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Messages - Hipper

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1
I have an AOpen mobo with Intel GMA950 chipset that I used successfully a few years ago with 710 (only DVI output) and I have installed an 810 snapshot (from last Friday) on it, which is working fine with the DVI output but the S-Video output wont output within MCE. I ran the LinuxMCE install from the DVD menu and after the first boot the kbuntu desktop came up on the S-Video output so I know its working ok with kbuntu. However, when I configure MCE for S-Video output in the AVWizard and click next I get a flash to the S-Video output with the x-windows X in the middle of a black screen and then the wizard switches back to the DVI output to the screen that asks if I want to use the selected resolution. If I complete the wizard with S-Video setup then reboot the only output I get is to the DVI port. As far as I can tell from the admin website MCE thinks it should be outputting to S-Video but it’s not. If I manually run startx from tty I get kde output to S-Video so I know S-Video out is working even after the full MCE install. I'm thinking it’s a config setting somewhere that is not correct but I'm unsure of the order that the xorg.conf and int scripts get executed when MCE boots so I don’t know what config
file(s) I should be changing or what setting(s) need to be changed to get output to S-Video. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

2
Using EDID for the video cards is the only way I could find to get the correct values and having it enabled seam to work just fine.

To enable EDID am doing exactly what you (and the Wiki)  are suggesting but it looks like I may have to do that every time LMCE updates my core and MD's. The last LMCE auto update overwrote the XConfigure.sh and xorg.config files for all the MD diskless images thus requiring me to re-edit the files.

What I'm really looking for a way to tell LMCE to configure specific hardware in a specific way. I would like to add the hardware config, such as a template that will tell LMCE to use "X" settings when you find "Z" hardware, is this possible?

3
I have two Dell Latitude laptops that I am planning on using as diskless media directors and I have them successfully running 0704 UI2 with overlay. The systems have Geforce4 440 Go 32MB cards which work great with a "tweak" to the xorg.config, which leads to my question.

When I run the initial UI and sound wizard and select the output type and resolution (DVI and 1280x1024) everything works fine. However, after the wizard runs and builds the config and switches to X windows the screens go "fuzzy" like the frequency of the display config is wrong. To solve this I let the systems sit for a wile with the display switch to another terminal (so not to hurt the hardware) to allow the UI to be rendered by the MCE manager (if the UI does not fully render then I have to rebuild it later or the UI wont work right). While they sit rendering I switch to the core and edit the diskless images xorg.config (i.e. /usr/pluto/diskless/[number]/etc/X11/xorg.config). The change that I have to make is to enable EDID which results in me commenting out the two lines in the config file that set the UseEDID option to false. After that I have to edit the diskless image's XConfigure.sh to exit as soon as it starts so that it does not change the config on me when the system boots up. Once I hear the setup wizard girl's voice I reboot the system and everything works fine.

So hears the real question, is this the preferred way to configure a media director's xorg.conf? It seams like a hack and the other night when I got an update the core some how reset the MD's configuration and I had to re-edit the xorg.config and XConfigure.sh scripts. How can I go about editing the X config to suit my needs and not have MCE step on top of my changes? Ideally, I would like to setup the systems to be correct before X runs for the first time so that I don’t have to do any rebooting. Could I simply edit the MCE database to have the correct setting for my hardware when it is recognized by the setup wizard? Also, is using the EDID of the hardware going to cause me any other issues with LMCE, such as bad or slow or incorrect rendering of images?

Note:
Here's the definition of the option that I have to enable to get the correct display output for X. Which leads me to believe that the mode line values set by LMCE don’t work for my hardware but the EDID tells X the correct values.
Quote
By default, the NVIDIA X driver makes use of a display device's EDID, when available, during construction of its mode pool. The EDID is used as a source for possible modes, for valid frequency ranges, and for collecting data on the physical dimensions of the display device for computing the DPI. However, if you wish to disable the driver's use of the EDID, you can set this option to False:

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Users / Re: COMING SOON: MAME Media Type
« on: January 31, 2008, 04:42:47 am »
Forget the coming soon! I can’t wait to play Mario! How do I make it work now! :D

5
Is it just me and my systems (home and work) that can’t see the forum images and background (i.e. the images show up as blue boxes with image error links) and the forum reminds me of my text web days in the early 90's? :D

6
Users / Re: Choosing VDR versus MythTV
« on: January 22, 2008, 09:40:32 pm »
Quote
vdr can only be used ... with DVB transmissions Therefore you must be able to receive a DVB signal in your region via your aerial, Satellite or Cable and have a DVB card

Now that it's clear what hardware and signal sources are needed for VDR and MythTV which should one choose?

Let's say I have all the needed signals and want to buy hardware for my Core what are the pros and cons of each, from a standpoint of software and/or hardware?

Also, would it be possible to hand build a core and MD's with both, assuming that they are built from source not using the standard installs?

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Users / Looking for a PCIe 1x vidio card with UI2 support.
« on: January 18, 2008, 11:52:26 pm »
Has anyone found a PCIe 1x video card that fully supports UI2 with alpha blending?

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Users / Re: Things that LinuxMCE didn't...
« on: January 16, 2008, 07:51:10 pm »
I agree 100% I love what's been done too and hope to contribute to it as soon as I can.

There's no way I waiting a year, I'm hooked, I love open source and I'm a hacker at heart :D
I have been looking for LMCE for a wile now and its just right for me, I don't care if I have to spend hours getting it to work that's part of the fun.
I can deal with no documentation as long as I have the source code ;)
I just think we should speak openly about what we think is wrong and not fell like we are going to get our heads ripped off in the forum.

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Users / Re: Things that LinuxMCE didn't...
« on: January 16, 2008, 06:38:04 pm »
Well put, constructive criticism is always useful and I hope no one takes what you have said personally.
I have found some of the same issues that you have but I kind of expected them in an open source project like this.

At this point I would say the most frustrating thing is the documentation. There is a lot of great info on the Wiki but it's a bit unorganized, some things are not up to date and
it's hard to navigate. I am a software engineer by trade so I know how hard it is to get good documentation when you are paying people, let alone when the work is done for free ;)
I would love to help with it but right now don't have much free time and I'm still too much of a LMCE newbie that I'm afraid I would make things worse.

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Users / Re: HELP! How do I add a media director for diskless boot?
« on: January 15, 2008, 05:54:42 am »
Juston,
For that last post alone your account should be set
to guru ;)
The perf setting worked im waiting for the
net boot now. Thanks for the help, how did you find
the info ? Google ? What was the search string just
so i know? Dont worrie ill add a wiki for the net boot
and hardware after i test it.
Thanks so much for your help!

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Users / Re: HELP! How do I add a media director for diskless boot?
« on: January 15, 2008, 12:29:14 am »
There are no options in the bios for net boot it is an F12 prompt with the initial bios splash screen i.e. press F12 for network boot.
Oh and the NIC does support it too so the system should be able to net boot. Something else is up either the fact that I'm using a hub or the core is messed up some how.
I would really like to manually test the tftp and nfs services used by the net boot but I don't know enough about the boot process to know how to.
DHCP seems to be working just fine, any ideas on testing the other services?

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Users / Re: This MB as a very low power MD
« on: January 14, 2008, 11:39:53 pm »
Well I for one have done a bunch of digging through the forums and the Wiki and think you are all doing a great job.

Most of us don't like reading documentation (let alone writing it) we just want to rip open the package and start playing (By the way the one step install DVD is great!). Open source projects are like getting toys with "Batteries not included", "Some assembly required" oh and "Some missing parts" with no direct dial support hotline. It's hard to start playing with the toy until you read all the instructions but everyone wants to ;)

Keep up the good work ;D

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Users / Re: 1" and or 2.2" Low Power Stations
« on: January 14, 2008, 11:19:45 pm »
I have done allot of digging and have not yet found the dream 2 inch setup. I am also in the US and can't find that Mobo anywhere. Part of my frustration is that the Wiki is a bit unorganized and it can be hard to find anything useful that you can trust 100%. The Fiire systems look nice but I don’t want to shell out to get soethign that will stop being suppored after a few releases and new kernels. I have used VIA boards in the past and really like them and want to use one. I was thinking it might be possible to put one in the thin case with visa mount and use the one pci slot for an invidia card that supports UI2. I also am looking into the possibility of working on the Openchrome composite and GLX buffer support needed to get UI2 on the Via chips but I don't have allot of free time to spend on the code right now. Recently I was thinking of using an old P4m laptop that I have as a thin client. Maybe you can find a good deal on an old 2ghz or lower laptop on eBay that has svid out but most old laptops wont have HD out so that wont help you with HD TVs unless someone makes an HD PCMCIA card ;)

If I come across anything interesting ill be sure to drop you a line.

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Users / Re: HELP! How do I add a media director for diskless boot?
« on: January 14, 2008, 10:39:14 pm »
Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

My network is setup as two distinct segments one on ED0 and one on ED1
ED0 is the external segment connected to a ten port switch  and its getting its IP address from my internal FreeBSD (dhcp, file/print server firewall) box. That segment also has several other systems and a wireless access point (yet another segment). ED1 is connected to a 10 port hub (not switch) for testing and because this is the only other free network hardware I have left. At this point I'm just playing with LMCE to get to know it and see how it works on some of my old hardware.

When it comes to what I see on the GX50 when I try to net boot, I see noting. I see a message attempting network boot then a blank screen for about 10 sec, where I assume it's trying to get an ip and connect to the tftp server. After the 10 sec of blank screen the bios moves on the next boot device or fails to boot of no other devices are found. If I put a HD in the system and boot into windows the system gets an IP address form the core and the networking works just fine.

At this point I think its one of two things, the fact that I am using a hub and not a switch or the GX50 can't net boot with the dhcp and tftp config setup on the core. So I figured I would try to build a grub boot disk and use that to net boot the box. Well that went down hill fast, the boot disk works but grub throws an error "Error 23: Error while parsing number" on the first command "root (nd)" which I'm guessing is from one of two things my NIC is not supported correctly (3c920 with 3c905c compatibility) or grub cant connect to the tftp server on the core.

Does anyone know how I can test the tftp and net boot setup on my core to see if it is working as need?
Also is it possible to net boot on a hub or must you have a switch?


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Users / Re: HELP! How do I add a media director for diskless boot?
« on: January 14, 2008, 02:19:54 am »
Yep I read them. The networking is working just fine, its the net boot of the GX50 that I cant get to work.

Take a look at my previous posts ;)

From my first post:
"I have two NIC’s installed and working; ED0 and ED1 are both accessible. Ed0 is the LMCE DHCP internal interface and it is connected to a 10 port hub that has one other pc connected to it that I want to net boot from the core."

And my Second:
"I know the core NIC’s and DHCP server are working because LMCE can get to the web and if I boot the GX50 into windows I get an IP address from the core’s DHCP server"

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