COMP 3000 2011 Report: LinHES

Part I

Background

LinHes (Linux Home Entertainment System) is, as the name suggests, a Linux based distribution intended for home theater PC use<ref name = "LinHES Wiki">[1]: LinHES.org. (Last accessed 2011-10-19).</ref>. The primary functionality of LinHes is built around MythTv (an open source, freeware alternative to products like Tivo and Windows Media Center)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythTV). One of MythTv's biggest complaints is the complicated nature of its setup and installation. LinHES aims to correct this issue with its operating system. The primary goal of LinHES is to provide a simple easy to use interface for MythTV and to streamline its setup into a more accessible process(http://www.linhes.org/bugs/projects/linhes/wiki). In order to make installation and setup as easy for the user as possible, LinHES is compatible with most standard home theater PC hardware, much or which is configured automatically.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KnoppMyth) As an added bonus to users who want an especially easy setup, there are specific high performance hardware bundles listed on the website and forums that have been tested with LinHES and are guaranteed to work properly, easily and effectively(http://mysettopbox.tv/pamphlet.html).

LinHES is developed by Cecil Hugh Watson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KnoppMyth). The first release was in August of 2003 under the name KnoppMyth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KnoppMyth). KnoppMyth refers to the fact that until recently the operating system was based on Debian Linux with configuration scripts from the Knoppix Linux distribution. Since its release LinHes has gone through about a dozen major and minor versions (http://www.knoppmyth.net/CHANGELOG.txt), although officially its most recent release is referred to as release 6. LinHES retained the KnoppMyth name from its creation right up to its most recent version (release 6). For release 6 KnoppMyth was modified to an architecture loosely based Arch Linux. This architecture change prompted Cecil Watson to rename KnoppMyth to a more generic name, descriptive of its purpose opposed to its architecture. On his original KnoppMyth site, Cecil Watson mentions that LinHES "is what [he] called [his] home entertainment system"(http://mysettopbox.tv/pamphlet.html).

LinHES can be downloaded from its official website's downloads page (http://www.linhes.org/bugs/projects/linhes/wiki/Downloads). This page includes the most recent stable release (release 6) as well as beta releases for release 7. Release 6.04 (the current stable release) is 682 megabytes. Although the exact size varies slightly between versions, most are roughly 700 megabytes in size (generally just under 700 megabytes).

References

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Part II

Due: November 7, 2011

Part III

Due: December 5, 2011