Messages

61

Users / Failed connecting to asterisk manager

« on: September 04, 2007, 07:27:18 pm »

I have been having problems with App_Server starting and in the log file for asterisk get the message

Failed connecting to asterisk manager

I had initially thought it was the sound card causing the issue because after

modprobe snd-dummy

App_Server seems to start fine just with out any sound.

After finding the asterisk error log I am now wondering if disabling the sound is allowing asterisk to work which in turn is allowing App_Server to start.

fix the problem with asterisk and then the sound should work and App_Server should start- hopefully

I assume it is failing to find the asterisk manager because its not running, can i check this with a command?

62

Users / Re: uk rig to replace sky+

« on: September 04, 2007, 03:21:38 pm »

right, abit more investigation into the sound issue has led me to try
the commands "aplay -L", "aplay -l" both of which bring back info about the soundcard suggesting it is a USB device.

I have then tried "sudo alsamixer -n 2" which brings up the mixer app for the sound card.

So It seems that the soundcard is there and working ok?

it just seems to be App_Server that is confused, is there a way to edit the config of the audio like you can with the video by editing /etc/x11/xorg.conf?

J

63

Users / Re: uk rig to replace sky+

« on: September 04, 2007, 02:24:04 pm »

Its been a few dayd and things are progressing -  slowly, good times
having audio and svideo problems, bad times

In the end I went with an asrock AM2NF3-vsta motherboard, It was reasonably cheap and was the only one I could find that has 5 pci slots which should be enough.

It has a built in sound card, C-media CM6501 and although it works within the KDE desktop it seems to be causing linuxmce a few problems,

When first installing linux mce it runs through the avwizard and sound is heard.

then when linuxmce boots, App_Server has problems starting. After fidiling around for a while I realised that on the LimnuxMCE Launch Manager I saw no sound driver in the box under the audio tab and when I click on change audio settings nothing happens.

i had a look around the forum and found a way of disabling the sound "modprobe snd-dummy" and then App_Server seems to start ok

So It seems my sound card although being available in the kde desktop doesn;t want to work with Linux MCE, any idea how I fix this?

the problem with the video is that I have a pvr150 and am inputting the signal from the back of my sky+ box via a s-video cable, I get a picture but it is flickering  as though i haven't got a setting quite right but i don't know what to alter?

As I was expecting there are a few issues with getting linuxmce setup and it has taken me a little while to get an MD up and running but am getting there with that slowly too.

the main issue I have experienced so far is working out how to work out whats going on when it doesn't seem to work. working out how to get into the avwizard again after inital setup was not obvious but now I have worked out holding down the left shift button allows me to do that.

J

64

Users / Re: Best Value NVIDIA Card for UI2

« on: September 03, 2007, 01:47:40 pm »

I have just bought a

NVIDIA GeForce 6200 256MB AGP

 in the UK which cost me £25 which i think is pretty good going.
I have managed to get it working with ui2 which so far seems fine, still configuring it all though and i need to sort out if the svideo tv out on the card is working right - should it work out of the box or will I need to configure it?

J

65

Users / Re: uk rig to replace sky+

« on: August 29, 2007, 10:36:46 pm »

right then,

it seems the lack of pci slots is an issue a few people have come up with before and so far I have yet to find anyone who has suggested an alternative MB that fits the bill.


so working through my options,

try and reduce down the cards I need, possibile but would prefer not to.

find a MB that can handle as many cards as I need and that is compatible - currently looking

have a MD setup that will be always left on with the tuner cards in - would this be possible? not the most eliquent option and sort of goes away from the idea of a CORE but may be the easiest to implement

the second nic i am not sure if it is actually needed. from the documentation I have read it sounds like the core can use just one nic if you want? if so what are the draw backs/advantages to having 1 or 2 nics.
I already run smoothwall for my connection, so I would have to disable its dhcp to allow the core to do this, but smoothy handles my firewall so should that mean I will be alright with just the one nic?
j

66

Users / Re: uk rig to replace sky+

« on: August 29, 2007, 06:17:52 pm »

Thanks for the reply and confirming that I am heading on the right direction.

will try and limit my post lengths from now on, just wanted to initialy get people aware of the overall project I am attempting, are there many linuxmce users based in the UK here, its good to hear there is at least one


am going to have a look around and see what UI1 is and see if I am going to need to add a better graphics card in the biostars it sounds as though there could be a UI2. am looking at possibly a NVIDIA GeForce 6200 therofore but will report back when i have figured it out.

regarding the tuner card it looks like I should possibly be going for

1 x Hauppauge WinTV HVR 1300 - has mpeg-2 encoder and does digital freeview as well
2 x Hauppauge WinTV PVR 150 has mpeg-2 encoder one for 2 seperate sky inputs

to get it all running I think I am going to have to make use of my spare old normal sky box. The sky+ box although having 2 sat inputs can only output one channel so i will have to cancel my sky+ package and replace with a multiroom package giving me 2 sky cards to go in two boxes, both boxes having access to all the channels on the same sky subscription package.

this should then allow 2 people in 2 different rooms to watch 2 different sky channels.

I have come up with one problem now though, the MB that is used by the developer only seems to have 2 pci slots even though in other ways its the d's b's for linuxMCE.

I was hoping to have 3 X hauppage tuner cards, the conexant BT878, a nic and possibly something else, so as you can see i wil be short a few pci slots, are there any alternatives which come with more pci slots possibly very similar to the one suggested?

I am also wondering about HDD options - I am assuming tv recorded media is going to be best stored actually on the core but my films and mp3's I assume I can leave on another machine or a NAS and accesss from the core  if so would a couple of 250 gig hdd set up in raid be a good plan?


well off I go again to do some more research will keep you posted- hopefully this will be slightly interesting to somebody

67

Users / uk rig to replace sky+

« on: August 29, 2007, 12:40:42 am »

Hi mce peeps,

I have only just come across Linux MCE and so far from what I have read it seems to be exactly what I have been looking for.

I have been using Ubuntu on a few linux boxes for quite a while so was doubly please to find that linuxMCE seems to be based on this.

Of my experiences of linux in a desktop enviroment ubuntu so far has been top so this gives me a good feeling about this being the right way to go.

I am in the UK and currently I have sky+. I love the ability to be able to record 1 channel while watching another but this is tied to the room where the box is located and quite often I find I need to record 2 programs while watching another and want to be able to do this in any room i have a tv in so as you see I am experiencing a few drawbacks and restrictions which it looks as though linuxmce could solve.


After watching the mce video and having a good look around the forum I decided I would start putting together the parts i want to use to build the core for my setup

I have started with the Asus M2UPV-VM mother board as it seem from what I have read that this is what they develop on and then a AMD AM2 Athalon 64 dual core 4000, 1 gig RAM - will I have enough power here?

initialy the main functionality I need to get set up on this base is the sky+ style functionality. I am obviously  going to need some tuner cards if I want to do this.

My plan is to have 2 conventional tuner cards taking their input from 2 different sky satalite boxes which from what I can make out I should be able to control with an ir usb dongle to change channels then I would like to have a third digital tv tuner to allow me to make use of all the freeview digital channels that are broadcast in the uk giving more channel options and recording possibilities.

I am wondering if any one can just make sure I am heading in the right direction with this and what I want to do is possible?
I am also not sure about what choice of tunner cards to go with. i have read quite a few threads on this and hauppage is a name that keeps appearing. checking prices they go from £20 to £400, mpeg2 sounds as though it would be helpful, but can anyone suggest any models that are going to be upto the job but not overkill and un needingly be pushing up the prices.


I would also like to hook up my security cameras to the system, I currently have a Conexant BT878 based card, will I be able to get this setup in the system?


I want to be able to control the whole system with ipaq pdas if possibly as we already have a couple and have a blue tooth usb dongel. how stable is this as a method of controling stuff? I also like the look of the cutom remotes so maybe that is a better way to go.

I woulds also like to get a zwave control unit to be able to start controlling lights heating etc although it seems the module thingies are limited in the UK currently as we run on 230volts and this isn't compatible with all the US stuff.


for the Media Directors (md) or slim clients I think they are also refered to as, I have a few biostar 200n systems which I would like to make use of. currently they only have AMD sempron 2300 in so i am thinking of upgrading them to athalon 3200 should this be ok with 512 ram? these come with a built in ir port which I assume should allow the MD to turn the tv and audio on and off in thier respective rooms?

there are few more things I want to look into being able to do through linux mce but this, I think, is enough for now.

sorry for the long post and I hope its in the right place. I will start to get the parts shortly and keep you informed of how I get on and probably answer a lot on my own questions which hopefully will help others