Welcome to Mythbuntu, an open source and community derived flavor of the popular Ubuntu Linux operating system built around the MythTV DVR (Digital Video Recorder) software and using the Xfce desktop environment.
Distributed as Live DVD ISO images for 64-bit and 32-bit architectures
First of all, we should mention that Mythbuntu 14.10 is in development and that the final release will be available for download sometime in October 2014. Therefore, users are advised not to install it on production machines.
It is distributed as two Live DVD ISO images, one for each of the supported hardware platforms (64-bit/amd64 and 32-bit/i386), which can be burned onto DVD discs or written to USB flash drives of 1GB or higher capacity.
While the bootable mediums are designed to start the live environment without user interaction, the boot menu can be accessed by pressing any key during the 10 second timeout at boot. It will allow the user to try the live environment without installing, test the computer’s memory, boot from the first disk, check the disc for defects (only if booting from a DVD media), and install the OS without testing it (not recommended).
Minimal desktop environment, not usable as a workstation
As many of you already know, Mythbuntu is not a desktop oriented distribution of Linux. Because of this, it features a minimal desktop setup mainly designed as an interface for accessing the installer, as well as a web browser and media player, just in case the installation process is too boring.
It comes with the Chromium web browser, VLC Media Player, Mythbuntu Control Center, Thunar file manager, Ubuntu Software Center, Bulk Rename file rename utility, Mythbuntu log grabber, Xfce Terminal terminal emulator, and various other system utilities.
Bottom line
Summing up, Mythbuntu is the perfect Linux distribution for turning an old or semi-old computer into a dedicated digital video recorder system (DVR) with minimum effort. It always uses the latest Ubuntu and MythTV technologies.
