You can find program guides all over the internet. The open source project XMLTV aims to collect that information in different countries and make it available in the open XML-format XMLTV. equinux welcomes this approach and is pleased to support the open XMLTV format. The Tube is able to import XMLTV program guides and assign them to specific channels in your channel list.

You can already find several free program guides in the Internet. To use these program guides in The Tube, you just have to make sure that they are available in the XMLTV format. If you would like to try using your alternative electronic program guides we provide a list of possible examples. If you find a good example for a channel in your country, please send us an email with the EPG XML you prefer:

• Germany - TVprog.org

To use your own EPG data in The Tube, select "preferences" from the menubar and click on the EPG panel. Then type in your EPG URL to import the EPG data. If your data is protected by name and password, fill in the missing details.

As the available channels vary and the order of the channels also differs, you have to assign the imported EPG information to specific channels. To do so, just right-click a channel in your channel list and select "Assign EPG for this channel...". Then select the correct EPG-Data and the corresponding EPG-Channel. It's that easy.

If you're tech savvy it shouldn't be too complicated to create your own program guide. You just need to keep three things in mind in to successfully create your own program guide in XMLTV format:

1. Pick up the XMLTV framework of the XMLTV project. This is the 'engine' for grabbing the program information from the websites. On the project site you'll find a lot of preconfigured grabbers for different websites. Tipp: Every TV station publishes information on their website - these websites should be a good source for grabbing program info.
   
   
2. If you like to use the framework under Mac OS X, there is already a package of the 'original' grabber XMLTV within the fink project. If you are aware of fink and the usage of X11, this should ease things up.


3. Another alternative for grabbing information is perl script. We've provided an example script to give you an example of how these should work: Eurosport XMLTV.