810 Final Issues and Dynalite interface!

[teslasa]

Hi Guys,

I hope you can help. I have been battling with LMCE for a while now (even in the times when Aaron was doing Pluto Home). 

I used all-in one AMD MB Jetway M26GT4-LF with NVIDIA GeForce 6100, 1Gb RAM, and 2.7G CPU. Added one more Network card, HaupPauge PVR250 card and GC100. TV is Samsung LED U40B7000 and receiver Sony STR-DE2400ES (got IR working on both through GC).

These are the issues:

1. Installation runs well without recognising the PVR card. I add the card manually (Web admin), update and reboot. When in MythTv, it recognises it. Try and add channels (previously setup inputs and sources) sometimes crashes (black screen) and sometime cant find any channels. If i go to watch TV it gets into the loop - play (shows 1) then watch recordings (as there is no channels) and after a while goes back to 1 and so on.
Cant get it to work what ever i do (tested on windows - it works).
2. If i don't work on it for a while (not to long though) it starts the screen saver which i cant switch off. Nothing helps.
3. Sometimes if i get out of the web-admin site goes into black screen! Again, nothing helps to get the screen back.
4. apt-upgrade is a problem with radvd.conf. I have deleted it and it seems it works.
5. For black screen i tried almost every option in resolution settings. Always the same result. Even changed from TV to LCD monitor!

Now, these are few issues with installation. I need also a bit of help with the GSD. Long ago, Aaron added Dynalite interface but we never had a chance to finish it. I have checked everything available and nothing helps me to understand how to setup to send/receive messages (i am not really experienced programmer). Clipsal C-Bus and most other products work different way.

With Dynalite we use different addressing. We use logical area, preset, fade, etc. The hex message could look like this - 0x1c,0x01,0x20,0x00,0x00,0x00,0xff,0xc4 (Preset 1, area 1) or if we can send ascii it could look like *P 1,1,2000 CR (Preset 1 Area 1 Fade 2sec). Presets are "scenes" and areas are "rooms".

Probably for sending would be easier ascii and for receiving hex (we don't need to use checksum calculation).

In this code Preset, Area and Fade are variables.

If anybody could help i would really appreciate. And if you need more details on Dynalite protocol i can email the file.

Thanks,

[teslasa]

Is there nobody who knows LMCE? 

[JaseP]

I have issues similar to #1. I'm clueless with MythTV though,... learning as I go. I rescan my channels frequently, trying to set it up.

As for the rest,... I don't have those issues. I'm using LMCE 10.04 net install (not the snapshot DVD). What version are you using???

Can you Alt-Tab from your screen screensaver to switch focus???

As for the screen timing out, that almost sounds like the KDE screensaver kicking in... It would likely be running that way as root. That means that I'm not sure if you can change it from the KDE desktop, but give that a try. If that fails, see if you can add the KDE settings application as a computer service (like the MythTV back end setup is configured). Then try to change it from there.

[teslasa]

I have issues similar to #1. I'm clueless with MythTV though,... learning as I go. I rescan my channels frequently, trying to set it up.

I got MythTv to accept composite input but i haven't connected anything yet. Tuner still a problem.

As for the rest,... I don't have those issues. I'm using LMCE 10.04 net install (not the snapshot DVD). What version are you using???

I am using 8.10. The 10.04 i couldn't install from the DVD. It just gets stuck.

Can you Alt-Tab from your screen screensaver to switch focus???

I tried this too but it toggles between picture viewer and orbiter but in both cases the screen is black.

As for the screen timing out, that almost sounds like the KDE screensaver kicking in... It would likely be running that way as root. That means that I'm not sure if you can change it from the KDE desktop, but give that a try. If that fails, see if you can add the KDE settings application as a computer service (like the MythTV back end setup is configured). Then try to change it from there.

I am not sure what you mean by this. Not to good with Linux. 

[JaseP]

It sounds like when you installed, the KDE screensaver was configured by default to go to a blank screen, and that when the system tries to wake it, it's failing. It could be a driver problem for your video chipset, or it could be something else entirely. I'm good with Linux, but LinuxMCE is a whole other beast (in terms of order of complexity) on top of a normal Linux install...

You might want to try a 10.04 install using the script. After installing Kubuntu 10.04 from a live CD, updating it, and making sure everything is working (unmute sound channels, turn off the KDE screensavor, check that full OpenGL composit is working in KDE, correct video drivers, etc.), you then want to reboot, open a terminal along with the web browser, and cut and paste the install commands from the wiki, line-by-line into the terminal. Installation takes about a good 1.5 hours with a decent connection.

After you install LinuxMCE, you might want to install the Medibuntu codecs for Video, audio, DVD, etc. ... if you believe they are legal in your jurisdiction.  Just Google medibuntu to find the website.

KDE is enough like Windoze for you to navigate through set ups without too much difficulty. One helpful hint might be to install the synaptic package manager, prior or after LinuxMCE installation. I think it's better than the KDE package manager.  To install it enter the following at a command line in the terminal:

Code: [Select]

sudo apt-get install synaptic


[teslasa]

It sounds like when you installed, the KDE screensaver was configured by default to go to a blank screen, and that when the system tries to wake it, it's failing. It could be a driver problem for your video chipset, or it could be something else entirely. I'm good with Linux, but LinuxMCE is a whole other beast (in terms of order of complexity) on top of a normal Linux install...

You might want to try a 10.04 install using the script. After installing Kubuntu 10.04 from a live CD, updating it, and making sure everything is working (unmute sound channels, turn off the KDE screensavor, check that full OpenGL composit is working in KDE, correct video drivers, etc.), you then want to reboot, open a terminal along with the web browser, and cut and paste the install commands from the wiki, line-by-line into the terminal. Installation takes about a good 1.5 hours with a decent connection.

After you install LinuxMCE, you might want to install the Medibuntu codecs for Video, audio, DVD, etc. ... if you believe they are legal in your jurisdiction.  Just Google medibuntu to find the website.

KDE is enough like Windoze for you to navigate through set ups without too much difficulty. One helpful hint might be to install the synaptic package manager, prior or after LinuxMCE installation. I think it's better than the KDE package manager.  To install it enter the following at a command line in the terminal:

Code: [Select]

sudo apt-get install synaptic


Thanks JaseP. Screensaver seems ok. When it comes on, shows photos from flickr. When is in blank screen mode (e.g. when switch off browser) the cursor is not in full any more. It is not filled in with white. It looks  like when screen is rendering! I can then normally switch to command screen (alt-cntrl-f2) and see the screen but when going back, i get blank again. The only way to get back is to restart the PC!

I will try installing 10.04 on a different PC next week to see if there are still problems. Will keep you posted here.

[teslasa]

Ok. I have decided not to install 10.04 as not functions are still working in the latest "working" snapshot!

I have noticed something else too. I tried to execute the command to setup diskless MD's and the core/hybrid runs through lots of stuff and at the end says that it couldnt install mplayer. When i check in KDE, the mplayer has been installed. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[JaseP]

Check in the Web Admin to see if it's showing as installed there...

[teslasa]

Check in the Web Admin to see if it's showing as installed there...

I added MD manually in webadmin... There is a solution on wiki but it doesnt work in this case... This is crazy that as a final version still has so many issues!

Thx JaseP

[JaseP]

There's no such thing as finished software,  only versions abandoned in order to work on the next version ...

[teslasa]

There's no such thing as finished software,  only versions abandoned in order to work on the next version ...

  Yeah, i think that is the problem. We never finish what we start.. Abandon and start next is easier..