Topics

I would like to open a discussion topic on a feature I am interesting in developing and testing for LMCE.  This project is something I could tinker with and do development work on at a bench while the bulk of my system remains in storage.  Before I dive in however I would like to pose some function questions to those much more experienced than I to feel out what the usefulness of this would be in the LMCE network, ie. are performance improvements expected or is this a neat trial with no true benefit other than saying I did it.

Basic idea:  Provide manual configuration options to get network port aggregation working on the core.  A configuration on the web-admin for after install upgrades with manual port bonding or auto-magic detection scripts for installation that would assign bonds between NICs.

Limited initial support hardware:  dual pci-e NIC, quad pci-e NIC,  possible later add support for multiple single inexpensive PCI NICs

Concept:  In a PXE boot environment with all IO routing to and from the core, a 10/100/1000 is understood to be a minimum requirement.  From my understanding of LAG, the gigabit transmission is then split among all nodes pulling and requesting data at once limiting each connected node to a fraction of the 1000mb/s.  Two MDs would get 500mb/s each, four would get 250mb/s each.. etc.  By adding support for two (or more) gigabit NICs working as a bonded eth1 on our cores, network bottlenecks during peak traffic conditions could get closer to the 1000mb/s data per node after the switch.

Network boost, Minimal expense:  LAG would be beneficial between the core and the switch(s) only in my opinion and would require support for additional hardware on the core + extra ethernet cable to the switch.  Single lines from the switch out to MDs would not be needed or beneficial.

Developer/Network Architect Input:  Above is what works well on paper and depending on which article you read is either the greatest networking throughput gain ever or a lab experiment for a rookie Cisco student with no real benefit.

In our networks:

Are there peak transmission times where all MDs want data and we feel our cores cant provide it fast enough?
      Are MD boots done sequentially or all at once? 
      When streaming media from SAS on the core is IO bottlenecked?
     
Is LAG believed to be a feature worth testing and developing for LMCE 14.04 and later releases?

*Regarding LAG with switch redundancy:  Although it adds some complexity there is also the multiple bonded NICs going to multiple switches for redundancy in network topography.  I see less usefulness here in our networks but could also experiment with this easy enough.

Looking for possible solutions for a simple issue.  Technically a feature request as I imagine it may take some work, but wanted to check here in users section to see if there is already a method.

When adding media attributes to video files I use TMDB, a great add to the web-admin and a welcome change to the Amazon attribute finder.

So many attributes are added however that the synopsis of the movie does not display when a video thumbnail is pulled up.  Movies manually tagged or tagged using Amazon with fewer attributes (director & 2-3 performers) will display the synopsis.

- Is there a method of displaying all attributes without starting the video and then navigating to attributes>more in UI2?
- Could attributes be prioritized to display before others?

Wondering what other users have found to be a good video file format in regards to quality vs. disk size. 

When I only had 100 or so movies, most of my collection was ripped DVDs in .dvd format which based on their size (4.7gb +) were pretty accurate copies of the original disk.  Quality was great imo and the special features included on disk were nice to have.

Now that my collection is near 1,000 movies I have noticed a large difference in quality using .mp4 and .mkv files which average 700mb - 1.5gb.  I have animated movies for the kids compressed down to 250mb in .mkv where quality is not critical but for other videos where I intent to watch with HD surround audio and want better picture I am looking for recommendations. 

The title should be pretty straightforward.

It's been quite a few (five?) years since I started using LMCE in one form or another.  Even with frustrations I've experienced at times I really appreciate all the work that has and still goes into making this so enjoyable for users like me.  Next weekend I will be setting up a Hybrid for my parents who have until now enjoyed accessing my media through a PS3 and will really benefit from at minimum the ease of access UI2 offers.  Perhaps in time they will also enjoy the additional features that makes LMCE a total home solution and not just a media player.

Thank you to the developers, donators, testers and users who have posted feedback.   

**EDIT UPDATE

In order to make the clock render correctly, you may depending on your orbiter resolution need to alter the clock font size.  I have found that a very nice size for 800x600 is a PixelHeight of 600.  Read on below if you would like to know how to change this value for other sized orbiter resolutions.

**ORIGINAL


My thanks to tschak for the clock addition.  I have it although rendered incorrectly and appreciate it already.  Starting a topic to ask for some assistance in making it render as intended.  What is happening now is when doing 4 digit time (anything after 9:59) it places the minute number off the far right side of the screen. 

I followed the steps outlined in the LinuxMCE at Home thread and will go over those now incase I missed or misread something.

1. Downloaded the HelveticaNeue-UltraLight.tff
2. web admin>SqlCVS>update>all - waited for "successfull" in the popped up window
3. Used a konqueror browser and used "fish://192.168.80.143" to graphically copy that .tff to my webDT. 
4.  ran the following from my core:

Code Select Expand


sudo -i
(password)
ssh 192.168.80.143
(password)
cd /usr/share/fonts/truetype/
dir
tc-cache

*dir returned a couple subfolders and HelveticaNeue-UltraLight.tff file

5. Via web admin I selected the webdt under orbiters and selected Full Regen
6. waited for status bars 1 & 2 and the words "orbiter regeneration complete"
7.  Quick reload router

** WebDT is using BlueCrystal skin, 800X600 UI1, everything else works smoothly and fits the skin

Greetings old friends!

I am still happily using 10.04 in my home and have enjoyed LinuxMCE for about 5 years now.
For reasons of roommate consideration, I have downsized the number of rooms with devices and dramatically reduced the amount of control and automation active.  -Of special note to those who have watched me struggle with old/unsupported equipment, this means only the best, most supported, newest equipment is in use now.

With extra time and automation equipment on my hands I have decided to pick back up the aquarium/vivarium hobby and think I could greatly benifit from some of my unused equipment and all I have learned about automation with and in LMCE.  My first question is about lights as I ran out and bought before asking before.  Following that question I will list a few ideas I have and if anyone is interested in following along or discussing this application I would be happy to update.

Innotech? Z-Wave Dimmable Light switch controlling 1-3 5000k LED bulbs?  Dimming with CFLs was not very successful for me using this switch and having watched TSCHACK's LED dimming YouTube video I have my doubts. (Congratulations btw TSCHACK on your recent family addition)
These lights will ideally provide a gradual increase in brightness each morning to simulate dawn and then a gradual reduction in the evening for dusk.  I am hoping for input on wide coverage bulbs that don't "beam" a narrow area, work well with z-wave fed fixtures and dim in small increments to very low intensities.

The whole picture of this new "room"

125 gallon (72x18x20) eurobraced glass aquarium w/ 40 gallons extra in refugium and sump
Paludranium (spelling may be off) meaning 50/50 water and land with many live plants
Two juvenial axolotls will call this home

Non-typical or creative aquarium ideas

Axolotl require cooler water than most aquariums (60-64F) and do like intense light.
Sumps and refugium overflows will function normally but I would like to add a refrigerated resevoir which would pump to 'cool rain' sprinkler heads when the tank goes above 64F. My thought is to use the relays on the gc100 to open automatic sprinkler valves but I have not found a good submersible temp sensor that could talk to LMCE.
Rain simulation would mainly be used as a cooling method but will also be added to accompany seasonal changes around breeding time.
Lightning storm effect: simple x10 or z-wave wall outlet would need to quickly turn on and off a cheap strobe light dialed in to lightning flash speed and mounted in the canopy.
Cloud movement: my idea is to have dark areas of a rolled film pulled horizontally from roll to roll between the lights and the glass top to give a moving cloud shadow effect.  Z-wave blind controls?
2gig z-wave thermostat: used to control the air temp inside the dry top half of the tank.  It would be cool only and would output to PC fans on either side of the tank.  Battery life of the thermostat or supply of voltage through a wall wort adapter are my thoughts.
Closed loop x10 use? I have a cm15a and a dozen x10 devices I would like to have on an isolated circuit for various sound effect, moonlight control, other effects.  Is there a way to isolate x10 or does the signal have to return to the breaker box each 'loop'
Mechanical or gravitational failsafes for all light/cooling/water level automation.
Event logging
Notifications, audible or email/text/VoIP recordings for out-of-spec conditions, water change or maintanence reminders.
Database logging and note taking (ideally via orbiter near the tank) for last fed, how much, breeding info, health etc.
Aeon-Labs energy monitor switch: connected to a mini-fridge housing my chilled resevoir.  This would turn on when the tank water temp nears my high limit, preventing wasted power keeping the cooling water cold when not needed.  This could also show me power usage and give me notice of other cooling issues.
Finally...
Long term scheduling to automate seasonal changes in light and temperatures.  I can pull weather info from these amphibians natural range and duplicate those settings in my enclosure.

What are other users seeing for total space required per MD for their core?

I am looking over things from a few previous installations while I gather hardware for a reinstall and have found some areas I want to look into further.  Specifically I am looking at logrotate and some run-away folder sizes.  The issues causing these coredumps and crash logs of course will need to be located and addressed individually.

Healthy Core (OS partition)
Total disk space used?
Total number of MD?

With enough input I will add a portion to the wiki pertaining to hardware selection covering suggested drive size based on max number of potential future device, or room count + outdoor areas if that reads easier.  Thanks.

Tireless developers and administrators:

I am using Facebook business pages to promote my home-business.  The large majority of electronics in my home are operated by and use LinuxMCE menus, displays, logos, etc.  I am requesting proper procedures for displaying images and videos of these devices, while giving all credit to LinuxMCE for its operation.

I do computer repair, non-glamorous "fix this PII so I can get on facebook", hardware upgrades and similar the majority of the time.  On occasion I do,  and my company goal is, to move into more and more customization, product development, installations and yes... home automation.  I will type it here nice and clear so it is communicated and can be quoted:

I will not offer for sale LinuxMCE or any software that is not entirely my creation.  I will not sell equipment that I am not able to make operational for my customers without the use of LinuxMCE, as this would burden LinuxMCE's developers with supporting customers I profited from."

There may be a situation where a customer is inspired after visiting my home office or seeing images/videos of LinuxMCE operating and despite my declaration of the quoted above, wishes to install LinuxMCE.  Should this occur I will refer to any instruction I am given here or contact an admin directly.  So far no customers of mine (that I am aware of) are using LinuxMCE.  The few used pieces of compatible equipment I have sold were configured to operate stand-alone or with that customers existing OS/control devices.

I realize that the mention of profit makes for immediate uneasiness.  I apologize though as I prefer a direct post and request such as this to any doubt about my intentions.  Links to GPL documentation, feedback from developers and responses from administrators is 100% welcome.

This could well be a mythtv development issue but it could be helpful to add to the HDhomeRun setup scripts lmce already employs.  This particular TV tuner does appear to be one of the more popular in use by lmce users.

http://www.silicondust.com/support/channels/

I am a supporter of datadirect's service, but the difference between cheap and free at times is pretty noteworthy.  I can probably do 90% of the work on making this an easily selectable option in mythtv setup if someone is able to oversee and provide the assistance with the other 10%. 

There are other free guide data sources I have used such as iTV for iOS that with more work could be brought in as well but as the protocols add up in number I would need more assistance.  So if there are other aspiring developers out there looking for a project and like this idea, respond.   

I have had a lot of issues with standard installation devices working and then breaking after a reboot because of driver/kernel changes that I am not initiating.  Instead of hacking my install to bits and ending up with something other than LinuxMCE I wish to develop a feature.  My plan will be to write a small shell script and perhaps a few supporting files.  If they work without changing much else than I would like a dev to try it out and then figure out how to submit it.

Devices currently breaking themselves as examples:

Hybrid install w/ onboard ATI 4200 HD.  Can be installed from snapshots or 10.04 Final and works amazing with onboard HDMI w/ audio etc, as long as the hybrid is off-line.  If the machine has Internet during install or any reboot after it loads back ports and flgrx driver which breaks it.

Acer Revo 1600R as MD.  First install as new MD works flawless and uses the nvidia driver.  The MD continues to work unless it has to reboot, be reset.  On any reboot after initial it removes the nvidia driver automatically and will not run again until the moon# is deleted and re-detected as a new device.

My executable:
/usr/Pluto/bin/freeze_settings.sh & unfreeze_settings.sh. (This would also need to be present in /usr/Pluto/diskless/##/usr/Pluto/bin/

Replace sources.list with a blank or commented out version?

My problem, and where I need some assistance please:

LMCEs entire structure is built around detection, self testing and configuring new devices.  I had tried everything I can to prevent a problem driver (and will need to try for the Revo) from making two working devices into non-working devices.  Utils.sh rewrites itself, killing sources.list alone would not stop other detections from going off such as storage radar etc...

I am going to write it and test it but,

If you wanted to cement a configuration of your own, which files/scripts/initd/modprobe/blacklists would you change?

[sip.voipbuster.com]

The users section was probably the most appropriate place for this. 

Today I successfully placed my first VOIP call through LinuxMCE.  Asterisk is still very much a black-box for me but I hope to learn it better as I have with each category of device I have added and needed to support or seek support on.  Thank you once again to everyone who has worked on this project.

My hurdles that others may want to look at if they are having issues:

*If buying used voip equipment, inquire about the firmware version.  "stepping up" a 7970 with very old and very unknown firmware was a chore.
*Open those ports.  It was confusing to me until I actually sat down to do it.  You basically build a rule into any router between your core and "outside" that communication using port 5060 (or your providers port #) gets handed down.  In my case there are 3 routers between the core and my ISP so I had to have each router hand down port 5060 to the router closer to me.
*Google search, study, ask your provider for details, and get details.  Again in my case the SIP - phone number was my user-name to log into their website again.  I didn't get that information in my first help ticket I opened.
*Share your successes.  I admit to shying away from a 30 page long ongoing thread that may or may not have resolved someones issue.  I will read a dozen 2-3 response threads that quickly explain what was wrong and what needed to be fixed.

VoipCheap
name = website name
pw = website password
phone number = website name
port = 5060
provider = sip.voipbuster.com this is noteworthy as their website says sip.voipcheap
prefix = [something] ~from another current thread this is also important to indicate.

10.04 Final.iso is working marvelously on my new hybrid as long as I am not connected to the net. 

Once I connect and the flgrx drivers are downloaded I am getting some pretty severe problems that I would like to share with L3top and others via IRC.  The way that it is breaking however is preventing booting so I need a way to assure those drivers are not selected and allow me to take the system online.

I could once installed off-line edit the sources list to remove ati.  This would work for now as I won't be adding MDs until this gets resolved.  Could someone please share the source that contains ati flgrx and anything that points to them?

Block flgrx or specify a rule to not select it for this particular chipset (ATI 4200 HD)?  I would go this route but the chip detection and driver selection rules happen so early that I am willing to bet would require a custom boot script.  If those scripts however pull from a single file I can modify values in, I could make LMCE devalue the ATI driver and choose to leave the existing drivers alone

After a sqlCVS update today I noticed that Amazon is no longer available under media files sync.  TVMD and another similar acronym where in their place.  I have not been able to pull a single music attribute using the two provided sites and have manually been tagging my own via google image searches and wikipedia for disc info.

The complexity of the entire telecom portion of LinuxMCE has always floored me.  When over the years an issue that affected a lot of asterisk/FreePBX hit the forums I would try to follow along but quickly would become confused and lost in the menus and settings necessary to make a call.  About 2 years ago I began paying for VOIP service and continued to pay for over 12 months without ever placing or receiving a single call.  I have at best been able to make one on-screen orbiter ring another,  but the moment I try to pick it up I get a "call dropped, normal clearing".  I have tried IP phones, ATAs, softphones, hardphones, orbiter embedded, usb mics, headsets, 3.5mm desktop microphones all to no avail.

Meanwhile during this time the VOIP experience has become so commonplace and easy everywhere else that I canceled my cell service and use wifi apps to handle all of my calling/SMS needs.  Watch a 30 second ad on my iPhone and earn 2 minutes of calling.  In an hour or so at my desk reaching over and tapping 'watch videos" every few minutes when I think about it gets me 60+ minutes of calling to any number.  As I am often experimenting and looking at VMs running different OSs and packages I am amazed at how difficult it is to "not" make a call.  I obviously am making something too difficult but can not understand where.  Is the telecom plugin that configuration and user input dependent?  Below is my setup that I would guess is pretty standard fair.

One hybrid - orbiter embedded phone
Two media directors - each with orbiter embedded
3-4 different DNS services I keep giving money to even though they can not provide me DNS service.
LinuxMCE is behind a router that my ISP provides. Firewall disabled, no custom port configurations or forwardings
One Cisco 7970
One Cisco 7905
One Budgetone 100 (previous voip provider issued, Grandstream is the make)
One Sipura2000
Cisco Mobile iOS
Google Talk #
Google Voice account
Text + account (iOS app I mentioned earlier)
... 5 years worth of accounts, hardware, passwords, registrations etc...

Problems.

Web-Admin/Phone Lines/ shows my voipcheap account enabled but alternates between not-registered, request and I forget the other.  I do not have any other phone # so when I registered with VoipCheap I gave my roommate's cell.  I do not know if that is my voipcheap number now, or if its +1(area code) 9(areacode).  I have found two different guides here and on the wiki that give conflicting information about what to put in the ATA configuration fields for authorization yes/no and user id.  Am I supposed to put the extension of the softphone or the voip provider info?

7970 when calling any extension or *## gets a busy signal
7905 gets a loud ringing noise the instant I lift the receiver (device removed as I suspect it may be damaged)
cisco mobile app can call the 7970 though I can only answer by using the softbuttons (or picking it up), attempts to use the orbiter drop the call.  This app is also the only device under phones that is capable of reaching my voicemail box.
Softphones (connected through various FXO equipped modems or ATAs) all get a dial tone but go to a busy signal after attempting any call.  2-3 attempted calls results in the loud screeching noise that I have only been able to clear with a reload.
The mobile iOS device status continually enters a "RUN_CONFIG" status where it becomes unuseable.  My IP for this device is on the 192.168.80 network and was assigned by dcerouter.  It may be a coincidence but I notice more problems after I return home, almost like this device not being ping-able causes an issue?

**Admins please feel free to move this post if you feel it is better suited for help wanted**

This is not an area I am able to troubleshoot and could really use some help on this.  My roommates are growing tired of "I am working on it", or "someday you will be able to get calls right here on the tv!"  If my problems can be narrowed to 2-3 most likely causes I will jump on any suggested hardware or service providers, I will even wipe my installation and start from step one if needed.  If need be, "yes" I am willing to offer some compensation as I am not aware of any major telecom bugs for other users...

I working on getting my cisco 7970G working in linuxmce as outlined in the wiki article.

I was able to follow the directions and added my phones mac range to the 7970 template which did prompt a detected device on a nearby orbiter.  I have reloaded my router several times since then but the phone repeatedly restarts itself in a pattern.

Reboot, speaker button illuminated
white Cisco boot screen with a target icon in the lower left
white screen with Upgrading, current mac #
Reboot
white Cisco boot screen with a checked square
white screen with Upgrading, current mac #
Reboot, speaker button illuminated
repeat,
repeat,
repeat...

I attempted a tcpdump command on my core to see if there were any errors detectable but after doing apt-get install tcpdump I was told that "tcpdump -i eth1 192.168.80.141 was incorrect syntax.  I am not sure where to begin looking for an error/activity log to determine any other information.  In my webadmin I see that there is a 7979 listed under asterisk and that it had a child device of Cisco 7970 Orbiter.  Port listen number is 3452 as my webpad orbiter is on 3451.  Orbiter was fully regened, still nothing.

Perhaps this is a firmware issue?  How in the world though are people getting to the settings screen with ethernet disconnected or trapped in one of these reload loops?  

I doubt I require much introduction...

My first linuxmce experience was 7.04, if my math is not too far off that would be approximately 5.5 years ago.  I have taken several breaks from regular forum interaction but for the most part have maintained some form of working system all of this time.  Due primarily to my financial limitations I have dug probably quite a bit deeper into the inner workings of the project in attempts to do the unsupported or use ancient hardware.  I have donated on occasion, gone through periods of heavy testing and reporting, skinned, wiki updating, etc, but I do not feel I have contributed at all compared to the massive effort this project requires.

Parcel delivery depending, this week will mark an important milestorm for me.  With the delivery of my z-wave thermostat I will have finally populated all of the major orbiter rows, and with a little more time to troubleshoot my VOIP account should be able to place my first call using my recently delivered cisco 7970.  Future expansion of my system at this point is limited by my available gig ports and the lack of any true need to expand beyond 4 AV rooms, 3 audio areas, and a scattering of other lights, security, climate, automation devices.

I am ready to contribute. 

I have coding skills...   My experience with linuxmce as I said has been a lot of figuring things out that others (without backgrounds in programing) might not have bothered with.  I have put together very rudimentary scripts and made them exicutible using googled bash commands,  I now own several books on programing that I am very clear on the systematic result orientated mindset of C++.  In other words I know what I want a program to do, I know the input and the output, I understand how to define the necessary formulas (and possibly databases to store and recall portions).  Regretably though I can not make the progression into programing.  Possibly beyond the unfamiliar commands, I become stuck in command thinking when I am faced with addressing hardware via hardware.  Yes, a keyboard is input & a monitor is output, depending on the keypress a circuit is closed on specific pins of a chip that understand NO becoming NC means the user pressed "a".  To then imagine that input as a value which can be added to the screen, combined to string an instruction or anything else just makes my head spin.

I would require so much assistance in completing basic development that my participation could actually decrease productivity on the project.  This is my limitiation and my honest approach to offering my assistance, if through continued breakthroughs that changes I will happily mention so and take on a few time-consuming tasks to free you gentlemen up.  In the meantime though I am able to assist in any way possible and request that to come to me for anything you feel I am capable of assisting with.  Even to use me as a whiteboard or to get my opinion on appearance or possible avenues for improvements.

Thank you all once again for the years of hard work that has given me such enjoyment.  I look forward to becoming more of an asset to the project were able.

jeremy mcdiarmid 

I have read quite a few topics here regarding advanced scenario creation and some information on event criteria however, the challenge I currently face seems to require the control parameters of both.

My D-Link 930L is night-blind.  As a otherwise very reliable wireless camera (from sunset to sunrise) it lacks the ability to see little more than headlights in the evenings.  Instead of replacing it or pulling a piece of AV equipment off of a capture card I decided a good solution would be to install a generic floodlight in that area.  -Interesting how uncommon a 'plain' fixture is, I actually saved money by buying a dusk/dawn sensitive unit and rewiring it to bypass that circuit and connect with a grounded plug to a standard Z-Wave recepticle.
This direct wiring gives me more control over the light setting as I also have a motion detector in the area.  Once configured I can hopefully link the motion detector, light and camera, but still be able to create individual Lighting and Security Scenes. 

Interfaces = Aeon Labs Z-Stick, X10 Technologies CM15A
Lights = Z-Wave Recepticle (named Flood Lights)
Security = M16 X10 Motion Detector
Room = Driveway

Working Events and Scenes:
event: sensor is tripped/security mode check/turn on light
scene: flood light on, flood light off (available on all orbiters)
auto generated: security scene Driveway (camera view)

Desired Event Details:  Regardless of current light status, I would like "begin viewing camera" to fire the light on command to this device.  Likewise an event of "stop viewing camera" should send the off command.  - for simplicity of this event I didnt want to add check for current light status although it would be easy with z-wave.  I also didn't want commands taking too long to poll, compare, respond when I just want the area illuminated when the camera view screen comes up.    

I have not been able to associate viewing the camera with the state if this light.  Regardless of sunset/sunrise and adding devices using the advanced or lighting wizard the single_cam_view pk_screen as specific media does not allow me to send a command to device.

How is viewing of a security camera acknowledged by dcerouter if it is not media?  Because it gets the video through a browser interface I considered tying this event to firefox but could not define a specific site as criteria.  Has anyone successfully handled such an event outside of GSD? 

Note about the motion detector:  Though it may seem odd at first, the motion detector in this area does not actually point in the direction of the driveway and does not detect persons approaching the door.  The front door to my home is a patio door on a breezeway.  Guests are welcome to enter through this door where a more secure door await out of the weather.  When designing our system it was decided that a "security event" should be (of course based on house status) held back until a person actually begins to enter the home and passes the first door.

I have a troublesome Media Director I am trying to get working.  I realize that my problems are caused by attempting to use my existing hardware in that room and its limited connectivity.  If I spent a couple hundred on a decent TV I know this card/hardware will output audio via DVI to HDMI cable easily.

Environment:  
Dell Inspiron 531S (onboard video via VGA bios disabled), XFX HD 4350 PCIe (DVI, VGA, S-Video), RCA P52955 (ancient rear projection TV limited to S-video input), Denon AVR-1082 (S-Video capable of overlaying vol, etc on its monitor out S-Video), USB-UIRT 0038

Desired Setup:  Typical newboot environment and ACPI functions, output from MD being S-Video and 5.1 audio via multiple 3.5mm jacks to RCA multichannel inputs of the Denon, USB-UIRT sending IR commands "on/off" to RCA TV since it is only a monitor, IR commands to Denon which will announce changes with its' own on-screen overlays.  

Future Plans:  
I would like to be able to add additional AV pieces to this location and use the Denon's inputs and multiple output options, ie - lmce ir controlled VCR connects to AV1 on denon which outputs rca AV to a capture card.  I have a fairly small house and few users so the chances that more than one piece of AV gear is needed from this location are slight.  If that changes I would move the AV gear to the server rack and add a capture device for each to the core or MD.



"Shoot Me in the Face" Issues:    
AV Wizard crashes and does not produce a xorg.conf.
I likely have problems due to aticonfig/flgrx problems, multiple graphics cards being present, S-Video passing bad EDID information during setup, etc.
Rebuilting/reconfiguring this MD via web-admin or ssh has resulted in several broken installs that I have had to delete.  These additions although gone from web-admin and orbiters are still present in tftboot type locations and pluto-main under the MAC address.  
I would say that I am very familiar with the lmce environment, vague on basic linux environments and admittedly clueless on coding/programming.

Current Configuration:
To get media to that location I am booting the Dell via GeexBox on USB.  This loads a setting saveable XMBC interface which accesses media on the lmce network via SMB shares.  I have not been able to get IR commands working but I am not investing time and research into other software when I could be working on/learning lmce better.


/breath


What I would like to setup and and am hoping for help on:

Copy init, xorg, boot, etc configuration from the working USB and implant it into lmce under /usr/pluto/diskless/, tftboot and related locations.
Again, if I could code I would figure out what is breaking and fix it to make this a supported setup.  What I have though is a working configuration and a desire to patch it into a semi-supported server/client core/md setup.

After backing up lmce and then cloning my core just to be complete, I plan to boot this dell as an MD which will then generate all the needed folders and devices.  After it fails I then want to open /usr/pluto/diskless/ and begin replacing items and overwriting configurations to match what works under GeexBox.  With what hopefully are non-system breaking changes I hope to boot this equipment under lmce and get full MD capabilities.  More than likely I will need to set up this moon### with unique and unsupported boot scripts to avoid having these bandaids detected and overwritten.

I am currently looking for guidance in getting started on this, specifically if you were attempting the same what settings would you move over and how would you go about it?  Once I have a start I will be on my own to google, wiki, study, etc until I am capable to ./make and compile the necessary changes myself.
Following my success and psuedo-coding I will share the what-works with the devs for their consideration and review.  Perhaps something I discover may be helpful in making troublesome hardware work more smoothly ootb in future releases...  

Control:
MD Serial port 0
Sharp LCD TV - RS-232 port

Audio:
out - MD HD Intel 3.5mm
in - Sharp LCD TV - 3.5mm (paired with video signal from HDMI 6)
out - Sharp LCD TV - Red & White phono jacks
in - Sony STR-K850 Receiver

My TV responds to PWR1 commands and all other commands such as change input, volume etc.  Occassionally however although the TV's onscreen display registers volume changes, the speaker volume does not change. 

There is a setting on the TV that changes audio output from fixed to variable which I have selected.  This when working is preferable as I can see on-screen evidence that my command was received.  Though I am sure it is more technical, it seems as though the TV is sending audio at different volume? to the receiver, making the volume at the 5.1 speakers go up or down without the receiver volume setting changing.

Through the resend A/V codes menu I have found that when the on-screen displayed volume does not move with the speaker volume, I can send the code "process initialize" to re-sync everything.  Sending this code resets the TV onscreen display volume to 24 and for the next few hours makes the audio commands work as desired.  This does not fix it permanently however and I hate pressing buttons I don't understand like this.  Is anyone familiar with A/V console commands who could offer me some assistance or explanation of what "process initialize" is actually doing?

Thank you.

I have on one of my media directors the following USB devices properly working.  I believe my issue may be with button mapping or with improper installation due to multiple gamepads being connected.

Gyration GY3101 USB remote dongle
USB Bluetooth Dongle (not currently paired with anything)
USB-UIRT 0038 - sending IR to Sony STR-K850 Receiver
Serial1 - connects to Sharp Aquos TV via RS-232

Connected a USB wired (GameStop branded) Xbox 360 controller.  I found the analogs to be far to sensitive for gameplay so I detached the gamepad and deleted the device.

A mistake was made here as I didn't reload router.

I then connected a "USB GAMEPAD" Gamers Factory model G60310A.
My issue now is that the gamepad behaves like a remote and I can not remap buttons in a fashion that does not bring up my onscreen UI.  While I imagine I could play Atari games that only need 1 command button, I am unable to play anything that requires a second.  "Jump" button bringing up the UI, etc.

I am willing to help any way that I can by either creating a specific template and PnP detection range for this model or experiment with usb_gamepad button mapping.  Meanwhile though I am looking to purchase a 2 or 3 button gamepad to enjoy the older systems that did not include analog joysticks and need of advanced features like accelerometers and 10+ triggers.  Would someone please recommend one, or an adapter I could use to connect any of my retro controllers via USB.  Quite literally I have over 30 different retro game systems with the original controllers in my personal collection.