Messages

4606

Installation issues / Re: MCE 1.1b2 does not display the MD properly in my test machine

« on: July 07, 2007, 09:26:44 pm »

I have read about Pluto and Linux MCE two weeks ago and since then i am trying to test it in my computer.
It sounds like an amazing software with lots of posibilities as a residential bridge. I have read about residential bridges capable of managing home automation, communications and video about two year ago. It sounded great for me, but soft and hard was too expensive to try them.
Now my dream can go to live with Linux MCE.

I have made a Linux MCE 1.1B2 test installation in one computer. I installed it as hybrid Core/MD and booting directly in Linux MCE.
The Core seems to be working properly, as DHCP and web admin works and it dispatches orbiters properly.

When Ubuntu installed, I could manage the KDE desktop and all seem to work properly (in 1280x1024@80Hz)
Then I installed MCE and select booting as MD instead of KDE. My problems just started. First my computer showed just the basic 640x480. Then I could manage to change it to 1280x1024, but the MD doesn't display properly, the orbiter does not work well and i cannot see video or even pictures correctly.
I have been playing with U1 and U2 (with and without transparencies) and the interface does not work. I can see the buttons but not the background pictures/video. Transparency does not work at all.


I think it is a problem with my display drivers, but have not experience in Linux (i haven't used Unix or Linux since lots of years ago, when X11R6 display systems developed).
My computer has a Pentium 4 3.2GHz and a Gygabyte GA-8I915G-MF motherboard wich has a Intel 915G integrated video adapter.
The Linux MCE installer seems to configure the system to use a basic i810 device driver.

What driver should I use? How can I select the correct driver and install it in Ubuntu? I remember that installing display drivers in Linux required kernel recompilation and some makes....

Thank you for your help.

The i810 driver is the right driver to use with the onboard Intel graphics on a i915 motherboard but UI1 is your only option with this hardware in our experience. Kubuntu will automatically detect the i915 motherboard so you should not need to do anything special on install.

4607

Installation issues / Re: Too high resolution on startup

« on: July 07, 2007, 09:19:17 pm »

what port does the web admin run on? I have the same problem but can't access anything from another machine - can't do anything on the linuxmce box itself because the signal is out of range. I'd have thought it would choose a res/refresh the hardware it detects during install would actually support?

Its on port 80 and if you accepted the defaults on install it will be at the IP of 192.168.80.1

4608

Users / Re: Diskless media director boots halfway

« on: July 07, 2007, 09:08:48 pm »

The CN700 / Via based MB is the problem. There may be a workaround coming but many people have had problems getting the VIA stuff to cooperate with Linux past basic computing. I got most of the way with a CX700 and then both the video and audio drivers weren't working. Looking deeper there was a tedious process to build both with no indication on the via boards that it would actually work.  I decided to wait since I know the developers are looking at the Via platform and they will make something with a higher chance of working.

Once you build/install Openchrome then then CN700/CX700/CLE266 boards work fine in our experience with LMCE.

Andrew

4609

Installation issues / Re: Start-up to a black screen with mouse pointer

« on: July 06, 2007, 11:18:16 am »

I can't open a terminal window as I cannot see anything other than my mouse pointer.

The screenshot would be a complete black screen with a movable mouse pointer on it.
http://82.77.255.214/kubuntu-linuxmce.iso
I can ctl-alt-F1 - F6 for cmd line sessions, but that ain't much good unless I can change the config from the command line.

What is the URL for the web admin? 

If you open a console with ctl-alt-F1 - F6 then login... once your logged in type 'screen -r' <return> and then copy the text output back here then one of us can see what causing your problem :-)

4610

Installation issues / Re: Introducing: web orbiter

« on: June 26, 2007, 11:04:42 am »

Hi people,

From posts on this list, there seems to be a prevailing notion that to get your first MD set up (which requires a working orbiter) you need to install LinuxMCE as a hybrid. This is not entirely true, but not surprising as the better solution isn't exactly widely advertised... so for anyone who haven't heard about this yet:

What you want to use is the web orbiter, which in the interest of clarity was named "generic Proxy Orbiter" and which runs inside the equally-clearly-named "generic web device". In the admin interface of your core, click on "Show Devices Tree" ->  "CORE" -> "Create Child Device". Select "Generic Web Device" from the Device Template menu, then click "Pick device template". Reload the router, then go to http://dcerouter/pluto-admin/weborbiter.php. Log in, select "Generic Web Device" from the Device menu, click "Submit", and you got an orbiter.

Be worn - it's a *very bad* orbiter. It's bad even in Pluto standards. But it works, mostly, at least well enough to get your MD set up.

Itai

A good point. The Web Orbiter is a possible way to get the 'New MD' announcement. However in our experience this can be somewhat hit and miss due to the way the Web Orbiter is implemented - sometimes it just misses the announcement message. If you miss the announcement then you can get into a situation where that machine's Mac address gets stuck in a kind of 'limbo' and does not get re-announced if you attempt a 2nd time to kick off an initial pxe boot.

Another solution... though is to add the Windows Orbiter to a Windows XP machine. Just boot your Windows machine on the LMCE network and use your browser to go the the Web Admin login page of your Core. You will see a link there to download the Windows Orbiter. Just install it and then launch the Orbiter and follow the on screen setup instructions. Once installed and added you then have the Orbiter running on your Windows machine and this allows you to see the announcement messages when you add a pxe booted MD.

Hope this helps

Andrew

4611

Installation issues / Re: LinuxMCE 1.1 beta2 install failed

« on: June 26, 2007, 03:03:03 am »

Hi
Am complete newbie to Linux and Linux MCE. Managed to install LinuxMCE version1.0 on Kubuntu 6.10 as per install manual on website. Chose core option. All installed ok. PC boots into dcerouter ok. DHCP working to all XP machines - all ok.
Installed Kubuntu 7.04 to new pc. PC Spec Asus M2n-VM-DH with Athlon X2 2800 CPU, Saphire X1650 GPU, 1Gb RAM, Hauppauge HVR-1300 & 250GB Samsung SATA HDD.
Installed LinuxMCE 1.1 beta 2 as per web instructions. This detects LinuxMCE core, select current DHCP allocated IP address then freezes on next window with message use existing orbiter to continue. Truble is I don't have an orbiter (that I know of).

Is there any issue with running 1.0 core with 1.1b2 media director. Or any help on what causes install to freeze?
Can post logs if needed.

The problem here is two fold;

Firstly a dedicated Core needs an Orbiter to 'announce' the addition of a new MD to... you don't have one. Secondly intermixing 1.0 & 1.1 is not a good idea at all.

So I would suggest that you always install a Hybrid Core and not intermix the two releases at all.

4612

Feature requests & roadmap / Re: Single NIC installation

« on: June 25, 2007, 05:19:33 pm »

All our Core's are single NIC now... and we have no problems with that config under lmce at all. It works fine... no different to the way it did under Pluto in fact.

How exactly is that configured?

It seems to me I should be able to do at least 1 of 2 setups for Single NIC setup:

NIC has two IP addresses.
Main router is 192.168.1.1 which has DHCP disabled. LMCE runs static 192.168.1.10 to connect to the router (and thus internet) and static 192.168.80.1 to serve DHCP and gateway for other systems on the network, routing traffic to 192.168.1.1 router. This doubles the traffic on the NIC as data comes in on the .80.x network and leaves the same port bound for the .1.x network. The main router would have to have an entry for the .80.x network if port forwarding was required on client machines. It's also possible the main router config tool only allows forwarding to addresses on the .1.x network, regardless of manual routing table entries (Linksys stock firmware, for example).
This seems to be the default for LMCE, or am I wrong?

LMCE for DHCP only, no routing.
Main router is 192.168.1.1 with DHCP disabled. LMCE runs static 192.168.1.10 to serve as DHCP server. DHCP packets setup clients to use 192.168.1.1 as default gateway but to network boot from 192.168.1.10. All computers are still on the .1.x network, so no considerations need to be made from the main router perspective for things like port forwarding.
This is how I would prefer and intend to setup and seems to be the most sensible setup for a single NIC system.

During the install I told it my network base was 192.168.1 and it immediately assigned a second IP to the NIC of 192.168.1.1, causing a conflict with my main router. It seems I need to manually configure the network to set it up as I want.

Here is how we setup all our Pluto/lmce systems;

The Hybrid/Core has a single NIC. Physically the Hybrid/Core is connected to the LAN port of a Wireless AP/Router the other MD's are also connected to LAN ports on the Wireless AP/Router. The broadband is connected to the WAN port on the Wireless AP/Router.

The Hybrid/Core is configured with its Internal LAN in the IP address range 192.168.80.2 to 80.128 for MD's and 80.129 to 80.240 for none MD devices. The Hybrid/Core is on the fixed address of 192.168.80.1. The External WAN side address the Hybrid/Core is set to a fixed address of 192.168.20.99 and its gateway address is set to 192.168.20.1 (which is the Wireless AP/Router)

We have several Core's setup this way and it wirks fine. Hope this helps

Andrew

4613

Users / Re: DHCP and wireless laptop

« on: June 25, 2007, 04:57:21 pm »

I have noticed that I get a slow response when I connect my laptops via WiFi to the core. I can "repair "the connection and even though it seems that the repair has failed it actually works, but slow. I have a D-Link router w/ DHCP off (and its the actual hardware firewall) and two d-link access points and I get the same results from all of them. My laptop is setup with a default IP adress that it grabs when I first start and gets replaced after the repair attempt. All indications are that LMCE's DHCP server is slow or delayed in its response.

Your setup should work fine. I think there is an errant setting in the DHCP server or the wireless to wired to DHCP server's additional latency is the problem. We need an expert to tell us what to look at.

We use Netgear WGR614v6's on our Hybrid/Core's and they are the router and the AP combined. We have a WAN connection coming into the Netgear's WAN port (in your case it would be from your cable modem) and the Hybrid/Core is connected to one of the LAN ports. In another config we have some devices connected directly to the LAN ports on the Netgear and then others connected via a 2nd Netgear router (no wireless). In both cases the Hybrid/Core is the DHCP server. Both for wired and WiFi connected devices get their addresses quickly and we have not seen any sluggishness at all in DHCP response.

4614

Users / Re: DHCP and wireless laptop

« on: June 24, 2007, 08:54:24 pm »

I just discovered today that I'm not able to acquire an IP address from the core DHCP server using the wireless card in my laptop.  I'm able to acquire an IP just fine if I use the physical ethernet connnect.  Here's my setup:

Cable Modem ->Wireless Router (DHCP disabled) ->DCERouter (DHCP server)       
                                                                   ->VOIP Modem (wired connection)
                                                                   ->Laptop (wired)                       
                                                                   ->Laptop (wireless)     

The DCERouter(core) has a single NIC card.  The Laptop and VOIP modem can acquire IPs in the 192.168.80.xxx range just fine.  When I disconnect the ethernet cable on the laptop, it can see the wireless router just fine, but it can't acquire and IP from the core.  Should this setup work or am I missing something?

Hmmm... must be caused by the config on either your Wireless AP or your wireless card. We use wireless devices all the time with our lmce systems and they have always worked completely reliably for us.

Is your Wireless AP configure correctly?

Andrew

4615

Feature requests & roadmap / Re: Support other Linux distributions

« on: June 23, 2007, 05:41:06 pm »

I would like to see support for other Linux distributions because I can't even get Kubuntu 7.04 to install on my fairly run-of-the-mill Intel Pentium D system with a 945P chipset. Yes, I am going to say something over in the Ubuntu forums about this, but now I can't even try Linux MCE because the Ubuntu team apparently forgot to test their product on more than one type of system.

Why does LinuxMCE require Kubuntu/Ubuntu/whatever?

Hi there,

We have several Hybrid/Core's running on various 945 class motherboards... including and Intel i945P & Intel D945Gnt and
we have not found a 945 that failed yet. How does the failure manifest itself?

Andrew

4616

Installation issues / Re: Installation of a Media Director PC

« on: June 23, 2007, 05:30:08 pm »

There is a problem in the design of Pluto/LinuxMCE in that while you can install a CORE, you need an orbiter in order to add diskless MDs.  The best way to do this is to install it as a Hybrid initially.  That being said, you should see your diskless MD successfully boot from your core and print a message on its monitor saying it has announced itself to the core.  Do you have a dual network card configuration? You said DHCP is working with the other xp machines.  Are they connected to your secondary network port on your core?

This is a problem I agree. We always install our Core's as Hybrid/Cores so that we avoid this problem. There really is not much overhead at all and it gives you a lot of additional flexibility down the line.

4617

Installation issues / Re: orbiter...

« on: June 23, 2007, 05:27:09 pm »

I think that selecting UI2 shouldn't even be an option for install. It seems that too many are reporting problems with it, so it would make sense to default to UI1 and allow the user to try UI2 after a successful install.

I tend to agree. UI2 places many more demands on your graphics card/chipset and this can cause enormous problems if you have no experience with either Pluto or lmce. I think choosing UI1 initially is a good idea and having this the default would also be sensible.

4618

Users / Re: low disk space

« on: June 23, 2007, 01:53:25 pm »

ok....i'm getting a low disk space message now. just started when i added a md (diskless boot). the core has plenty o' space...i checked. what do i need to do? i'm freakin out here! ....not really.

report from hd:

Filesystem    Type    Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1     ext3    227G  130G   86G  61% /
varrun       tmpfs    506M  292K  506M   1% /var/run
varlock      tmpfs    506M     0  506M   0% /var/lock
procbususb   usbfs    506M   96K  506M   1% /proc/bus/usb
udev         tmpfs    506M   96K  506M   1% /dev
devshm       tmpfs    506M     0  506M   0% /dev/shm
lrm          tmpfs    506M   33M  473M   7% /lib/modules/2.6.20-15-generic/volat

thanks

It looks like this is a false alert based on your df output above. We had a somewhat similar situation recently and apparently the lmce team know of this false disk space reporting. One thing to keep your eye on though is that if you create a pxe booted MD and then delete in Web Admin Devices->Media Directors it does not get removed completely and it is possible if you do not monitor this that you could have GB's of space not getting freed up. Just check in /usr/pluto/diskless/ and make sure that the device ID for your 'deleted' MD's is not there... if it is delete the directory to recover the disk space.

4619

Users / Re: Adjust LinuxMCE Mouse Speed?

« on: June 23, 2007, 01:45:50 pm »

Same problem here. The mouse speed is just fine, until I start the media station. After that it just gets too slow. This must be the right speed for low resolution screens. Should be configurable, I guess.

It seems that lmce must run a script when you start the media station that resets these setting to some defaults. I guess this is a hangover from the Pluto releases where there was know kde desktop giving easy access to these settings.

Cleary now they should either be left alone by lmce and then the user can set them easily using the standard kde desktop features or some ability to set these defaults needs to be provided in the lmce manager app.

4620

Users / Re: keyboard repeat doen't work any more

« on: June 23, 2007, 10:40:00 am »

Hi,
after I start the media station, the keyboard repeat stops working. What I mean is, I have to press the delete key for every character I want to delete, instead of leaving the key pressed.

How can I handle this?

thanks

Set it in System Settings -> Keyboard & Mouse

However lmce seems to keep resetting back to 'off' !!!!