OK, the --effective=startup flag doesn't work with the above commands- aticonfig complains that they are exclusive and additional settings will be ignored.

So my hack stands... it is in the /etc/init.d/linuxmce script, line 291. Is there a better place to put this or a better way to do it?

So my Radeon HD6320 card is working reasonably now with proprietary catalyst 12.10 driver but I was frustrated by the black borders (about 2cm) around the picture. It seems that the issue is default underscan that the driver imposes. Not sure why.

You can turn it off on the amdcccle from kde desktop and the desktop immediately resizes to fill the screen but there doesn't seem to be any way to make this persistent. Frustrating. Eventually I discovered the following command:

aticonfig --set-dispattrib=dfp2,sizeX:1920 # to set X resolution
aticonfig --set-dispattrib=dfp2,sizey:1080 # to set Y resolution
aticonfig --set-dispattrib=dfp2,positionX:0 # to set X position to 0
aticonfig --set-dispattrib=dfp2,positionY:0 # to set Y position to 0

(where my display adapter is dfp2)

Again, this command immedaitely resizes the image to fill the screen but needs to be run each time you start up or it is lost :-(

So I ended up creating a small script that does the above and calling it from one of the boot up scripts round about where X is being started (will post the hack when I get home later, forget the exact location)

This is obviously not ideal as it isn't part of core linuxmce and the script in question will no doubt be overwritten at some stage when I upgrade.

Any suggestions as to where would be a better place to put this? Or, indeed, a better way to approach the problem?

(This is on my AD04 zotac media director, by the way)

EDIT: I see some references to adding a --effective=startup flag to the aticonfig command to make the change persistent. Will test this afternoon.

I want to use this server as my desktop as well. My desktop usage is mainly for internet browsing, checking email, playing videos and music....

Personally, I would separate your desktop usage from your LinuxMCE setup completely. A laptop/ netbook or dedicated desktop machine with your chosen OS can sit on the linuxMCE network, connect to the media shares on linuxMCE and be used to connect to your core/hybrid and do administration etc but separate machines works better for me for the following reasons:

* Your desktop requirements are not dependent on your LMCE server being up and available. I don't want to make it sound as if the system is unstable because it isn't and my core has run for months on end many times. The issue is the human! You will find yourself wanting to tweak and fiddle once you realise the capabilities of the system. When you do, it is good not to have your desktop (email, web browsing etc) requirements interrupted when you break something.

* And then secondly, I personally have found the KDE desktop running on LMCE particularly slow for some reason. I've only used them on media directors, not on a hybrid but still, that has been off-putting and I try to avoid using it.

* Thirdly, you will obviously be limited to Kubuntu 10.04 (at the moment) as your OS/Desktop of choice and certain software you will not want to upgrade/ change or they might mess with you LMCE setup.

Those are just my experiences with it, others may find differently.

Jeepers, this is an excellent page. Well done.

http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/1004_Video_Hardware_Compatibility_List

Woohoo! L3mce, you're a winner once again!

AlternateSC = 1 in /etc/pluto.conf

RebootWithAvWiz and I have sound over HDMI!!!

Thanks... as requested:

/etc/asound.conf:
http://pastebin.com/Lp2TBRiC

tail -4 /etc/pluto/xine.xonf:

Code:

audio.device.alsa_front_device:hw:0
audio.device.alsa_default_device:hw:0
audio.output.speaker_arrangement:Stereo 2.0

aplay -l:

Code:

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 3: ATI HDMI [ATI HDMI]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: HDA Generic [HDA Generic]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Blast. Still no luck, even rebuilt the MD from scratch to ensure my fiddling with lirc etc hadn't affected anything. The only way I hear sound is when in KDE desktop and I test the multimedia settings.

So it is possible, obviously, to play the sound over HDMI but why not from LMCE, I wonder?

L3, can you point me in the right direction? I'm happy to dig through code and scripts and whatnot and test various things.

Blast... spoke to soon, HDMI audio is not working after reboot. It is possible that I broke something (was fiddling with the LIRC remote control stuff before reboot) but unlikely.

so I can

Code:

aplay -D plug:hdmi superdupertune.wav

and I get sound coming over HDMI but nothing with the usual media director audio or video players. KDE desktop also has sound.

Any pointers? If nothing else I'll stay up late tonight (again) and dig my way through SetupAudioVideo.sh in order to reach the required level of enlightenment

To follow up here, L3mce advised me in IRC to update and then run the SetupAudioVideo.sh. That has provided a decent /etc/asound.conf file and HDMI audio is working, yay! So presumably this will now work out the box with the AD04. Great news, thanks L3.

Busy wikifying this MD: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Zotac_Zbox_AD04

as promised, /etc/asound.conf

Code:

pcm.!default {
  type plug
  slave {
    pcm "hdmi"
  }
}

I vote yes. (to hacks and workarounds on the wiki)... and try to encourage people to mark them as such
Perhaps I'm biased because everything I do is a hack

Agreed... the wiki is a bit chaotic but one day someone will pull it all together and then it will help if the material is there to be organised ;-)

If the page is there, google will index it.

Very nice!

Maybe worth a page in the wiki- How to ring phones from doorbell

or something similar.

Thanks, L3.

Regarding the fglrx(catalyst) version, yes, I downloaded the latest installer from the website (all 100 odd megs of it). It extracts into an exectuable of sorts which then installs rather cleanly. You do need to manually remove the previous version, though. I'll wikify for the AD02 shortly... just don't want to jinx it ;-)

Then, if possible and/or desirable, I can work with you regarding getting it working otb.

Amazingly, got HDMI audio working (mostly) last night. I say mostly because the volume isn't adjustable from linuxmce but that might just require a few further tweaks.

Didn't have the time to update the post but basically I got it going by putting an .asoundrc (I think) file in the home of the root folder which pointed to the hdmi device. Will update when I get home. On reboot, had audio in MD, then I re-ran AVWIz and did the dolby and dts tests as well which (I think) passed. How does one know? I heard sound on each but it wasn't exactly rachmaninoff.... maybe it's because I'm listening on a crummy 2.1 system coming *out* my TV's stereo jack. Need to borrow somone's high-end amp and see if it sounds better. Still, it's a big step.

Now, when searching I see the following page:

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO:Install_XBMC_on_Ubuntu_with_AMD_GPU

Which, I have to say, looks as if it has some pretty cool tips and tricks! It also makes me lust after xbmc a bit....

Oh yes, one other thing, UI2 (non-alpha-blending) doesn't fill the screen. Noticed the same thing in the "zoom" step of AVWiz. I was not able to zoom the image or shift it at all. Is that functionality there in AVWiz still... possibly just the graphics card / conf. So UI2 shows with about a 1cm black frame around it. I *think* that some of my DVDs play at full screen, though... will have to confirm.

And another thing- the zbox comes with a little mce remote and usb-IR receiver... pretty cool. It is usable as far as left,right,up,down,"click", enter go but the other buttons don't seem to work. I imagine it basically emulates a usb keyboard and is sending keystrokes. Would be nice to get the other buttons to work so I don't have to hit F3 etc on the keyboard and can just work from the remote. I see there are some ideas in the link above... maybe I can set it up as a "proper" remote in LMCE rather than just having it work as a keyboard.... however...  I guess I can otherwise figure a way to map some of those buttons to the appropriate keystrokes or something. More late nights ahead.

It is a sleek and attractive device, I must say.

Re the sound issues:

Gonna tinker (late this evening :-( )with some of the info I found in this thread...

http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php/topic,12363.msg87360.html#msg87360