710 Release TODO

[danielk]

Just so people know why 710 isn't here yet. Here are the major TODO's, the "*" ones are ones I really want to have fixed before 710, and the "+" are ones I'd like to fix since the release will be delayed anyway for the "*" ones.

The remaining TODO's are:
  VIA support is pretty lame at the moment:
    * Cursor leaves dandruff (fix is to enable SWCursor in xorg.conf, need to make default)
    * MythTV menu text not always drawn.
       (Maybe switching from 24 bit to 16 bit fb helps?)
       (If not, maybe MythTV OpenGL menu drawing should be enabled?)
  nVidia 7150 + and some 6150 systems have high cpu problem
    * Causes high Xorg usage with MythTV + Xine, unless V-Sync disabled
       (Worst case, we can detect high CPU usage and enable V-Sync hack.)
  Z-Wave
    * We need US (120v) USB support, basically ZCU101
    * I think we need to make sure Hari's stuff is all on the DVD/CD +
       working for HA22 in Europe
    + It would be nice to support ZCU201 in addition to HA22
       (probably a freebe as part of getting ZCU101 working.)
  Insteon
    + We have Paul's driver, which is fine; but it would be nice to
        have Dan Damron's stuff with the plug-n-play USB Insteon device.

PS New things may be added to this as testing reveals more problems, but as you can see the remaining issues seem to be mostly related to specific hardware and not overall system issues. This also doesn't list problems with beta 3 which have been fixed in SVN already..

[ddamron]

Daniel,

Thanks to Seth, we've found some bugs in the X10 support of Insteon.. I'm working through them now..
Once that's fixed, I'll update with Hari's sqlcvs to get the code there. 

Also, the PLCBUS code, while still not 'tidied' up, is functional.
I'll see if hari and I can schedule a time to get that code plug and play.

I've also tested the Fiire's debian image with 0710.  As expected, it works, but without any enhancements.
(ie xine not updated, MPlayer doesn't work, and as always, MythTV & KDE do not work.)

HTH

Dan

[PeteK]

Daniel--

Do you mean Pete's Insteon driver?  I know I haven't done that much, but I'm going to claim credit for what I did do! 

This is a pretty basic driver, especially compared to Dan's PLM driver, but It was a first cut and does provide basic USB-PLC functionality.  So far I think I'm the only one that has tested this, and Pluto is still trying (somewhat) to resolve a start-up issue with it.  I really think this should be tested by at least one person other than me before we call it ready for 0710 and put it out.

The preferred path I think at this point would be to recommend the Insteon PLM, a newer device with a better interface and a much more complete (thanks to Dan) driver. With the PNP detect script, it should be functionally comparible with the USB device for the end user.

As for syncing Dan's driver (currently in Hari's DB, I believe) to the release (pluto's server), have you guys found a way to do that?  I know Kirill definitely had problems doing that with some of my templates that I had checked into Hari's server and then tried to put in the Pluto server.


I've been busy with work lately, but I have been trying to get a ZCU101 for testing, but I haven't been able to yet.  It sounds like Hari's got the USB driver working.  I'm pretty familiar with the previous Zwave implementation, so if tweaks are needed for the new device, I can help work out those issues.

[ddamron]

Petek,

Thanks for dropping in there...
Yes, he means your driver..
I'm expecting a delivery this friday for a USB PLC.  I will test it with your driver as soon as I get it.
(BTW, thank you to Daniel for sending me a PLC)

All the best,

Dan

[posde]

Hello Daniel,

I don't see VDR in your show stopper list. Does this mean VDR is now in working and usable conditions? Or is VDR falling off 0710?

rgds
Oliver

[danielk]

Daniel--

Do you mean Pete's Insteon driver?  I know I haven't done that much, but I'm going to claim credit for what I did do! 

Yes, yes I do

This is a pretty basic driver, especially compared to Dan's PLM driver, but It was a first cut and does provide basic USB-PLC functionality.  So far I think I'm the only one that has tested this, and Pluto is still trying (somewhat) to resolve a start-up issue with it.  I really think this should be tested by at least one person other than me before we call it ready for 0710 and put it out.

The preferred path I think at this point would be to recommend the Insteon PLM, a newer device with a better interface and a much more complete (thanks to Dan) driver. With the PNP detect script, it should be functionally comparible with the USB device for the end user.

As for syncing Dan's driver (currently in Hari's DB, I believe) to the release (pluto's server), have you guys found a way to do that?  I know Kirill definitely had problems doing that with some of my templates that I had checked into Hari's server and then tried to put in the Pluto server.


I've been busy with work lately, but I have been trying to get a ZCU101 for testing, but I haven't been able to yet.  It sounds like Hari's got the USB driver working.  I'm pretty familiar with the previous Zwave implementation, so if tweaks are needed for the new device, I can help work out those issues.

Shoot, I just got a ZCU101 for testing the ZWave stuff, I could have gotten one for you too. I sent ddamron the Insteon device you sent me, so that he can look at that stuff.

[danielk]

I don't see VDR in your show stopper list. Does this mean VDR is now in working and usable conditions? Or is VDR falling off 0710?

It's more or less working. But there won't be a lot of extra functionality VDR plugins this time around.. VDR==DVB for now.

[posde]

It's more or less working. But there won't be a lot of extra functionality VDR plugins this time around.. VDR==DVB for now.

Now that I know about the missing support for the pvrusb2 etc, I can live with it.

I just hope orbiters (n800 in particular) will be able to control the VDR on the core, and the MDs can watch channels off of the core, too.

That would be a huge step forward. And having the source of the VDR implementation wouldn't hurt either ;-)

rgds
Oliver

[totallymaxed]

Just so people know why 710 isn't here yet. Here are the major TODO's, the "*" ones are ones I really want to have fixed before 710, and the "+" are ones I'd like to fix since the release will be delayed anyway for the "*" ones.

The remaining TODO's are:
  VIA support is pretty lame at the moment:
    * Cursor leaves dandruff (fix is to enable SWCursor in xorg.conf, need to make default)
    * MythTV menu text not always drawn.
       (Maybe switching from 24 bit to 16 bit fb helps?)
       (If not, maybe MythTV OpenGL menu drawing should be enabled?)
  nVidia 7150 + and some 6150 systems have high cpu problem
    * Causes high Xorg usage with MythTV + Xine, unless V-Sync disabled
       (Worst case, we can detect high CPU usage and enable V-Sync hack.)
  Z-Wave
    * We need US (120v) USB support, basically ZCU101
    * I think we need to make sure Hari's stuff is all on the DVD/CD +
       working for HA22 in Europe
    + It would be nice to support ZCU201 in addition to HA22
       (probably a freebe as part of getting ZCU101 working.)
  Insteon
    + We have Paul's driver, which is fine; but it would be nice to
        have Dan Damron's stuff with the plug-n-play USB Insteon device.

PS New things may be added to this as testing reveals more problems, but as you can see the remaining issues seem to be mostly related to specific hardware and not overall system issues. This also doesn't list problems with beta 3 which have been fixed in SVN already..

Re Z-wave... the ZCU101 & 201 are the same in all respects apart from the radio frequency they transmit/receive on. The 201 works on the European frequencies and the 101 work on the North American frequencies. At a software level they are identical.

[cirion]

Hello Daniel,

I don't see VDR in your show stopper list. Does this mean VDR is now in working and usable conditions? Or is VDR falling off 0710?

rgds
Oliver

I'm hoping for some improvements too... I'll just have to wait and see

[DTS]

+1

But I understand that if 0710 is going to be released anytime soon they will have to make some sacrifices. But VDR is the most important feature in 0710 for me.

Do I understand correctly that it is not possible to use a MD to see TV with VDR? You have to use it as an Hybrid?

[cirion]

As VDR is now, it works only on the core and the menus are not finished.
The EPG works fine. DVB cards must be installed in the Core only.

With vdradmin installed (has to be installed manually), VDR also has a nice webinterface to zap channels on the core or schedule recordings. It also has the full EPG that is received throug DVB.

There is a hack to use the VDR setup that is on the core on MD's, again manual setup.

For now VDR seems to work well, but what remains is finishing the LinuxMCE GUI.
I'm just guessing from posts on this forum...

Personally I would like to se VDR supporting DVB cards in any MD and again any MD would then be able to use any of those DVB cards.
I have a DVB-S card that has to be in the living room where my sat cable is.

I am also hoping that the plugins for VDR works... I would like to drop my Dreambox and get all 6000 channels from my sat dish working mostly like they do in my Dreambox, but from any MD... Wishful thinking

[Zaerc]

In all honesty, I don't see a need to hold back the release because of these minor issues with some hardware that a lot of people don't even use.

VIA: support sucks even worse then ATI's, the only difference is that fiire doesn't sell that.

Nvidia: a minor problem with 2 chipsets for which the workaround is apparently already known.

Zwave/Insteon: this is an ongoing development thing, if it's not ready for the big time by now it should be postponed to an update or even the next release (especially with Kubuntu-8.4 around the corner). 

Now I don't mean any disrespect to all the people working hard to solve these issues (and add new features) but I do think at the very least another beta should be released.

[DTS]

As VDR is now, it works only on the core and the menus are not finished.
The EPG works fine. DVB cards must be installed in the Core only.

Just to make it clear: So I must have my cards in the core, but it is also the only place I can watch Tv?

[teedge77]

zaerc has a good point about the update part. will there be/is there a good update mechanism for patching things like that in lmce 0710? a new release and then a few patches every month to fix some stuff would be nice.