Messages

1

Users / Re: Diskless media director boots halfway

« on: July 07, 2007, 05:07:14 am »

Awesome, thank you for the reply.  I pretty much have decided to move on and just check back on the project intermittently.  I'm a heavy MythTV user/system integrator, and I just can't see the usefulness of LinuxMCE with all it's bugs and problems in the immediate future.  Right now there doesn't seem to be a good way to provide feedback, bug reports and other things necessary for a community driven project to grow quickly.  Which is fine, if it's still too early it probably doesn't need a lot of unnecessary feedback at this point, though I think more developers may get involved if it were easier to actually get on board with developing...

Thanks again.

-Chad

2

Users / Re: Is this computer capable of running Linux MCE/MD properly?

« on: July 02, 2007, 07:27:32 am »

It's a LinuxMCE limitation.  LinuxMCE seems to prefer an Nvidia chipset and expects Nvidia driver options to be in your xorg.conf

As far as the refresh though, your monitor may be supplying "bogus" EDID, this is the information that it sends to a videocard to tell the card it's abilities.  It may not be giving your card the info necessary to let it have a higher refresh.  Is the current refresh value (60Hz) too low for your eyes, or are you just interested in "getting the best" out of your monitor/video card?  If it's just a desire to push it to the max, my suggestion is to let it go.  If however 60Hz is too low of a refresh for your eyes and you can see the refresh, then you may want to see if lowering your resolution allows higher refresh. 

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar enough with the Intel driver options to tell you exactly how to override (or even if it's possible) your EDID info.  With Nvidia it's a fairly straightforward option:
Option IgnoreEDID "True"
or something very close to that (I'm lazy right now and don't want to look up the exact line since it is Nvidia specific and won't help you anyway). 

So...  It does indeed sound like I'm suggesting just forking over 30 bucks and getting an Nvidia 6200 for your system, but in fact I'm not.  I'd rather see the Intel stuff work since it's a far better option to use open source drivers on an open source system and Intel does a great job of providing those to us.  Instead my suggestion is to contact the Intel driver devs and see if they will work with you.  The easiest way to do that is to join the xorg mailing list and send out a request for help there.  Obviously that is a little more involved than most people want to go, so you may start with the distro "bug" section and work through them first.  If they fail to help then move on to the Intel folks.

Good luck!

Cool

3

Users / Re: Is this computer capable of running Linux MCE/MD properly?

« on: June 30, 2007, 07:50:47 am »

You may want to give the intel driver a whirl instead of i810.  I'm waiting for a response from one of the intel developers, so take this with a grain of sand (usually smaller than salt ).  The i810 that currently ships with Kubuntu 7.04 (the one we use for LinuxMCE Beta 1.1) has seen better days.  It's getting old and doesn't have the usefulness a newer version may have (but supports a wider range of hardware out of the box).  If you do a:

Code: [Select]

sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-intelYou will get the updated version of the driver, and to boot you don't have to change anything in your xorg.conf (a symlink is created when the install happens so you can call either "intel" or "i810" and be calling the same driver).

If none of that makes sense, or at least the technical parts don't, basically a newer driver may help and the install line above will get a newer version of that driver.

To get to the command line to type that above stuff, after you boot up and everything is just sitting there type:

Code: [Select]

CTRL + ALT + F1Login with your user you created while installing Kubuntu.  Then you should be able to type that line and answer Y to the question on whether to remove your existing driver (i810) or to abort.  Choosing Y **may** b0rk your GUI system, but in reality, you are fairly safe in saying Y.  The upside is that if it works you may have a better responding GUI, the downside is if something goes wrong you'll be stuck in command line land until you either reinstall or revert to the older 810 driver, which is probably:
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-i810

So write those down as you'll be in "the dark" when you need to use them.  Good luck!

-Chad

4

Users / Re: Is this computer capable of running Linux MCE/MD properly?

« on: June 30, 2007, 02:31:28 am »

Generically speaking, yes that should be fine.  In fact, using the intel driver should allow some decent graphics with that chipset:
http://intellinuxgraphics.com/
The intel driver (IIRC) in Kubuntu should be the one that works smoothly (the intel xorg devs are really good and constantly provide updates).  But what you don't mention is how you will be doing your video capture (What TV tuner will you use).  If you are using a good one (PVR-500 and it's brethren) you should be just fine.  For the rest of the stuff... shouldn't be any issues.  The UI2 might give you a bit of a headache, not really sure though since intel is native linux, but doesn't have XvMC support (but doesn't really need it with a CPU that fast) and not a binary blob like Nvidia offers.

HTH

-Chad

5

Users / Re: Diskless media director boots halfway

« on: June 30, 2007, 02:25:03 am »

Back again

So now I'm leaning towards a problem with the kernel since it appears to load the initrd image (the department of redundancy department ) but halts shortly after what appears to be loading the NIC module (via_rhine).  Because I can chroot into the image from the Core (sudo chroot /usr/pluto/diskless/70 /bin/bash) I also assume the "build" is working.  Seems logical that the problem may be a hard coded default that doesn't apply to my hardware (seems unlikely, but it's Beta so who knows) or (more likely) a missing requirement for my system.

My next move will be again chrooting into the image, apt-get a new/different kernel and try again.  If it starts (or even if it fails in a different place) it will be a huge indicator of a problem with either the kernel or the initrd.

Any suggestions in the meantime are welcome...

-Chad

6

Installation issues / Re: When I double click on it, It wont start. Why?

« on: June 30, 2007, 01:27:34 am »

Wait, it's a little easier than you think.  You appear to be installing LinuxMCE 1.0 on Ubuntu, that is correct but that is not the latest edition.  Linux MCE 1.1 Beta is the latest version and runs on top of KDE, and so kubuntu is required.  If you install Kubuntu, you'll need to use the Beta which (AFAIK) is currently only available via Bittorrent.

HTH

-Chad

7

Users / Re: Diskless media director boots halfway

« on: June 30, 2007, 12:57:04 am »

Did the chroot, built openchrome and DRM, the install went just fine (same arch on both the diskless MD and the Core so no worries there) but there is no change.  I'd really like to get this going, I'm losing WAF quickly and I am also without my phone service (SIPPhone.com) in my current situation.  I don't want to integrate the Core system if I can't get any MD's to work, and if I don't integrate the Core I lose all other network connectivity (it will be replacing a smoothwall system).  So... hopefully I can get somewhere soon with this or else I'll have to scrap the project in my real world application and tinker on the pseudo network (not as fun or realistic).

-Chad

8

Users / Diskless media director boots halfway

« on: June 29, 2007, 08:28:27 pm »

Hello,

I'm trying to get a media director booting (my main system is a hybrid, but I would also like remote media director systems) from the network.  DHCP is working, TFTP is working and it begins to boot.  About 15 seconds into it it stops.  The system isn't hanging, I can scroll up and read boot messages, but it just doesn't go any further.  The last message puts eth0 down:

Code: [Select]

[ 43.145093] NET: Registered protocol family 17
IP-Config: eth0 hardware address 00:03:1d:02:0a:aa mtu 1500 DHCP RARP
[ 43.151327] eth0: link down
That is the very last 3 lines.  I am fairly comfortable with Linux but don't really know how to proceed with this.  The system is a Commell LV-667T which has a Via CN400 (unichrome) chipset and a VT1625 TV Out Encoder on it.  It is connected via S-Video to my Sony Wega CRT TV (somewhat old school).  I've gone over the directions on setting up a diskless MD several times. 

I've thought maybe I have to build openchrome and install it on the MD image.  I may try that by doing a chroot from the Core (which is also running a Via based system from Jetway) and doing the build, but I'm not entirely sure that is the problem as I don't think the system is continuing to boot beyond that point.

I may be overlooking the obvious, but I can't seem to figure out what that obvious is.  Any hints are very welcome.

-Chad

9

Installation issues / Re: "could not connect to master backend server" bug again

« on: June 02, 2007, 02:15:34 am »

If you are using the same system for your core and media director, I suggest using an actual internal IP rather than "localhost" or 127.0.0.1.  MythTV can be pretty "cranky" sometimes if some of the IP's don't jive.  There could be another problem altogether, but it would help eliminate that as a possibility.

-Chad

10

Installation issues / Re: desktop icon wont run

« on: June 02, 2007, 02:13:31 am »

The best I can say is "Works for me".

I followed the instructions exactly and didn't have to modify permissions on the script or anything.  Just clicked the icon, waited an extraordinary amount of time and eventually it started.

-Chad

11

Developers / KDE a little overkill?

« on: June 02, 2007, 02:08:03 am »

Hello,

Just looking for some discussion on the choice of DE.  I realize previously it was Gnome which wasn't (isn't) exactly "light" but I find that KDE is considerably more overkill.  It requires unnecessary system resources for a full system solution (LMCE "take over" install) to run KDE in addition to the Core applications and any other server applications that may exist on an 'always on' type system.  I'm curious why Xubuntu wasn't the chosen candidate for the move from mainstream Ubuntu as it is considerably less system resource 'hogging' and still provides access to the packages necessary to build LMCE?

I'm not trying to criticize, but rather trying to find the rationale on why KDE (Kubuntu) was selected over any other option that the *Ubuntu team offers.  In addition, I'm interested in any information on utilizing Xubuntu (or even Fluxbox on Kubuntu) rather than KDE based Kubuntu to carry out my LMCE install/system.

Thank you!

-Chad

12

Installation issues / Re: LMCE 1.1 Beta 2 "typo"?

« on: May 31, 2007, 09:49:40 pm »

Not sure if the typo means I missed something but the second time around the install was successful.  I didn't have time to play with it at all, but at least the install was a 'success'.  I did everything from the 'net, when it asked if I had a CD I said no (even though I secretly did, mwahhahaha ).

-Chad

13

Installation issues / LMCE 1.1 Beta 2 "typo"?

« on: May 31, 2007, 09:14:19 am »

Just watching the terminal scroll by I noticed the failing mirrors (which may or may not be important) and noticed:
 http://linuxmce.com/ununtu/./Packages.gz  404

I figure that might be an important one

-Chad

14

Users / Re: Question about Core and Media Directors

« on: May 29, 2007, 12:50:20 am »

I'm in the UK so can I ask a question about HD? Why would you want to distribute them like this and secondly how many channels can a single card receive at the same time? I assume HD channels are mux'd like standard def or HD channels are here in Europe.

Cheers

Andrew

I'm not sure about what you mean by why would you want to distribute them like this, but I assume you are asking why the OP wants to have his media directors also be HD capture sources.  In that case it is likely do to cabling.  If they already have cables ran to various rooms in the house, then by having each media director be, in essence, a mythbackend, they can use multiple HD tuners without having to cram them all inside a single box; the upside is ease of having multiple HD sources, the major and obvious downside is that every machine must be configured, always on (when you expect them to be, or able to be remotely turned on at will).

One great alternative is the HDHomeRun which means no need to have every system in the house always on or to have multiple "backends" setup.  Instead 1 backend with several HDHomeRuns or even a single HDHomeRun to do 2 HD captures at the same time..

Your second part about how many channels are muxed, well just 1 in reality.  The stations here are a little new to the whole concept of multiplexing.  Instead of showing multiple shows on the sub channels, they offer 2 versions of the same show: SDTV and HDTV which usually just translates to 4:3 or 16:9 and either 480i or 1080i/720p  So, in general you need a tuner for every channel you want to watch as each station has it's own separate mux and show the same program on all of their mux's.

To say that visually:

Channel 2 is the analog version of 2.1
Channel 2 and 2.1 will show the same program, and if 2.2 exists it will show the same program in a lesser digital format (such as SDTV at 480i/4:3 ratio) while channel 2 will show the same thing but analog and 2.1 will show the HDTV 16:9 1080i with DD 5.1 surround of the same program.

Hope that helps.

-Chad

15

Users / Re: Core Requirements...

« on: May 20, 2007, 08:51:51 am »

From the MythTV perspective, it depends.  The video cards will do some video processing, but for the best "quality and options" you probably need a bit of a beefy CPU.  The previously recommended minimum was a "P4 3.0 Ghz; 512MB RAM" which has been easily translated to an AMD64 3200 or a Core2Duo at about ~1.8Ghz (such as a Mac Mini).  These are HDTV specs, SDTV specs are considerably lower, but I don't think the lowend threshold has really been identified (lately) as hardware with these specs has become increasingly available at lower costs.

HTH

-Chad