Nerd Alert Ultra-specific nerdery.

Background
I built a Mythbuntu machine out of a Dell PowerEdge 1600SC dual Xeon box with a Hauppauge PVR-500 dual TV tuner. Because I'm cheap *and* wanted to run a gigabit network, this machine also serves as the router for a gigabit switch (which was 1/3 the cost of a gigabit router).

I ended up getting 2 Hauppauge MediaMVPs. It's basically a small (1.5 x 6.5 x 5.5-inches), cheap 300MHz PowerPC that boots off the network and plays music, video, and pictures off your network. A group of developers released their own software available at: http://mvpmc.org that runs a small linux distro and can connect to: MythTV, ReplayTV, Hauppauge, VLC, SqueezeCenter (aka SlimServer) with various other bells and/or whistles.

I also have a few busted up laptops with no hard drives. I wanted to be able to netboot the MediaMVPs and use Mythbuntu's diskless server for the laptops. (I let the kids use one for flash based games and I use one in our home theater.)

There wasn't great documentation on how to do this so, hopefully this helps people out somewhat in the future. There are some decent guides to get MVPMC working with Mythbuntu but, they use the aTFTP server which conflicts with Mythbuntu's diskless server.

HOW-TO:
DHCP:
On the Mythbuntu media server, go to:

• Applications >> System >> Mythbuntu Control Centre >> System Roles.
• Check "Diskless Server" and "Add DHCP server"
• Click "Apply"
  

ls /opt/ltsp

i386 images

sudo rm -rf i386
sudo ltsp-build-client --mythbuntu --mythbuntu-copy-user-credentials

sudo -s
vim /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf

authoritative;

log-facility local7;

option domain-name              "madsonclan.net";
option subnet-mask              255.255.255.0;
option domain-name-servers 65.24.7.10, 65.24.7.11;

allow bootp;
allow booting;

#option ip-forwarding    false;  # No IP forwarding
#option mask-supplier    false;  # Don't respond to ICMP Mask req

subnet 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
option routers        192.168.0.1;
range 192.168.0.100 192.168.0.250;
option broadcast-address 192.168.0.255;
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
option root-path "/opt/ltsp/i386";
if substring( option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9 ) = "PXEClient" {
filename "/ltsp/i386/pxelinux.0";
} else {
filename "/ltsp/i386/nbi.img";
}

}

group {
next-server 192.168.0.1;          # IP address of your TFTP server

host mvp { # NOTE: Change the hardware ethernet to the MAC address of your actual MVP
hardware ethernet 00:0d:fe:39:21:04;
fixed-address 192.168.0.50;
filename "dongle.bin.mvpmc";
option root-path "/home/mvp,rsize=4096,wsize=4096,nolock";
}
host mvp2 {
hardware ethernet 00:0d:fe:39:21:06;
fixed-address 192.168.0.51;
filename "dongle.bin.mvpmc";
option root-path "/home/mvp,rsize=4096,wsize=4096,nolock";
}
}

mkdir /tftpboot
cp [DOWNLOADED_FILE] /tftpboot/dongle.bin
dd if=/tftpboot/dongle.bin of=/tftpboot/dongle.bin.ver bs=1 count=40 skip=52
vim /tftpboot/dongle.bin.config

# set up host environment variable
HNAME='mvp_uno'
export HNAME

# time stuff
TZ='US, Central: CST+6CDT,M3.2.0/2,M11.1.0/2'
export TZ
echo "TZ='US, Central: CST+6CDT,M3.2.0/2,M11.1.0/2'" >; /etc/shell.config
echo "export TZ" >> /etc/shell.config
NTP=time-a.nist.gov

# create an /etc/hosts file
echo "127.0.0.1 localhost localhost" >> /etc/hosts
echo "192.168.0.1 media-server media-server" >> /etc/hosts
echo "192.168.0.1 eteo eteo" >> /etc/hosts #important! or mythtv won't play. replace eteo w/ myth server hostname

# load settings
. /etc/udhcpc.config
SETTINGSDIR=/tmp/settings
mkdir -p ${SETTINGSDIR}
SETTINGS=${SETTINGSDIR}/settings
RSETTINGS=settings.${HNAME:-$IP}
LASTSAVED=${SETTINGSDIR}/.lastsaved
touch $LASTSAVED
tftp -g -r $RSETTINGS -l $SETTINGS $SERVER;

# mounts (change for your network)
# i use nfs for linux and cifs for xp
mkdir /media
mkdir /media/sde1
mkdir /media/sda1
mkdir /media/sdb1
mkdir /media/quinn
mount -t nfs -o nolock,rsize=4096,wsize=4096,nfsvers=3 192.168.0.1:/media/sde1 /media/sde1
mount -t nfs -o nolock,rsize=4096,wsize=4096,nfsvers=3 192.168.0.1:/media/sda1 /media/sda1
mount -t nfs -o nolock,rsize=4096,wsize=4096,nfsvers=3 192.168.0.1:/media/sdb1 /media/sdb1
#mount -t nfs -o nolock,rsize=4096,wsize=4096,nfsvers=3 192.168.0.1:/media/quinn /media/quinn
mount.cifs //192.168.0.23/quinn /media/quinn/ -o user=someuser,pass=somepass,rsize=34000

# save settings
(
while true; do
if [ $SETTINGS -nt $LASTSAVED ] ; then
  tftp -p -l $SETTINGS -r $RSETTINGS $SERVER;
  touch $LASTSAVED;
fi;
sleep 300;
done
)&

# mvpmc settings

#known working
#mvpmc -f /etc/helvB14.pcf -o composite -S 0 -D 192.168.0.1:0 -R 192.168.0.1 -s 192.168.0.1 --vlc 192.168.0.1 --vlc-vopts svcd -y 192.168.0.1 -T mythconverg -u mythtv -p 8DelSgNw -b /eteo/livetv --weather-location USWI0164 &

#real-world
mvpmc -f /etc/helvB14.pcf -o svideo -a 16:9 -S 0 -R 192.168.0.1 -s 192.168.0.1 -y 192.168.0.1 -T mythconverg -u mythtv -p myMythTvPassowrd-b /eteo/livetv --weather-location USWI0164 --vlc 192.168.0.1 --vlc-vopts svcd &

vim /etc/inetd.conf

tftp  dgram  udp  wait  root  /usr/sbin/in.tftpd /usr/sbin/in.tftpd -s /tftpboot
9571           stream  tcp     nowait  nobody /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/sbin/ldminfod
9572                    stream  tcp     nowait  nobody /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/sbin/nbdswapd
2000               stream  tcp            nowait  nobody /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/sbin/nbdrootd /opt/ltsp/images/i386.img

vim /etc/nbd-server/config

[generic]
# If you want to run everything as root rather than the nbd user, you
# may either say "root" in the two following lines, or remove them
# altogether. Do not remove the [generic] section, however.
   user = nbd
   group = nbd

# What follows are export definitions. You may create as much of them as
# you want, but the section header has to be unique.
[export]
   exportname = /opt/ltsp/images/i386.img
   port = 2000

/etc/init.d/dhcdbd restart
/etc/init.d/dhcp3-server restart
/etc/init.d/nbd-server restart
/etc/init.d/xinetd restart