Messages

4516

Installation issues / Re: v0704 install fails on VMWare 6

« on: September 01, 2007, 10:15:47 am »

No spare machine - hence using VMWare to check it out, and "will it work with my alarm" before I go and spend money on a machine for it.

I downloaded using torrent which has it's own checking and ive checked the md5sum - so I dont think it's corrupted at my end.

Any debug to turn on to see why it's failing ?

Ok... after some discussion here we think your problem might be caused by the fact that the lmce-0704 DVD iso itself runs at least in part inside a vmware environment. So I wonder whether that is causing the problem ie your trying to boot the lmce-0704 iso inside vmware.... but it is already running inside vmware!

We're not familiar with what limitations this might have... but its a possible reason for your failures.

4517

Installation issues / Re: How to rerun the AVWizard

« on: September 01, 2007, 09:55:17 am »

Does anyone know how to rerun the AVWizard. I ran it during the initial setup but the video output I had problems. I have tried just running the AVWizard executable from the /usr/pluto/bin folder but it does not seem to run using the whole screen.

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.

If you can get into the Orbiter then you can run the Avwizard  from the Linuxmce menu screen.

4518

Installation issues / Re: v0704 install fails on VMWare 6

« on: September 01, 2007, 09:53:16 am »

So your saying the md5sum checksum is useless ?

Hmmm... no ;-)

Have you tried installing on another physical machine? ie different motherboard

4519

Installation issues / Re: MD Installation failed

« on: September 01, 2007, 09:23:33 am »

Hi,
I would like to install some MDs on HDDs. I though the installation script would detect a running core and asked if I would like to only install a MD, but that didn't happen. Its just the regular installation of hybrid or core. All the machines get there ips correctly from the dhcp server on the core. Did anyone have an idea why this could happen or how to install a md using an other way?

If your trying to add the machines as pxe booted MD's then just set their bios's to pxe boot, connect them to your LAN and they will be autodetected and setup.

4520

Installation issues / Re: v0704 install fails on VMWare 6

« on: September 01, 2007, 09:21:32 am »

I have now - matches. Used torrent to download.

I've also burned to a physical DVD-R - same issue - but messages are sharp printers on screen rather than HP this time.

I've tried 4 times to install this now - all have failed. Is there a specific set of vmware settings required to install this ?

We're not doing very well so far !

its not a solution for you but... we've got several copies of the lmce-0704 DVD iso burnt and all have worked flawlessly... so it still sounds like you have a corrupted download to me.

4521

Users / Re: Diskless MD

« on: September 01, 2007, 09:11:13 am »

Totallymaxed: can't comment on whether the display drivers were working correctly (no way to tell really!), all I can say is that the exact same laptop, with the exact same PXE configuration stuck in a reboot loop before I tried to add the MD to the Admin console - (1audio: I note that it was well into Linux boot, having already done several pages of logging on the screen, including changing the font, so there is no indication of a PXE issue, it gets well past the PXE part).

As soon as I created the MD manually (as a device, directly, not using the specific Add MD function, as that didn't work as already described) and rebooted the laptop again, it worked perfectly.

Nothing to fix here for me, I was only testing using it, I am not attempting to get it working permanently, and have now moved on to testing other stuff - just thought it might be of use to someone else.

ok just a footnote to this then - adding the device manually in our experience can often leave you with an MD that looks like its been created fully and is working ok but in fact often is not. It seems like some of the scripts that get run during and after auto-detection do not complete properly if a manual add device is carried out. I can't say what exactly fails in this situation but it is our experience that using auto-detection is the most reliable way to add MD's in particular.

However your mileage may vary ;-)

4522

Users / Re: Fiire Chief vs Gyration MCE Remote

« on: September 01, 2007, 09:00:37 am »

    I just purchased the Gyration MCE remote and although it controlls the menus nicely, it does not function like the Fiire Chief when media is playing. I have seen similiar post regarding this and am wondering if anyone has found a solution for this remote or if I am better off purchasing the Fiire Chief. They are both the same price. I only purchased the Gyration remote because I could get it locally. Did Fiire incorporate specific changes to the remote that allow it to work with LMCE?

Thanks
Echo5

Yes they did. The Fiirechief and its dongle have special firmware to support the 'follow me' functionality in particular.

4523

Users / Re: Network Setup

« on: August 31, 2007, 07:49:52 am »

pixelator, I would switch that around so you have the 24 port switch as close as possible to the core, unless the 24 port switch is only 100Mb and the router is 1Gb. What's the speeds of the switches? I know most routers are only 100Mb.

RGoolsby, If you use option 1 you will need to enable DHCP on the wireless router. However, this will cause the wireless connections to be on a different sub-net and inaccessible to the rest of the network. Option 2 is your best bet. You will always loose internet connectivity during a core reboot (it's serving the net to the rest of the network), but as soon as the core is back up so will the internet connectivity. One thin you need to do is make sure you do NOT use the External (WAN) port on the router. Connect the Core and the diskless MD's to the Internal (LAN) ports. That turns the router into a cheap switch. There should be other setting on the router you can set to actually disable the WAN port and operate in switch mode completely, depending on what router you have.

I can't see that turning DHCP on the Wireless router makes any sense at all? In any lmce system you ideally want the Core to be the DHCP server for all devices, including those accessing the LAN via the Wireless router. Just lock down the wireless router properly and your set.

4524

Compatible Products & Services / Re: Z-wave HA-22 compatibility

« on: August 31, 2007, 07:35:43 am »

I was looking at the fiire.com page today and noticed that they are selling the Intermatic HA22 Z-wave adapter.  I didn't think this was compatible with LMCE.  Is that now the case?  I didn't see any recent changes to the Zwave source, so I don't think so, but maybe they know something I don't

The HA-22 is supported as far as I know... we don't use them though so I do not have any direct experience of this SUC.

4525

Users / Re: Diskless MD

« on: August 31, 2007, 07:18:18 am »

Thanks guys.  I will try the advice tonight when i get home from work.

When I go to the Wizard, Devices, Media Directors it shows a MD as Core/Hybrid.  Is this what I should delete? I am trying to that that this might be the only one listed.

I did get it to recognize the diskless MD one time and it hung as part of the setup and I I thought it froze. I will stick it out now and wait.  About how long should it take for the first time?  I have seen all different ranges of times on the boards.

DO NOT DELETE THE CORE/HyBRID

The Core Hybrid is the Core's integrated MD/Orbiter deleting that will totally wreck your system.

If there is not other MD listed under the Core/Hybrid then your previous efforts to 'manually' add an MD did not actually add anything and you should just set the BIOS in your new MD to PXE boot and connect it and it should auto add as described in my earlier post. The reason I wanted you to delete it if it had been added by your manual add attempts is that the Core identifies all your devices by Mac Address and if your new MD's mac address was already in the DB then it would not get added automatically again until it was removed - deleting the MD from Wizard -> Devices ->Media Directors does this.

4526

Users / Re: Diskless MD

« on: August 31, 2007, 07:12:13 am »

I also had a problem with just booting to PXE - (I don't have a dual NIC environment as I am still just playing, gonna build up a dedicated system from components in due course). The Dell laptop boots and goes through the initial part of Linux startup, changing the font, doing the announcement, then the last message I can actually see is running a .sh script that says something about diskless... it disappears too quickly as at that point it reboots again and goes into an endless loop and never gets any further!

I then read the bit RGoolsby refers to about adding the MD in the admin console. I don't know if this is a new bug for 0704, but the Add button does nothing. It just refreshes the screen - if you are not careful you could accidentally misinterpret the OnScreen orbiter config section for the core/hybrid as the new device and reconfigure that one - thankfully I carefully checked before I did this. No matter what I tried I couldn't Add a new MD (unlike in the Add new Device section which works just fine), so I couldn't type in the MAC as the instructions indicate.

In the end, I added a new Device from that dialogue (instead of new MD), struggled a little picking the right Template and other details. But finally got the device in with the MAC, now as soon as I boot the laptop it went all the way through just fine, and in the Admin console it correctly identifies it as an MD...

If you get into an endless loop in the console on boot up that almost olways means that your display drivers are not setup correctly and X can't start as at this point on the first real boot the AVwizard needs to run and it can't if X is not running.

4527

Users / Re: Trident VESA PC in UK

« on: August 31, 2007, 07:07:38 am »

You know, it just hit me. What I really want to know is what brand and model case they are using. We can use our own motherboards in these cases, and the cost could be a lot less prohibitive. Why do we need to use the same exact components that Fiire has chosen? Can't we find a motherboard that would fit the bill?

The Fiirestation is based on a product from Via designed for the industrial & public signage markets (ie big plasma screen hanging on wall in your local Mall). The case is not available separately it is custom to Via and the whole unit is only available direct from Via. It uses the NX-15000 motherboard;

http://www.icp-epia.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=252

We have one of these units on test direct from Via and it performs beautifully in every respect... under UI1.

So you could find an enclosure you like and add any one of several Via C7/CX700M motherboards and build your own unit... go get the Unichrome Pro dirvers from the Via-arena site and compile them. Then set the PXE boot option in bios and connect it to your LMCE core's LAN and your in business. But the gotcha is that with the standard Unichrome Pro drivers you only get UI1

4528

Users / Re: Thin client MD giving the 6040A a try.

« on: August 30, 2007, 06:22:34 pm »

Ok, thats what I wanted to hear.  I want to stream video to all over the house and I would have at least upgraded to the 512 ram for video...  I am still waiting about the cost to upgrade the units.

What do the units with the C7 processor run?

Well the only C7 units they have are actually laptops as far as I can see... which is interesting in its own right! If you want to play/stream video or TV I would strongly suggest that you look for a unit that has a C7 processor at 1.2 Ghz or above and that uses the CN700 or CX700M graphics chip. These will give excellent video performance for sure. But you will need to build your own Unichrome Pro drivers from the sources on the Viaarena site.

4529

Users / Re: Diskless MD

« on: August 30, 2007, 05:50:16 pm »

I am trying to use a laptop with network boot to act as a diskless MD.

I have followed the steps on
http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/Automatic_diskless_boot_of_media_directors

"In LinuxMCE Admin go to Wizard, Devices, Media Directors. Add the media director if this is a new one, and set the mac address. The mac address should be a series of six 2 character sequences separated by colons, like this: 1A:00:F2:21:23:9F"

However I go there and I see my core as a device then I go to add new at the bottom, I update the information (no where for a MAC address) then the only button I see is a close button and the information that I have just created is no where to be found.

I clicked setup diskless media directors and reloaded the router and the MD will not boot.

I can update with screenshots if needed because i am sure my descriptions are not the best.

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

The best and most reliable way to add an MD is to let the system add it automatically for you. I would suggest that you go into Web Admin and delete the MD you added manually. Then reload the router from Wizard -> Restart then click 'Reload Router'. When the Hybrids Orbiter reappears then just plug the Laptop into the LAN side of your Hybrid core (make sure you have set the bios of your laptop to PXE boot) and boot it. The lmce core should autodetect it and start to boot... you will see a message on your laptops screen saying that it "has been announced..." and then you will need to wait while the core stes the new machine up... this will take some while and for a long time nothing will appear to be happening. Be patient! Your Machine will then reboot and will start to PXE boot from the network... and will then run the AVwizard to configure the basic AV settings of your laptop... then it will run the 'Setup Wizard' to complete the setup.... then you are in business!

Hope the above helps

Andrew

4530

Users / Re: Trident VESA PC in UK

« on: August 30, 2007, 05:24:43 pm »

Folks:

I had looked into a company in the UK called Trident Microsystems (similar name to the old graphics chipset and graphics card manufacturer) regarding their computer, the VESA PC, which is strikingly similar in features and appearance to the Fiire Station VESA option (1" fanless wall mount version). They are willing to ship their computers stateside, however, they charge 563 GBP, which when converted to US Dollars, results in the following charges, not including shipping:

Thursday, August 30, 2007

563 British Pound(s) = 1128.71 US Dollar(s)

1 USD =to 0.4988 GBP
1 GBP = 2.00481 USD

So, it would cost $1,128.71, plus S&H, not to mention that they might even charge VAT.

The Fiire Station on the other hand, is distributed by a San Francisco based operation and they charge $899.00 plus S&H.

So, if you are interested in the wall mount option (or back of the TV attached version of a MD), then it appears that you should consider the Fiire Station. Thought I had something when I had come across that UK VESA PC, but, it clearly will cost too much.

This unit does look to be either the same or similar to the Fiirestation... except that they claim C7 @ 1Ghz & Eden @ 1.5Ghz where the Fiirestation uses a C7 clocked at 1.5Ghz so I am not 100% sure.

But A bigger gotcha is that with the VESA PC you will not get the Unichrome Pro II driver software that you need to make UI2 work... UI1 would work fine if you built the freely available Unichrome Pro drivers though.