Alternate startup for MthTV box

[Iluvatar2008]

I'm a real NEWBIE - I purchased my MythTV box from a commercial vendor in Australia, who no longer support it (URL:http://www.d1.com.au).

I want to start to upgrade & maintain it (both software and hardware). Problem is ..... I am a Linux virgin !!

Could some guru please help me with a few answers to my simple questions.

Q1] How do I get the box to boot into Linux (or preferably the desktop app)? Is it a keystroke combination at boot?

Q2] How can I set up the boot sequence to default to the MythTV app, or otherwise boot to the desktop app if I press a key within, say, 15 seconds?

(The reason I say desktop app is that I don't know what Linux distro is installed, and neither do I know if they have installed a desktop app.

On second thoughts some instructions on finding which desktop app, if installed, would also be of great assistance)

If I get this sorted out I'll have many more questions later.

Many thanks in advance.

MD

P.S. I have, many years ago, programmed in C and used the original "vi" editor.... and even "ed(it)" !!

[waterhead]

I have MythTV installed on standard Linux desktop versions. When I want to display the desktop, I press the Control+Alt+d keys simultaneously.

If there is no desktop installed, you can bring up a terminal by pressing the Control+Alt+F1 keys. Control+Alt+F7 should get you back to MythTV, but the other F keys may work instead. You should log in as root, if you know the password. Otherwise, the usual MythTV usrname and password is mythtv (how imaginative)

To get some information on the Linux that is installed, enter this:

# uname -a

This won't tell you the "flavor" of Linux that you have, I'm not sure how to determine that.

[waterhead]

To find the Linux distro that is installed, enter this:

#  cat /etc/*-release