I will give a talk on MythTV at Europe's most westerly LUG in Galway on Wednesday 3rd July.

You can get so focused on whether this year will be the year of "Linux on the Desktop" that you can miss that Linux has been a force in the home since the introduction of TiVo in 1999. I was thinking of calling the talk "Linux for Homer":

Homer Simpson Cam ScreanShot

MythTV was started in 2002, by Isaac Richards, because:

Yes, I could have just bought a TiVo, but I wanted to have more than just a PVR -- I want a webbrowser built in, a mail client, maybe some games. Basically, I want the mythical convergence box that's been talked about for a few years now.

I have been using Mythbuntu since Christmas and I've only scratched the surface of what it can do. Opening this discussion up to the LUG can only improve our knowledge of the number of hardware (OSD, mini-ITX) and mash-up (plugins, Miro) options. I'm going to try to cover:

  1. The basics and background of MythTV,
  2. TV Tuners, remote controls and Electronic Program Guides for TV in Ireland
  3. Show MythTV in action
  4. My new project about building a Free Satellite (BBC, ITV, Channel 4 - no RTE yet unfortunately) box to get more channels than my analog tuner.

At GLUG we're helping you get thought the recession

  1. You're going to need an economical project to entertain you for all those nights in
  2. The software is free
  3. The talk is free
  4. No more annoying take-down notices on YouTube to add insult to injury :)
  5. And best of all some hotels in Galway will cover their guests' fuel expenses:)

The talk is at 8pm on Wednesday 3rd July at DERI, Galway. Hope to see you there.