Messages

1

Users / Re: DVB Card info DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T Dual Digital 4 (rev 2)

« on: June 03, 2010, 07:51:24 pm »

DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T Dual Digital 4 (rev 2) info from Ubuntu 9.10 and Mythtv 0.22, hope it is useful!  Dual USB-based DVB-T tuners on a PCI card with a USB hub.

lsusb -v

Code: [Select]

Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0fe9:db98 DVICO
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0
  bDeviceProtocol         0
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x0fe9 DVICO
  idProduct          0xdb98
  bcdDevice           d3.4b
  iManufacturer           1 Dvico
  iProduct                2 Bluebird
  iSerial                 4 0000d34b
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength           99
    bNumInterfaces          1
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0
    bmAttributes         0x80
      (Bus Powered)
    MaxPower              500mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           3
      bInterfaceClass       255 Vendor Specific Class
      bInterfaceSubClass      1
      bInterfaceProtocol      1
      iInterface              0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x01  EP 1 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
     Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       1
      bNumEndpoints           3
      bInterfaceClass       255 Vendor Specific Class
      bInterfaceSubClass      1
      bInterfaceProtocol      1
      iInterface              0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x01  EP 1 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       2
      bNumEndpoints           3
      bInterfaceClass       255 Vendor Specific Class
      bInterfaceSubClass      1
      bInterfaceProtocol      1
      iInterface              0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x01  EP 1 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            1
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x13f2  3x 1010 bytes
        bInterval               1
Device Qualifier (for other device speed):
  bLength                10
  bDescriptorType         6
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0
  bDeviceProtocol         0
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  bNumConfigurations      1
Device Status:     0x0000
  (Bus Powered)

Bus 003 Device 003: ID 0fe9:db98 DVICO
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0
  bDeviceProtocol         0
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x0fe9 DVICO
  idProduct          0xdb98
  bcdDevice           53.4b
  iManufacturer           1 Dvico
  iProduct                2 Bluebird
  iSerial                 4 0000534b
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength           99
    bNumInterfaces          1
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0
    bmAttributes         0x80
      (Bus Powered)
    MaxPower              500mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           3
      bInterfaceClass       255 Vendor Specific Class
      bInterfaceSubClass      1
      bInterfaceProtocol      1
      iInterface              0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x01  EP 1 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       1
      bNumEndpoints           3
      bInterfaceClass       255 Vendor Specific Class
      bInterfaceSubClass      1
      bInterfaceProtocol      1
      iInterface              0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x01  EP 1 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       2
      bNumEndpoints           3
      bInterfaceClass       255 Vendor Specific Class
      bInterfaceSubClass      1
      bInterfaceProtocol      1
      iInterface              0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x01  EP 1 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            1
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x13f2  3x 1010 bytes
        bInterval               1
Device Qualifier (for other device speed):
  bLength                10
  bDescriptorType         6
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0
  bDeviceProtocol         0
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  bNumConfigurations      1
Device Status:     0x0000
  (Bus Powered)


dmesg output

Code: [Select]

indulis@timtam:~$ dmesg | grep dvb
[    9.262164] dvb-usb: found a 'DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T Dual Digital 4 (rev 2)' in warm state.
[    9.262498] dvb-usb: will pass the complete MPEG2 transport stream to the software demuxer.
[    9.298179] dvb-usb: found a 'Pinnacle PCTV Dual DVB-T Diversity Stick' in warm state.
[    9.298239] dvb-usb: will pass the complete MPEG2 transport stream to the software demuxer.
[    9.631315] dvb-usb: DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T Dual Digital 4 (rev 2) successfully initialized and connected.
[    9.631335] dvb-usb: found a 'DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T Dual Digital 4 (rev 2)' in warm state.
[    9.631490] dvb-usb: will pass the complete MPEG2 transport stream to the software demuxer.
[    9.708541] dvb-usb: will pass the complete MPEG2 transport stream to the software demuxer.
[   10.007640] dvb-usb: DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T Dual Digital 4 (rev 2) successfully initialized and connected.
[   10.007686] usbcore: registered new interface driver dvb_usb_cxusb
[   10.040839] dvb-usb: Pinnacle PCTV Dual DVB-T Diversity Stick successfully initialized and connected.
[   10.041000] usbcore: registered new interface driver dvb_usb_dib0700


2

Users / Re: Call for donations for features.

« on: September 25, 2009, 08:21:14 am »

The Amazon affiliate link I set up that would benefit the community, including the 'dev hardship fund' has had 7 clicks and no sales.  Does nobody in this community buy things on Amazon?  this doesn't cost you anything but the community will recieve commission for your sale at 4-7% of the purchase price.  Just click thru the link below and search Amazon, select, Buy, the community gains

http://www.techstyleuk.co.uk/lmce_ass.htm

I didn't know about this and have bought quite a lot of stuff from Amazon UK- how about a sticky in all forums with just the subject "PLEASE DONATE TO LINUXMCE" and the Amazon links and the normal donation button/link.

I'm going to try the new version of LMCE.  For me the things which probably need improving most with LMCE are:

• Faster integration of newer kernel and driver versions (to enable new hardware support- otherwise there is a race between LMCE supporting new kernel versions and other drivers, and the LMCE supported hardware being obsolete and only available 2nd hand)
• Elimination of tearing video

3

Installation issues / Re: Driver problems for DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T Dual Digital rev2

« on: January 28, 2009, 07:26:52 am »

I think my first step would be to set up 8.10 on my machine (I have a reserved partition for this) and test the card.   It may be that with the 8.10 kernel the DVB device drivers will work "out of the box".

If they do, is there still packaging that needs to be done?

4

Installation issues / Re: Driver problems for DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T Dual Digital rev2

« on: January 28, 2009, 06:30:12 am »

Thom- because to support this tuner device you have to install the latest drivers from the LinuxTV site, and I also had to upgrade and recompile the kernel to get a stable working system.  Though the kernel recompile may not be necessary on all motherboards using this tuner it was mandatory for mine.

Can a device template include downloading code from external sites etc?  I don't know if this is possible, or desirable, esp with 810 on the horizon.

If you have another look at the steps I had to do in the post above, do you think these should be part of a device template?  I was publicly flogged for recompiling LIRC, and Zaerc put "danger! danger!! don't do this" comments on the kernel rebuild page on the wiki, so you can see why the idea of putting anything that had been done into a device template didn't occur to me.

Also, I have had weird boot problems which I have only solved in the last couple of weeks, so did not know if it was the new kernel or something else I had done (it wasn't).  Without resolving what this problem was, there was little point in going further.

I have a working xorg.conf for a Panasonic plasma panel- what can be used from this?  If you can point me to an entry point for the steps to take, I'll start.

5

Installation issues / Re: Driver problems for DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T Dual Digital rev2

« on: January 28, 2009, 05:52:36 am »

Chipppy, I have this card working.  As you found, you need to install the latest DVB-T drivers.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DViCO_Dual_Digital_4
http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/How_to_build_from_Mercurial
http://www.linuxtv.org/repo/

I am away from my LMCE machine where I have documented some of the steps I had to take.

How do you know the driver install worked OK? I think I found I had to download the firmware as well for the Rev 2 card, though the instructions say you don't.

I found your posts on the Ubuntu forum as well- if you do

Code: [Select]

ls -l /dev/dvb*
do you see the 2 adapters?  /dev/dvb/adapter0 and /dev/dvb/adapter1

Be warned that to get this DVB-T card working properly, I had to do the following
1) Compile a new kernel (not as hard as it sounds) to get a reliable driver for the USB chip on the Dvico card
2) Compile and install the latest DVB-T drivers from the linuxtv web site (also not that hard)
3) Compile and install the LIRC modules for the remote control that I am using (mceusb2, Microsoft remote and USB receiver).  Needed cos there was a new kernel.
4) Compile and install the latest nvidia drivers

If you don't do steps 1, 2, and 3 you may have an unreliable system.  At least I did but that may be a combination of motherboard and the DVB tuner card.  But if you do just step 2 and install the latest DVB-T driver on a standard LMCE 710 install you will at least get the card working to the point where you can see some TV programs, though your server may hang after a day or 2. 

I used kaffeine to test the card, though you can also use mplayer and xine.  I'll have to get my cheat sheet from home to help out more. Testing info here
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DViCO_Dual_Digital_4

See also
http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB-T_PCI_Cards

Don't despair, once you get through these steps you will have learned a lot about LMCE and will also have a reliable working system!

PS I am also in Perth!

6

Installation issues / Re: Disappointing (no) install

« on: January 28, 2009, 05:20:21 am »

How about just running the 32-bit version?  There seem to be a lot less issues with the 32-bit install, and few limitations that you will hit that would be solved with the 64-bit version.

7

Users / Re: VDR and multiple sources (ie DVB-T and DVB-S)

« on: January 28, 2009, 05:06:00 am »

I am not sure why my Core hardlocks every 6-8 hours with the DVB-C card installed, it might be the reception. The strange thing is that it never locks up before 6 hours, and never last longer than 8 hours... A reboot resets the "timer".

Now I just Dualboot the LivingRoom MD with XP, and use both DVB-C with HD channels and DVB-S + S2.

If anyone have any tips on how to solve or debug this, please tell...

If your system comes right back up after reboot and does not then crash quickly I think it is pretty unlikely to be heat, though checking using fans and opening the case is a an easy way to make sure it isn't.

I was having lockups because the USB driver in the kernel in LMCE 710 is known to have bugs in it.  This was the USB hub built onto my DVB-T card (Dvico Fusion HDTV Dual Digital 4). 

I eventually built a new kernel (2.6.27.10 I think- away from server now, but don't go to 2.6.28), compiled the latest V4L device drivers for my DVB-T card from the LinuxTV site , compiled the LIRC modules I needed, and it has been solid as a rock since then. 

I did have another problem which would cause unreliable booting but that turned out to be a corrupted table that was crashing mysql during its "check" phase during reboot, and disconnecting LMCE and Mythtv processes randomly from Mysql.

What motherboard do you have?  Also it might be worth a trawl through the mail archives from LinuxTV.org to see if any of your DVB cards have known problems.  Updating your DVB drivers using the instructions at http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/How_to_build_from_Mercurial is not too hard.

8

Users / Re: Newbie with Installation from Scratch

« on: January 28, 2009, 04:47:26 am »

Is your aim to have highly reliable disk? Because your design is already "wasting" 2 disks and not achieving it for that level of wastage. If you are that keen to get reliability that you are prepared to waste one disk on parity and another for hotspare, then you definitely shouldn't be using RAID5. Not only is it nowhere near as reliable as most people incorrectly think, it can be less recoverable because of the striping in a loss of array config scenario. It is also vastly slower that any other RAID type (both read and write, and particularly for random access). No serious enterprise uses RAID5 any more, it was always just a compromise to reduce cost by "wasting" the minimum amount of disks. Typically RAID 10 or RAID 01 or meta RAIDs are used.

Actually most large organisations are using RAID5/6 for most data as it performs nearly as well as RAID-10 in transactional random I.O in most cases and you get a lot more capacity for your $.  The exception is where there is a very high write ratio.  Most modern disk subsystems will mask any RAID5 write penalty in the disk controller cache.

One of my customers actually did the test with a disk subsystem and 64 x 15K rpm drives, set up in either RAID5 or RAID-10, and the "crossover" point where RAID-10 got faster than RAID5 was 50% R/W ratio.  Higher write than that the RAID10 was better, less than that RAID5 was better.  This was for random I/O workload.

This might be different using a server set up to do RAID in software, or RAID cards (either fakeRAID or real RAID).  YMMV and I have not researched this to get any real numbers.

A bigger concern is data scrubbing which must be continually carried out checking all the drives for soft or hard errors before a total drive failure in a RAID array.  If this isn't done then the odds of hitting a hard read error during RAID rebuild are quite high.  This holds for both RAID-10 and RAID5.  Of course if you have a RAID5 array with a large # of disks you make the odds higher as you have to rely on ALL the other disks in the array being 100% OK.  With RAID-10 you only have to rely on one other disk being OK.

9

Users / Re: content proxy on MCE Core

« on: January 28, 2009, 04:34:18 am »

Actually from the original post it is not clear if it is a standalone wireless router or a combined ADSL wireless router.  It is also not possible for you to know, so your point about my not reading the original post is purely flame.  In fact, it is clear you did not actually read my post.

I went on to talk about my situation where I am using a combined ADSL wireless router, and posed the question about how this would be handled

but thought for my own setup I'd have...

The second point of my post is that asking someone to change their content filter just because they want to put in LMCE does not seem reasonable.  It also discourages people from using LMCE if it putting it in is an "all or nothing" situation.  Perhaps it would be more productive to talk about whether there is any way to address the networking and content  filter rather than just flaming me (again).  Other people seem to be able to talk about this normally and be helpful to both the original poster and me (thanks Colin!).

It is not as if I have not been documenting what I have been doing and trying to assist other users.  I just happen to think that there are contradictions inherent in LMCE.

If you don't like some of my opinions, well that is your prerogative.  But every post from you is aggressive and a personal attack.  And not just to me. You have also edited my Wiki contributions to scare people off from using the information that both I and other people have used to make our LMCE systems work better (case in point, the entry on updating the kernel, which you wrote "would cause the system to become unstable", whereas following the procedures actually has made my system much more stable).

10

Users / Re: For new Linux MCE users

« on: January 28, 2009, 01:14:59 am »

Sounds like a good thing that you are doing!

Could I suggest that you create "mini-articles" for each of your steps, then you can both reference them and include them in your own personal page, and also iinclude them on the appropriate page in the main Wiki.

The problem with putting all information on "what I did" pages is that someone might have to read all of the user pages to get an answer- say you talk about how to get the VFD running on your case, and someone else talks about how a particular motherboard has a procedure to get the NIC working.

It'd be good to be able to look at the "motherboard" pages and the "cases" pages to get the info I (as a new user) needed instead of trawling/searching through individual pages.

I actually did this restructuring for the Newbie packs a while ago, then all of the editing was lost in a wiki crash.  My reasoning was that it was silly to have the same information repeated in both the "core" and "hybrid" wiki pages, it made a lot more sense to just have them both reference a single paragraph about (say) using the Pioneer DVR-216 as a recommended component.  Makes future editing easier too (one place to change info not 2).

11

Users / Re: content proxy on MCE Core

« on: January 28, 2009, 01:03:29 am »

Colin,

I think the question was about an ADSL modem that has wireless built in to it, so if you want other wireless devices in the house, they need to contact a DHCP server.  If the device is wireless it would need to contact a DHCP server that is accessible on the wireless network.  I haven't thought in depth about this but thought for my own setup I'd have

ADSL Modem/router----wired network #1----LMCE core---wired network#2----Ethernet switch----wired devices
      |                                                                                                                         (DHCP from LMCE core or static)
      |
      |
     /|\   - - - - wireless net - - - - wireless devices (DHCP from ADSL modem/router)

With a combination ADSL modem/router/wireless, how could I put the router's wireless function on the internal network on the right hand side of the LMCE core?   By definition the attachment between the LMCE core and the ADSL router is on the external network, and it is not possible to "split" the ADSL router's wired and wireless components apart to make them live on different network address ranges.

In this (common) situation there seems to be no alternative but to turn off the LMCE core firewall.

I also don't think it is realistic to accept that everyone will give up all their applications that they have set up and are happy with (like content fltering) just 'cos they want to install LMCE in their house.  It should be possible to make LMCE fit in with an existing installation and not require substantial changes to everything else in someone's house- at least for the reason that LMCE is supposed to be "appliance-like", and requiring everything else to change once you plug it in implies a tech savvy user which sorta defeats all of the effort to make LMCE an appliance.

12

Users / Re: Electrical Metering

« on: January 27, 2009, 03:55:02 pm »

For the DIYers
http://www.instructables.com/id/Real_time_Web_Based_Household_Power_Usage_Monitor/

13

Developers / Re: Backup System Improvements (0810 Critical)

« on: January 18, 2009, 07:09:03 am »

indulis

I don't think jon is talking about some kind of "incremental" backup system because he is talking about backing up the database data not the actual media files themselves. Because media file's metadata is also stored in either an .id3 file or embedded id3 tag, there is no real call for backing up that part of the metadata - on complete reinstalls, all this metadata is automatically recovered by default and injected back into the fresh pluto_media database.

...

Actually I was thinking about all of the other information associated with recordings in Mythtv (channel number recorded on, series ID, detailed program info etc).  If we had this as a "data nugget" then in case of reinstalling a system I could move my episodes across to a new server. 

14

Users / Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....

« on: January 13, 2009, 03:46:51 am »

If you are worried about the HD having problems you can also install the smart tools which allow monitoring and self-test of the disks.  I can't remember if they are installed/activated by default.

Code: [Select]

apt-get install smartmontools
More info here http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6983

15

Developers / Re: [Resolved] Testing Alpha/Beta version: updates?

« on: January 13, 2009, 03:42:35 am »

Nick,

I am using 7.10 with a new kernel (2.6.27.10) in order to reliably support the USB chip on my DVB-T tuner.  The system is now pretty stable and reliable (up to 1 week uptime between reboots, usually caused by me wanting to test something like getting my USB tuner to work fully with the latest V4L code). The steps to rebuild the kernel are in the WIKI.  As the 8.10 is an Alpha version, your system and its recordings/media should be considered "throwaway" when you get to Beta or a real release (my understanding of the what the devs have been saying to other testers).

I intend to set up a separate partition for an 8.10 Alpha or Beta and test separately from 7.10.  You might want to consider this?  Not trying to put you off testing but this may be a way to get familiar with LMCE on a known stable base, while at the same time being able to test the new 8.10 release when you feel like it.