Media Portals achilles heel; Support. (1 Viewer)

[infinite.loop]

Is there a specific list of articles in need of attention? I realize that the whole thing needs updating, but I think more users would be willing to help if we had a couple of starting points and weren't just randomly editing sections.

the ::MediaPortal Manual:: itselfe is outdated and incomplete.

 

[tourettes]

Is there a specific list of articles in need of attention? I realize that the whole thing needs updating, but I think more users would be willing to help if we had a couple of starting points and weren't just randomly editing sections.

the ::MediaPortal Manual:: itselfe is outdated and incomplete.

Yep, but at least it's really easy to point out the parts that need updating. Just close your eyes and stick your dirty finger on the monitor. After open your eyes and you have a documentation task ready to be assigned for yourself

 

[frippe75]

Worth noting.

This thread is building up more quickly than all of the media portal documentation all together ...

But I must go back to the original purpose of this thread.. Or the one concerning me the most

I also think that embarking on a media portal II mission with even GREATER ambitions seems far fetched... But again i'm not a programmer soo im probably not seeing the full picture (as in my media portal setup ).

Maybe a re-write is essential for getting a more supportable platform/architecture...

Anyway if media portal 1 was working more stable it would probably be the best software ever written !!


Sure all setups differs which makes finding a stable media portal setup almost impossible.

Some users claim it's really stable as it is.... Could someone give me there hardware spec's???
+XP version and service packs and hotfixes....

Would it be possible to make an ghost image available with a windows version that can be purchased via internet from microsoft when you fire it up??? (probably not possible but...)

 

[Darre]

For me its been rock stable both in vista and xp.. and on 3 different comps.. Maybe im lucky, or maybe they are all just setup correctly? =)

If you follow the codec guides posted here you are on a good way, they helped me a lot at least! Other then that I just use automatic windows update along with comodo firewall(amazing freeware firewall IMO). Keeping the HTPC clean of other apps is a good way to narrow down what can go wrong!

 

[infinite.loop]

Some users claim it's really stable as it is....

"some users" is an interesting term

you should provide more informations about that "stability problems". because that doesnt tell me a bit where you have the problems exactly.

most users have problems with the TV part. and when you read the bugreport and support forums, then you will notice that there are only a handful of know bugs.

the majority of the probles comes down to a few points:

• usage of the cheapest hardware you can buy. with realy bad drivers and firmware (tv-card i.e.)
• not reading the ::requirements:: which means missing Microsoft hotfixes
• bad and/or crappy video/audio codecs
• usage of codec packs
• buggy gfx-card drivers
• simply fucked up Windows installation

but this is not the topic here!


to me it seems like this thread is going around circles.


the problem is obvious:
the wiki is not up-do-date and this causes that kind of moaning threads every now and then.
the funny thing is that noone is interested to help us to change that.

so imo. there are only the following options:

• accept that the wiki is not complete and life with that
• CONTRIBUTE and help us with the wiki
• hire us a few professional manual writers

 

[coopers]

While we're considering updating the wiki, what would be really wonderful is if there was a way of having a left hand bar down the side of the wiki that presented all the "chapters" of documentation on the wiki (and have the chapters expandable/collapseable) much like the chapter listings you get while reading a PDF document.

That alone would allow people to know what is actually in the wiki, and what is not.

Is there a wiki markup/extension that does this? It would seem to be a problem that should have been solved out there... somewhere, so you'd think so.

 

[lowcrust]

or do you have an example of what you are refering there?

Well webEPG for instance.

which "someone" just has to populate with his solution.

You make the same statement over and over again, we are certainly getting what you are saying. I don't think you are getting my point though. In my experience developers rarely write a bunch of code and then leave the documentation to people who don't know how to use the program. I come here asking for help and you ask me write the documentation on how to do it? Maybe that's why the manual is "not so great"? Wouldn't it make sense that the people who took their dear time to write this also set aside time to explain it? Just an idea, I'll shut up now. My point is definitely not getting through and I seem to have upset you, which I clearly stating in my opening post was not my intention.
:sorry:

 

[infinite.loop]

or do you have an example of what you are refering there?

Well webEPG for instance.

the usage of webEPG is explained in the wiki and it does not require any 3rd party tools you have to download somewhere.
all required applications are part of MediaPortal 0.2.3.0.

::read the manual in the wiki::

In my experience developers rarely write a bunch of code and then leave the documentation to people who don't know how to use the program.

i am constantly "reminding" the developers to place doc in the wiki (they always document inside the code ofc. but thats different doc).
but there are a few problems.
since we are all working on MP in our sparetime, the worktime is limited.
means that if you work on the wiki instead of fixing a bug/adding support for something then you have the other group of ppl moaning about that

but the main issue is that writing docs is not very popular.

thats exactly why i brought up the idea of having a dedicated doc writer team which has access to the team-irc-channel and therefore can ask the devs how something works, and the devs can "request" manuals for a newly added/updated feature.
but because wrinting docs is not very popular, this didnt work out either......

you see the dilemma?

 

[James]

You make the same statement over and over again, we are certainly getting what you are saying. I don't think you are getting my point though. In my experience developers rarely write a bunch of code and then leave the documentation to people who don't know how to use the program. I come here asking for help and you ask me write the documentation on how to do it? Maybe that's why the manual is "not so great"? Wouldn't it make sense that the people who took their dear time to write this also set aside time to explain it? Just an idea, I'll shut up now. My point is definitely not getting through and I seem to have upset you, which I clearly stating in my opening post was not my intention.

The developers do write documents and spend time answering questions in the forum. These documents are generally not perfect, because the developers know the system very well and write only down things they think are needed.

However, there are many, many people who have had problems, asked questions had them answered and got things working that could contribute to the documentation. We are not asking people who haven't got it working to write documents, but all those who have got it working. Particularly the ones that had problems, because other I'm sure will have the same problems.

I call on anyone who has found an answer to their question in the forum and it is not in the wiki, to add this information to the wiki.

 

[lowcrust]

Like I said I'm willing to help write tutorials and such. But for that to happen I must first learn the program myself and secondly the programmers and support team need to work together so that MediaPortal become streamlined and easy to maintain and configure (and thus also supporting).

And the forums need to be merged before anything. It's a maze out there. Following some sort of standard support forum logic it would look something like this;

General
--- Show off you HTPC
--- Off-Topic chat
--- Website Feedback

Support
--- MediaPortal 1
----- Music
----- TV
----- Pictures

--- MediaPortal 2
----- Music
----- TV
----- Pictures

Development;
--- MP1
----- Plugins
----- Skins
----- Feature Requests
----- Bug reports

--- MP2
----- Plugins
----- Skins
----- Feature Requests
----- Bug reports


In other words the sub-categories for support should not be last on every tree branch, it simply makes no sense and is very very heavy to sift through. Much MUCH larger forums than this one manages with a fraction of the sub-categories we have here. The samecould be said about the Configuration tool, but to a lesser extent.

Like I said I'm willing to help but getting involved now is like taking over a Wernher von Braun project where he left no instructions and had the rocket dismantled in two thousand cardboard boxes... We need to tidy things up a little, in other words.