Messages

1

Users / Really basic noob questions

« on: January 02, 2015, 01:22:45 am »

I just got an instance of LMCE 12.04 running.  It is a bit of a hack (guest in VirtualBox on Fedora 21 host), but I do indeed have a hybrid system working in that configuration.  (Also working on getting an independent media director up and running - see this post for more details or if you have some ideas:  http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=13853.0)

Now that I'm playing around in the system, a few questions come up.  Most of these are probably crazy simple, but I cannot seem to find answers to them in the wiki, forums, etc.

* What video formats are compatible with LMCE?  I have a few .avi files that seem to work, but a movie as .ogv isn't recognized.

* Once I'm playing a video, how do I stop it?  I cannot seem to find any way to stop the video from playing - it just has to go all the way through or I have to reboot the system.

*  Same question for audio.  I can't seem to get a playing audio file to stop, and it continuously loops so I have to reboot the system to get it to stop.

* Can I rip a DVD from within a media director?  I tried to insert a disc, but it just started playing and then I was stuck without a way to stop it (see two questions up).

* I did quite a bit of work to get shared folders operating in VirtualBox.  It seems the Guest Additions that Kubuntu 12.04 wants to use is the wrong one, so after some gymnastics I have a nice set of links to my guest system that auto-mount.  In the process of working at the terminal, I have the strong urge to update things, but the strong urge not to.  Any problem with updating kernels, applications, etc?  Or, are these better left as is?

* In setting up a Media Director, I don't see an option to simply install a Media Director OS.  The install seems only to allow a headless core or a hybrid system.  If I install another hybrid, will I have issues with my existing core?  I cannot find a netboot option on my chosen MD system, unfortunately.


Any help is greatly appreciated.

2

Installation issues / Installing LinuxMCE - server/ VirtualBox, median directors, etc.

« on: January 02, 2015, 01:09:14 am »

I've been working to install LinuxMCE on a server box and have bumped up against numerous issues.

First off, here's a snapshot of my core system:

Zareason Breeze Server 5880s
GigaByte mother board, model #H97N-WIFI
i7-4790 3.6-4GHz
16GB DDR3-1600
2x2TB 7200 rpm drives currently configured as software RAID
2xGigabit Ethernet
Integrated Intel HD audio with jacked outputs as well as digital spdif output
Integrated Intel HD video with DVI and HDMI output

I've tried to install LinuxMCE directly on the system with no luck whatsoever.  10.04 and 14.04 fail completely.  12.04 will install, but I get no video playback in the wizards.

Instead, I installed Fedora 21 (mostly to see if anything would work) and yes, that works great.  Given my familiarity with Fedora, I decided to install VirtualBox and then LinuxMCE as a guest.  Again, 10.04 and 14.04 fail completely, but 12.04 installs nicely.  Video playback and sound are fine and I currently have that set up as a hybrid system.  Of course, a VirtualBox media director isn't much use, but I am able to test various details of the system from there.

Next, I'm using this as a potential MediaDirector:

ThinkPenguin PocketWee (https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-pocket-wee-gnu-linux-desktop)
i3-4010U 1.7 GHz processor
8GB memory
120 GB SS SATA drive
HDMI output
Intel 4400 graphics integrated
Intel HD audio 8 channel sound through HDMI

Should serve quite well.  I have a USB DVD drive that I use for the install and everything seems to go OK, but I have no video playback on the initial wizard.  I tried going to the KDE desktop and updating the Intel drivers, but that caused the whole thing to stop working - only command line - so I started over.

Any tips on getting the Intel video drivers working?

-Kirk

3

Installation issues / Installing LinuxMCE on server - installer issues, networking, video playback...

« on: September 22, 2014, 12:56:59 am »

I've been working to install LinuxMCE on a server box and have bumped up against numerous issues.

First off, here's a snapshot of my system:

Zareason Breeze Server 5880s
GigaByte mother board, model #H97N-WIFI
i7-4790 3.6-4GHz
16GB DDR3-1600
2x2TB 7200 rpm drives currently configured as software RAID
2xGigabit Ethernet
Integrated Intel HD audio with jacked outputs as well as digital spdif output
Integrated Intel HD video with DVI and HDMI output


LinuxMCE 14.04:
During the installation, I noticed that the NIC cards are not recognized.  At first, I thought this was just because of a new install, but I can never see any network card information from ifconfig.  I can get through the full install but upon reboot, I end up at a KDE desktop rather than in LinuxMCE.  I do see a script on the desktop for LinuxMCE, but when I try to run it, it simply stops without producing an error and nothing changes.

LinuxMCE 12.04:
Again, no recongnition of the NIC cards.  In this case, I do get to the LinuxMCE startup, but the video tutorial doesn't play.  I assumed this might be the Intel video drivers, but I seem to have full access to the card info from lspci.  Everything seems to behave fine in HD display mode.

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS:
I can indeed install 14.04 but again, I see no network card information.  And, of course, this doesn't seem to be a useful place to start.

Fedora 20:
Just to see if the network cards were broken or there were other problems I tried to install Fedora 20.  Apart from a couple of installer hangs when trying to write the bootloader, I now have a fully functional Fedora 20 box.  Not very helpful for LinuxMCE, but the network cards are both operational.

I'm not sure where to go next with this.  One thought is to install VirtualBox where I could put a LinuxMCE virtual machine operating as the core.  I did find some options of this in the wiki, but I'm not sure if it is the best use of my efforts and equipment. The more I think about it, the more I like this idea.  I would simply need a media director for each TV/audio station, which I already planned to do.  I could also then make the server a more general utility server with an obvious focus on LinuxMCE.

Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

-Kirk

4

Installation issues / Re: Installing 12.04 from USB stick

« on: September 22, 2014, 12:41:07 am »

I have some more updates, but I'm going to move this to another thread as the topic has drifted away from the original title of this one. 

The new thread is here:  http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=13767.0

5

Installation issues / Re: Installing 12.04 from USB stick

« on: September 21, 2014, 01:29:04 am »

And now the 14.04 installer finishes, too.  In this case, I end up at the KDE desktop and there's an .sh script for LinuxMCE but clicking it doesn't do anything.  I cannot seem to get outside of KDE and into LinuxMCE. 

6

Installation issues / Re: Installing 12.04 from USB stick

« on: September 21, 2014, 12:53:49 am »

Just got all the way through the 12.04 installer, but the tutorial video won't play.  I'm trying 14.04 now...

7

Installation issues / Re: Installing 12.04 from USB stick

« on: September 21, 2014, 12:23:18 am »

OK, after a bit of sleuthing I think I'm making progress.

I tried the 12.04 and 14.04 installers and I have the same problem as I mentioned at the start - disk partitioning fails.

I noticed this time that I have /dev/sda and /dev/sdb as expected, but I also see /dev/md127 in the list.  This is the software RAID partition set up by mdadm when the original 14.04 LTS system was installed.  The installer isn't removing it and since everything is configured as a RAID system, it is active and doesn't want its partitions messed with.  Apparently the installer doesn't override this.

What I did was switch to the terminal, deactivate the RAID system, zero out the superblocks on each drive, and then modify /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf such that it does not list any ARRAY configurations.  After that I can now get through the installer for 12.04 without it complaining - it is installing now.

BUT, I see now option to set up a software RAID 1 system through the installer for 12.04.  I haven't looked at 14.04 but from what I'm finding I don't expect it to be there.  The next question is, can I set up a RAID 1 system after the install has been done on /dev/sda?  My system as 2x2TB drives that I had planned to use in a RAID 1, and I'd like to keep with that, but can I actually set it up after the fact?

Once I get through this and see if I can get 12.04 working, I'll give 14.04 a go and see if it works on my setup as well.

8

Installation issues / Re: Installing 12.04 from USB stick

« on: September 20, 2014, 12:55:18 am »

Thanks for the note.

I certainly respect and appreciate the small team issues.  And, I'll gladly help out in any way I can.  For now, that will be to test my current hardware and provide feedback on what works and what doesn't.  Hopefully more in the future.  8^)

9

Installation issues / Re: Installing 12.04 from USB stick

« on: September 19, 2014, 05:48:37 pm »

Two questions:

a) did you try the original Ubuntu 12.04.x install DVD? That would highlight if it is a LinuxMCE problem, or a Ubuntu 12.04 problem together with your hardware setup

b) you could try LinuxMCE 14.04 DVD, but that is even less alpha than anything else... But you would do as a huge favor if you could testdrive it.

Both very good suggestions.  I'm fully open to trying LinuxMCE 14.04 and will probably start there.  If I have anything to give back, I will give it.  8^)

As for earlier comments in this thread, specifically,

It is also possible that the hardware you are using is newer than the 1204 kernel can support.

I've been having a very hard time coming up with system requirements.  Information in the wiki seems quite out of data and I haven't gotten much feedback in the forums.  Any suggestions are always appreciated.

10

Installation issues / Re: Installing 12.04 from USB stick

« on: September 15, 2014, 11:20:21 pm »

I tried the DVD install of the 12.04 version and it also fails.  Just to make sure I could get something installed, I went back to the Ubuntu 14.04 LTS install DVD and it went fine.

Is there an alternate installation from a working 14.04 LTS?

11

Installation issues / Installing 12.04 from USB stick

« on: September 13, 2014, 11:49:33 pm »

I downloaded the 12.04 version of LinuxMCE .iso and created a bootable USB drive with the installer in place.  When the installer starts up, I choose the Guided option to allow the installer to use the full disk as it pleases.  On the Timezone screen, I get these errors:

'ubi-partman failed with exit code 141...'

'ext4 file system creation in partition #1 of scsi1 (0,0,0) sda failed'

The system I'm trying to install on already has an Ubuntu installation on it - 14.04 LTS which seems perfectly happy, but I cannot get this one to actually access/write/partition the disks. 

Any tips are greatly appreciated.

-Kirk

System specs:

Zareason Breeze Server 5880s
i7-4790 3.6-4GHz
16GB DDR3-1600
2x2TB 7200 rpm drives currently configured as software RAID
2xGigabit Ethernet

12

Users / Re: Recommendations for server and station computers

« on: August 25, 2014, 08:44:03 pm »

Thanks very much for all that great information!  I think I have most all the details ironed out consistent with your recommendations.  As for the over-spec on the server, I found this (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Core_Server_Newbie_Pack) after I had put down the specs in my last message.  In comparison, I can probably drop some $$$ by backing off the specs quite a bit and not lose performance. 

This info was extremely helpful!  Thank you again.  I'll do my best to keep information flowing with respect to how I put it all together and the equipment I use.  Is there a location where someone can add details of a particular setup for others' benefit?  Somewhere in the wiki?


-Kirk

13

Users / Re: Recommendations for server and station computers

« on: August 24, 2014, 01:00:15 am »

We've been shipping Dianemo on Ubuntu 12.04LTS Desktop pretty much since Canonical released it and I can say without hesitation that I would recommend going with a 12.04LTS based installation. You can test your proposed hardware for 12.04LTS compatibility simply by testing if it boots from a Ubuntu 12.04LTS Desktop USB stick or LiveCD (Core & Media Directors). If they boot and you get a desktop and a network connection your pretty much good to go.

The hardware you choose for your Core will be largely dependent on how many rooms you will equip with MD's and how much media you will be streaming concurrently. The more MD's you have the more load you will place on your Core when everything boots (hopefully this is not something you will be doing everyday) and when you are streaming video to several rooms at once.

Another factor to consider, if you are going with traditional MD's, is where will they be located? Will they be located local to the TV's or will they be located in your central equipment rack? Any surround Amplifiers or other audio amplifers will either need to be located with the MD's centrally (with long speaker grade cable run to each room) or with the MD's locally in the rooms they serve. Either is ok...but in-room means you will need more well ventilated cupboard space in the room (but will have shorted speaker cables etc). In Dianemo we still support MD's but 95% of our installations now use upnp media players, SmartTV's or AppleTV's instead and we use small IP based controls to provide discrete control of devices in and around the house (something in the past we would have done via the ports on an MD). We're also, like LMCE, moving to a new style Orbiter which does not require UI regens ever - UI regens historically have always caused a lot of overhead on the Core's of larger installations in particular. Moving away from MD's and modern Orbiters all add up to requiring less powerful Core's that use far less energy than they did just a few years back.

Best of luck with your house & your installation.

All the best

Andy

Just saw this one, Andy.  For some reason I'm not getting notifications on this thread.  Hmmmm...

That is great info, and thank you very much.  I'm narrowing my options down quite a bit and I think I've settled on something like this for my core:

System76 Eland Pedestal.  It ships with Ubuntu 14.04.1 Server LTS, so I'm guessing it'll be AOK for this purpose.

Intel Xeon E3-1220V2 (3.10 GHz 8MB Cache - 4 cores)
16 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ECC
2x2 TB SATA III 7200 RPM in hardware RAID-1
Hot swap drive cage
CD-RW/DVD-RW Dual layer drive


The questions that stand out for this one are: 

Graphics are integrate Intel HD.  Is this enough for a core?  I assume the core doesn't need much graphics support.

I very much like the hardware raid setup - is this compatible with LinuxMCE?

No audio included, but there are extra bays for expansion.  I'll probably pick up an audio card or two, if they are needed.

As far as structure, I plan to have the core in a utility room in the basement.  I'll have Cat5e access there as well as all the house speakers will terminate there.  I assume I can either connect the speakers to audio cards in the core or to amplifiers controlled by the core.  (Those amplifiers would be in the utility room also.)  I'll have 2 rooms with 2 speakers each in the ceilings, and all those wires terminate in the utility room. 

For the media directors, I anticipate 2 rooms, maybe 3, and those will have small footprint computers in place next to the TVs.  I'm thinking something like this for the media directors:  https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-pocket-wee-gnu-linux-desktop  They have Intel 1080p HD video and audio support.

That's my current plan for hardware.  As always, any feedback is greatly appreciated.

-Kirk

14

Users / Re: Recommendations for server and station computers

« on: August 06, 2014, 07:27:19 pm »

Thanks for the info. 

I have some time before the place is built - probably 3-4 months - so I plan to buy the computer equipment and do some tests with a mock setup.  I'll keep checking back here as things develop, and if I can contribute, I'm all for it.

-Kirk

15

Users / Re: Recommendations for server and station computers

« on: August 05, 2014, 09:59:37 pm »

I'm comfortable in Linux, but was planning to go with 1004.  How compelling is the improvement in equipment options for 1204 relative to the liklihood of a lot of fixes?

I'm in Colorado, USA.