at all.
My salary requirements were never high to begin with, because as I (incorrectly) stated in one of my other posts, being a software engineer is a hobby that turned into a business (that's what I meant to say anyway). So, I get a natural sense of enjoyment from my job, even if I'm not getting rich doing it.
I agree completely, I'm happy to be working at all. My bills are being paid, and I make enough to stash some money aside for savings. My expenses are going down because my rent decreased (only $50 per month, but it's a start), and I'm being wiser about what I spend my money on. I drive a used car from 1997, not a brand new 2004 BMW.
One of my co-workers was unemployed for 11 months before landing this job (he did some odd jobs, but didn't have steady employment). My ex-roommate has now been unemployed for close to a year. I'm just happy to have a job and have money coming in.
-- Joe
As opposed to what? Boycotts? Protests? They don't work (or rarely do). If I spent all day fighting for the causes I feel are just, I'd have no time for a job.
People want cheap goods, and right now, don't care that they're selling their country's future for them. You can only do so much to fight for your job.
The best that you can do is, "go with the flow" and try to wiggle yourself into a job that you can't lose.
And if you mean that I'm happy go lucky because I just don't care, well, then yes, you're right. I am not entitled to a job in my chosen profession, I am not entitled to a job. If I have to leave the IT industry for something else, then I'll do it, if it means survival.
-- Joe
I think that his point is that the outsourcing is forcing Americans to lower their wage expectations. This should then in turn force the people providing the essentials of life (like food, housing, etc.) to reduce their prices when people can't afford to pay them. This should cause a ripple effect going upward through the chain.
There is one problem in thie scenario though - if you can't pay the rent, your landlord will evict you. He won't lower his rents until most of his properties are vacant and can't be filled. And he can't lower his rents until the government lowers it's property taxes (so that he can make money). By then, there's lots of hungry and homeless people.
This is why it won't work.
-- Joe
I'm curious... Why do you think I'm, "happy go lucky about my career, and it will bite me in the ass?"
I love writing software and messing around with computers as I'm sure the rest of us here do. When things get so bad in the IT industry that I can't get a job and make a decent living, I'm prepared to switch fields.
It's a business that has the benefit of being a hobby for me.
-- Joe
For the record, I'm 28 years old. Young in terms of the industry, at the point where I'm too senior for junior jobs, too junior for senior jobs. I'm an embedded systems programmer, specifically at the moment, cable modems. The company that I work for at the moment has seven people working at the American office.
I started out as a Junior Programmer at Sega making $45,000 per year, and when I the entire Dreamcast team was axed, I was making $55,000. My next job started at $70,000, and I was making $77,000 when the company closed down. My current job is my third one.
Yes, I make a lot less money, but most of the extra salary was going to taxes anyway. The nice thing about working for such a low salary in this area is that I feel completely justified in working 9-5, and that's what I do. My employer has no qualms about that whatsoever.
I do consider this job to be temporary, until I can find something else - not necessarily paying better, but a better employer. Believe me, I had to fight for what I got, I had to negotiate extra vacation days in lieu of salary, but there's only so much that you can do. I was basically told that I would agree to their terms or not get the job, and having been out of work for two months, I wanted something, anything, just to get some money coming in.
I have no need for lots of money, I have no need to be rich. I do save up for a rainy day, and have my six months of living expenses saved up (I needed to use some of it when my previous employer closed). Overall, I'd say that I'm pretty happy, and I like having a 40 hour work week, cramming as much good code as I can into a device with a 140MHz MIPS CPU and 8MB of RAM (and about 900K of flash to store it in).
By the way, it's very unlikely that you'd get $135K in the Valley now, unless you had a Masters degree and 10 years experience.
-- Joe
I could live with a salary reduction to the level that those in India make. However, before that can happen, my cost of living has to go down to what those in India are paying. Since I live in the Silicon Valley, I don't see that happening anytime soon.
I'm a software engineer. I don't care about getting rich, I enjoy my job. All I ask is that I can make enough to pay my bills, have a little extra money for spending, and be able to save up for my retirement.
I don't make $100,000 per year (I actually make about $55,000), and I'm able to do that now, so I'm happy. I have about five years of professional experience, and tons more if you count the demos I did during my teens on the Commodore 64, and the other software I've written or contributed to in my free time.
You want me to work as cheap as a foreigner? Make my cost of living go down to the same as that foreigner.
And for the record, yes, I believe that most white-collar Americans are grossly overpaid.
-- Joe
I did RTFA (albeit after making the initial post), and discovered that the guy really shouldn't be bashing MythTV.
First of all, he didn't order the correct hardware. Had he checked out the MythTV e-mail list archives (here), he would have found that there were people who had to cut their Pundit cases in order to accomodate two PVR-250 cards, and thus might have considered that he might have problems with the fit of his DVD drive (search term, "Pundit", page 5).
Then, even further, he didn't read the manual that came with his hard drive and CD-ROM on how to set the jumpers.
As for his problems with the floppy, well, I can understand that. That would probably drive me nuts, but he could have signed up for the MythTV e-mail list, or checked the archives again.
He never made it past the install of Fedora, never mind getting to MythTV. Therefore, he has absolutely NO right to bash MythTV! The Linux installation, maybe. Did you RTFA?
Now then, I'll agree that it's possible that the step-by-step instructions might not work for everybody, usually if there's problems, you can post on the MythTV e-mail list. In fact, that's where Jarod compiled the instructions from, lots of people on the MythTV list (as well as other information from the net). Lots of people have reported success following Jarod's instructions, and the people that do have problems usually get up and running after some questions on the e-mail list.
-- Joe
Well, if that works for you, more power to you. MythTV was a good solution for me, and Snapstream was your solution.
I compare Linux to using Windows NT 3.5 and NT 4.0 - you have to look at the HCL (Hardware Compatability List) before purchasing your hardware to make sure it's supported. Otherwise, you're on your own.
-- Joe
The DIY approach does cost more, unless you happen to have the hardware lying around.
But, as many other people have stated, with the setup guide mentioned in the article (which I also mentioned in another post), you can install all of MythTV via apt-get. This gives you much more functionality than a TiVo, as you get not only timeshifting of TV, but you also get the ability to do picture slideshows, watch/rip DVD's, playback videos (stored on the hard drive), view the weather forecast, and play games under MAME. Plus, there's more and more features coming out daily, and the software is getting more and more solid. Plus, I love the ability to have two tuners (so that I can record two shows and watch one simultaneously).
For me, it was no question, I decided to go with the DIY approach. I figured if I couldn't get MythTV working (which thanks to Jarod's page it's a no-brainer), I could always go with Windows and SageTV. Only downside to the DIY approach is the form factor - many people doing MythTV are using micro-ATX hardware, I'm using full-ATX hardware (two tuners, an Ethernet card plus a sound and video card take up a lot of room). Plus, the TV information tends to be screen-scaped (from where depends on where in the world you live), and the providers like to break the screen scraper every now and then.
-- Joe
I'll add another to the "me too" count, MythTV works fine for me. I even own one of the supposedly troublesome combos of a VIA KT400 chipset and a PVR-250, and it's working fine. We'll see how that works when I put another PVR-250 in the mix, but for now it works.
As a bonus, there's a website that has step-by-step instructions, using apt-get for everything on Fedora Core 1. You could pretty much copy/paste the directions, and have a MythTV machine up and running in less than one hour. That website would be here.
-- Joe
This is somewhat simplistic, but copyright covers the implementation of the idea, not the idea itself (that's where a patent would come in).
So if a trade secret is released, I can implement it in my own way, and not run afoul of copyright laws.
-- Joe
Heck, in some cases, malloc and free don't work very well.
I do a lot of work in vxWorks. The version that I routinely use in supporting a legacy product (5.4) doesn't do any collection on the free'd spaces. Thus, you can very easily kill the system by doing something like this:
while (1)
{
ptr = malloc(rand());
free(ptr);
}
Eventually you'll wind up where memory is so fragmented that it can't find an appropriately sized chunk for a given size, even though there's plenty of memory available.
It's easier to just use malloc to grab a bunch of memory for yourself, and then manage it with your own code that divides it up.
-- Joe
I've been working on a new home project for a couple of months in wxWindows now, and I must say, I'm very impressed with it.
I've done Qt programming in the past (no GTK though), and toyed around with Windows GDI, but wxWindows actually seems to make more sense to me - it just seems easier than both of those (that could be because I haven't used Qt or GDI in a bit though).
I disagree on the extra layer of complexity for the programmer though - it's nice to be able to develop your main application using only one toolkit, and have most of the cross-platform issues taken care of for you (there are some limitations, but you plan for these). This is why I was initially attracted to Qt (but stopped using it after looking into wxWindows). I do agree that it is an extra layer of complexity/dependency for the end-user, but that's what pre-compiled binaries with installers are for.
The main thing that I like about wxWindows is that I'm planning for my application to run on many platforms, so it fits the bill perfectly. The application won't look exactly the same on Windows and Linux/UNIX with GTK or Motif, but it will be reasonably close, which is a huge bonus.
-- Joe
I used vgetty about five years ago with a U.S. Robotics ISA 56K VoiceModem, and it worked great, although it was a little flakey at times.
The one thing that I loved about it, which most typical answering machines don't allow for, is that I could call in and check my messages, and it could even tell me whether or not I had messages waiting by changing the number of rings before picking up.
Of course, I don't have a land line anymore, I don't keep any machines on 24/7 anymore (except the MythTV machine), and I get free voice mail with my cell phone.
-- Joe
If you believe that's how the Canadian system works, then you're horribly mistaken.
In Canada, you're not supposed to vote for the party, you're supposed to vote for the candidate who best represents your "riding" (territory). Whichever party captures the most ridings then becomes the ruling party, and they elect a Prime Minister (typically the head of their party).
If you don't like the people running the parties, then get into a party and make a change.
Please see this post.
-- Joe
Well said.
Back when I was living in Canada, I never voted for the particular party, I always voted for the representative of my district whom I thought served my needs best.
Unfortunately, this also has the drawback that if the party of your representative does not make it into power (assuming that your representative does), then your representative may have his/her hands tied when it comes down to issues involving your community.
-- Joe
Yes, of course, officially. Officially at the border crossing, Customs can rip your car apart, have you strip completely naked (while looking for contraband), and throw you in a jail cell just for looking at them funny. Rarely seems to happen though (or at least I haven't heard about it).
Officially when I moved from Canada to California, the movers were supposed to get all of my personal belongings (that they moved) certified with Customs so that if I move back to Canada, those items can be stricken from the list of items I'd have to pay import duties on. I doubt they did it, and I've probably lost the moving sheets anyway by now (that was four years ago, after all).
At this point, I think that Canada is desperate for people to come in and spend money, so they're willing to overlook a few minor infractions here and there.
When my ex-roommate moved back to Canada from California, he didn't pay a cent at the border on his stuff - and he bought everything, with the exception of his car in the U.S. In fact, the only thing they cared about was his car, for some strange reason. They completely ignored the dark blanket covering up his goods (the blanket was there so that while he was partked at hotels in the middle of the night, people wouldn't see his stuff and try to steal it).
-- Joe
That Canadian is supposed to declare that they purchased it in the United States when they re-enter Canada via Customs, and pay import duties on it, like a good little Canuckian. :)
However, many people don't, especially if it's an item (like an iPod) that they could easily say that they owned it before hand. Especially at busy ports of entry, Customs officials (at least a couple of years ago anyway) are general hesitant to stop the flow of traffic (whether it be cars or people at airports) unless they figure something major is going on (or see something so glaringly obvious that they can't ignore it).
If you move into Canada, and have acquired posessions abroad, they will also charge you duty on them as well. I recall that the company I was working for at the time, in California, was considering relocating the QA team (which was almost exclusively Canadians) back to Canada, and rent office space there. In order to get our test lab equipment into the country though, we were looking at paying somewhere around $100,000 to get it through Customs.
I deal with this stuff every Christmas when I go back to Canada to see my family. The bitch of it is that I'm treated better by Canadian customs than U.S. Customs (probably because I'm Canadian and have a Canadian passport).
-- Joe
It's the unlimited possibility that lead me to make a MythTV machine as well. I figured that I could probably find a Tivo variant with dual-tuners, but then it only lets me record and watch TV.
I love the MythWeather module, and MythGame, I don't really use the others, but I like knowing that I have them there.
To me, it's definitely worth the extra money that I put into it.
-- Joe
True, but if you live in North America, in exchange for free listings, you have to keep updating your software.
XMLTV grabs North American listings from Zap2It, and they regularly make changes to their website to break the screen scraper.
Additionally, Comcast has seen fit to keep monkeying with the channel lineup in my area, thus causing me even more grief.
I love my MythTV machine, but I'm willing to pay a few dollars a month to get program listings that will load every night without me having to muck around with it.
-- Joe
You've never worked in the cable modem industry.
While we technically don't have to get approval to sell our products, if we want the cable operators to buy our products, we usually have to get them DOCSIS certified through CableLabs.
Yes, we can sell them without certification and claim DOCSIS compatability, but the cable operators usually like to see that shiny gold star (so to speak).
There are companies that submit every certification wave for approval, which is every quarter (and submitting is not cheap).
-- Joe