Topics

46

Users / DST change over not correct....

« on: October 05, 2008, 12:06:22 am »

In the eastern states of Australia, we have just entered DST - but this is several weeks earlier than usual as they changed the rule (again!) this year. LMCE hasn't updated so is now out by an hour, and I assume this is because the auto update system is disabled.

So I tried sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install tzdata but it says it is the most recent version. When I zdump -v Australia/Sydney | grep 2008 I can see it still thinks the change over is at the end of October.

Any ideas on what I need to do?

47

Developers / Symbian S60 3rd edition...compatibility....

« on: October 04, 2008, 03:18:27 am »

I understand that only the 1st and 2nd editions of Symbian Series 60 OS's work, not the 3rd edition (nor 5th!)

Does anybody have any pointers on why the compatibility issue? Is it something really difficult to get around, or is it just that this hasn't attracted any priority so far?

48

Users / Australian LMCE users.....

« on: October 03, 2008, 12:48:59 am »

Darren Mason and I have been chatting about an Australian LMCE Users Group. Perhaps just a simple mailing list to toss ideas around for some monthly telecon meetings? I know there are quite a few AU users out there, and given that there are a number of specific challenges to using LMCE in an Australian context, it might be useful for us to share our knowledge and research...

In any case, can any Australian users please post here so we can get a feel for how many there are around? If we get some interest in this then we will follow up with some details on the hows and whats...

Col.

49

Users / disked/diskless MDs

« on: September 29, 2008, 01:17:06 am »

is there any intent to readd the option for a disked MD rather than just a diskless, since this was removed in 0710?

Also, I understand that a diskless MD will now use any local HDD for swap space. Does this happen automatically? Do you have to format/partition it in any specific way to allow it to detect and use the drive? And does it attempt to detect them on each boot, or if you add a HDD later, do you then have to trigger it to detect it again?

50

Users / MSI WIND PC, has anybody tried this yet??

« on: September 18, 2008, 12:32:48 am »

It is based on the Intel Atom 1.6/745/ICT7 chipsets, with 8111C NIC. New Egg are selling these for US$140, all you need to add is some RAM (beware is it DDR2 SO RAM not standard), but I am having to import one to Australia via a friend, as most US based retailers (inc NE) haven't noticed the rest of the world exists and wont ship. I have already had him bring one out to me, but it was DOA. He is taking it back for exchange tomorrow, but I would really like to know if this is going to work before we go through all the hassle!

51

Users / Crackling/popping audio in KDE...

« on: September 10, 2008, 01:30:24 am »

Time to ask this question again, as i never got anywhere last time!

Since 0710 (can't remember which version, but probably at least since B3), whenever I start KDE, the intro sound is all crackly, sounds like it is being repeatedly gated rather than over driven. Doesn't effect LMCE at all. Gut feeling is that 2 different things are fighting for the device...

Til now I have just ignored it - although I have posted about it before, and at least 1 or 2 others were seeing exactly the same thing - because it was just for KDE. Now, however, I am playing some games in KDE (Tremulous, Nexuiz, Vega Strike and OpenArena) and at least Trem & OA the sound is terrible - sometimes it starts up silent, other times the sound is off most of the time and occasionally pops back for a snatch of music or an effect, other times, (esp during the game splash screens) it sounds crackly just like the KDE intro sound.

Vega Strike and Nexiuz sound far better (not sure yet if the issues with those are just heavy game play sound drops) and I note that Trem and OA I believe use the same game engine (Q3?) and both talk about OpenAL (sound? but how is this different from alsa?)

I have posted on those forums as well, but just wondering if anybody here has any suggestions on what could be causing the problem? I feel that if I can solve the KDE sound problem that this will likely solve the sound problem in these games as well...

52

Users / Question on media attributes...

« on: September 06, 2008, 07:59:43 am »

I am trying to (finally) tidy up all the media attributes in my database... I have never been able to use the Title/Performer/Genre sort mode effectively because the results were always inconsistent. I presumed that was because the attributes were a bit of a mess (which they are) and it is a big job to sort them all out.

But i have noticed some unexpected (to me) behaviour. Sometimes, for instance, performers do not appear in the Performer sort mode which definitely exist in the database. After a bit of experimentation, it seems that if the performer attribute is set against the directory only (ie the media file itself does not have the attribute) then the performer will not appear. As soon as you add the same attribute to the media file, the performer appears.

Fine I thought, I'll set the attribute on both. But then in Genre mode, if the genre is set on both directory and file, then both appear in a sort, whereas performer only appears once (against the file) even if set against both file and directory.

So it seems that I need to set the cover art against both files and directories, but performers only against the files. Genre's can be either or both it seems. Is this everybody else's experience? How do you resolve this - I really don't want to have a complex set of rules as to which I need to set which attributes against. Seems to me that this could be a complexity caused by the select queries the Orbiter uses - is this perhaps something that could be made more consistent in the Orbiter code so that the results of sorts are more consistent? I haven't checked filters or searches closely yet...

53

Users / Asterisk draining batteries on wireless SIP phone?

« on: September 04, 2008, 07:04:53 am »

Has anybody any experience with this type of scenario? I have a wireless SIP phone that I am using as an extension with LMCE -it is supposed to have at least a 60hr standby life. The phone is brand new and seems fine in every other way, including talk time! It works fantastically with LMCE and we are using it as a normal cordless phone around the house (even works down the back yard!)

But if I take it off charge in the morning, it is often almost flat by the evening, and definitely dead by the next morning, which makes it a bit useless. When troubleshooting the SIP side of things I noticed just how much chatting Asterisk and the phone do whilst nothing is going on. I'm just wondering (as talk time seems reasonable) if Asterisk is insisting on talking a lot which drains the batteries... this would be fine for a non-battery device, but not here. Is there anything I can do to tune this?

54

Users / mobile version of the forums not working properly...

« on: August 20, 2008, 08:07:25 am »

Has anyone noticed that the mobile version of these forums has suddenly started not remembering which topics has replies or are new. It seems to get stuck at a point in time and even doesn't show new posts in a topic thread after that point.

Several days ago the mobile version started to grind to a halt and the stopped completely. After a couple of days it all came good again, but now seems to be going back to the point-in-time thing again...

55

Users / Setting up VoIP....

« on: August 20, 2008, 05:47:17 am »

Guys

I started playing with VoIP a month or so ago after I signed up for my broadband provider's VoIP. I understand from previous comments (I think Zaerc or Thom) that SIP can be a little challenging to setup when you are routing over NATs - assuming this is because of the UDP component.

Anyway, I haven't done much so far except get a WiFi SIP phone connected to Asterisk (very nice) and making calls etc between the onscreen Orbiter and the phone. I setup a SIP trunk to my provider and had to guess the parameters a little bit because the terminology doesn't always match. And set up a route and connected one to the other. In the dial plan I am just using 9 for an external line and passing all the other numbers as is, so "9|."

My core connects directly to my broadband router's LAN port, the broadband router is running as a router (ie not bridging or using PPPoE, which I am not interested in) - I set the router up with a "Virtual Server" (basically a NAT) for the SIP port and disabled the SIP functionality on the router (otherwise it intercepts the traffic and doesn't let you set up the NAT!). The NAT points to the core's external interface. And I configure the core's firewall to allow that traffic.

Essentially, I cannot place calls. Whilst tinkering I got various errors depending how I called. Sometimes I just came back with an announcement that the number doesn't work as dialed, or a message saying there was network congestion, etc.

So I called my provider, 1) to check if they had any experience setting up Asterisk on the parameters for their network (not really, except that they said it had been hard in the past!), and 2) to ask them to check their logs to see if my traffic is even getting to them.

Interestingly, their logs indicated they could see me placing lots of calls and could even tell me the numbers I was attempting to call. BUT, he said that the logs suggested that they were successful... they clearly were not, so I'm not sure how to interpret that!

Can anyone out there make any suggestions on the NAT'ing and other configuration that might help - I'm assuming that it is just a problem with the NAT side of things...

56

Users / mapping additional mouse buttons

« on: August 15, 2008, 04:52:00 am »

Just wondering if anybody has done this.

I have a Fiire remote and like it, however frankly most of the time we are using it just for the Menu button and then a standard Logitech wireless USB mouse to navigate and select as it is much faster and more acurate!

Problem of course is the mouse doesn't have a menu button (or media for that matter)

It does, however, have a couple of back/forward buttons and a wheel, etc.

Has anybody managed to map additional mouse buttons to do any LMCE functions? This is just a standard wireless mouse, no additional drivers, just plug and play with LMCE.

I know a device template is supposed to be set up for it but I wouldn't have a clue where to start with that - and my logic(?!) Is that the current buttons are mapped by something (either Kubuntu or LMCE) so perhaps I can just extend that...

I would love to have the back/forward buttons mapped as Menu and Media, and perhaps the wheel as volume. But I'm guessing the latter would require not just mapping but also and event handler to receive those events from the orbiter (?) And in turn generate the appropriate DCE commands and send them to the pipe to control the Amp...

57

Users / Add a Marantz amp, and all media stops working....

« on: August 09, 2008, 09:58:55 am »

I finally worked out how to add my Marantz amp and set up the pipes so it is controlled by LMCE. Power on/off, Vol up/down, etc all seem to work nicely.

It is setup as a child of "The core/hybrid" object, and I can see the messages in DCERouter.log being relayed to the child objects ok.

But as soon as I set this up, I can no longer play any media - it starts for a split second (I can hear audio) then stops with a message in the top left saying File not found:

In my Xine player log I can see an event that seems to correlate with the problem and is clearly not good!

05      08/09/08 17:38:31.302           ESC[33;1mXineStreamEventListener called on non-initialized stream - aborting commandESC[0m <0xb1dd9b90>

Here is the relevant section:

Code: [Select]

05      08/09/08 17:50:17.338           Xine_Player::CMD_Play_Media() called for id 1001 filename: /home/public/data/videos/Windows Share-media [33]/TV/DrWho/Doctor Who - Season 3/01 Smith and Jones.mp4 () <0xb6d81b90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:17.341           Xine_Player::CMD_Play_Media() stopping PSS <0xb6d81b90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:17.341           Xine_Stream_Factory::GetStream streamID is 0 <0xb6d81b90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:17.393           Created new stream with ID=1001 deint 0  100 0 <0xb6d81b90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:17.393           Xine_Player::CMD_Play_Media() set stream 1001 as last rendering to screen. <0xb6d81b90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:17.393           Xine_Player::CMD_Play_Media() called for id 1001 filename: /home/public/data/videos/Windows Share-media [33]/TV/DrWho/Doctor Who - Season 3/01 Smith and Jones.mp4 () with corresponding stream 0x816cbb8. <0xb6d81b90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:17.399           Opening media without chapters/title position: /home/public/data/videos/Windows Share-media [33]/TV/DrWho/Doctor Who - Season 3/01 Smith and Jones.mp4  <0xb6d81b90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:17.551           Xine_Stream::changePlaybackSpeed no running seekers found <0xb6d81b90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:17.551           Xine engine set new zoom level to X:100, Y:100 <0xb6d81b90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:17.564           Read media A/V information: [AAC 2.0 (libfaad)]/[ISO MPEG-4 (ffmpeg), 624x352] => [pcm]/[39:22] <0xb1e0db90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:17.567           Xine_Player::EVENT_Playback_Started(streamID=1001) <= AV info <0xb1e0db90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:17.574           Read media A/V information: [AAC 2.0 (libfaad)]/[ISO MPEG-4 (ffmpeg), 624x352] => [pcm]/[39:22] <0xb1e0db90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:17.574           Xine_Player::EVENT_Playback_Started(streamID=1001) <= AV info <0xb1e0db90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:17.580           Read media A/V information: [AAC 2.0 (libfaad)]/[ISO MPEG-4 (ffmpeg), 624x352] => [pcm]/[39:22] <0xb6d81b90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:17.580           Xine_Player::EVENT_Playback_Started(streamID=1001) <0xb6d81b90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:18.459           [ID: 1001]  CHAPTER:0 POS:760 TITLE:0 SUBTITLE:-1 AUDIO:-1 TOTAL:2665040 (seek 0) t.c. ctr 0 freq 1, <0xb0c7cb90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:18.579           Xine_Player::CMD_Play_Media() ended for filename: /home/public/data/videos/Windows Share-media [33]/TV/DrWho/Doctor Who - Season 3/01 Smith and Jones.mp4 with stream 0x816cbb8. <0xb6d81b90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:19.461           [ID: 1001]  CHAPTER:0 POS:1800 TITLE:0 SUBTITLE:-1 AUDIO:-1 TOTAL:2665040 (seek 0) t.c. ctr 1 freq 1, <0xb0c7cb90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:20.465           [ID: 1001]  CHAPTER:0 POS:2800 TITLE:0 SUBTITLE:-1 AUDIO:-1 TOTAL:2665040 (seek 0) t.c. ctr 1 freq 1, <0xb0c7cb90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:21.054           Xine_Player::CMD_Stop_Media() with corresponding stream id 1001 0x816cbb8. <0xb6d81b90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:21.055           Xine_Stream::changePlaybackSpeed no running seekers found <0xb6d81b90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:21.161           Xine_Player::EVENT_Playback_Completed(streamID=1001) <0xb6d81b90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:21.166           XineStreamEventListener called on non-initialized stream - aborting command <0xb1e0db90>
05      08/09/08 17:50:21.437           Closed stream AV with ID=1001 <0xb6d81b90>

As soon as I delete the amp device and reload the router, media comes good again. Add the device back in and the problem comes back....

Can anyone please point me in the right direction on this one?

58

Users / TV control/scenarios...

« on: August 09, 2008, 04:15:37 am »

Does anybody know if it is documented anywhere exactly what LMCE does by default to control a TV when you do different things?

I have finally fixed up the bug that stopped transmissions from USBUIRT in RC2, thanks to Seth!

But I seem to be back to where I was last time I tried to get LMCE to control my TV - it clearly controls it, and I even got it to switch channels (internal tuner, not using VDR at this point) and change volume....

but my problem is it seems to do bizare things like when I switch from media on the orbiter to "Live TV" it correctly changes the TV's input back to its own tuner, but also turns the TV Off! Then several seconds later (presumably the IR delay setting of 7 seconds) it turns it back on again - rather redundant! When I try to switch back it does the same thing but never turns the TV back on, and I have to do that manually. And I suspect (without any basis!) that the USBUIRT detects me doing that and may be screwing up LMCE state-machine tracking the TV's status (don't know if it does that...)

Also, I can't work out how to turn off the TV manually from LMCE - if I choose Power I can use the display on/off buttons, one just ignores me, the other just cancels that screen and goes back to the screen saver, neither do anything to the TV! And once I do turn it off - what triggers LMCE to turn it back on if I cannot see the on-screen orbiter to select anything (BTW, I'm using a Fiire remote, but also have a mouse connected)

Any help would be hugely appreciated!

59

Users / When will updates start flowing?

« on: August 09, 2008, 04:07:14 am »

Its been quite a while since 0710RC2 was released, but in all that time no updates have been pushed. I'm aware that a lot of fixes have been made and various other updates/features, but also that there is a struggle on to merge 2 source trees, etc - is that why no updates are flowing? If so, does anybody have a feel for when that effort might be complete and updates start coming?

60

Users / Australian Z-Wave....

« on: August 07, 2008, 06:00:21 am »

I contacted ACT about their Z-Wave products do determine if they have plans to produce an Australian/NZ version of their range - essentially the same as the EU product but with different power plugs and slightly different RF frequency.

Apparently, they are quiet interested in doing so, and would be keen to contact a local company willing to JV with them to spread the dev costs. Does anybody know of an HA type company based in AU/NZ that would be interested in pursuing this?