Could I run LinuxMCE on a Zonbu?

[totallymaxed]

Well we are testing very similar hardware ie Via C7 processor with a CX700 graphics chip here and under UI1 they perform fantastically well with great video performance once you add the Via Unichrome Pro drivers. So I am sure that the Zonbu will perform equally well. The only limitation i can see is that it only had a VGA port and it does not have in-built IR... but that is a small negative and for the price they look good.

I guess I'm buying into VIA afterall. It seems to come with the "special" (unichrome pro II?) VIA drivers installed in its own OS, so UI2 might even be an option as well.  But I guess I shouldn't get my hopes up to high.

To fix the problem, copy the following two files from the Zonbu OS to the same location in Archlinux:
/usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/via_drv.so
/etc/X11/xorg.conf

http://zonbu.com/doc/doku.php?id=other_distributions

That driver will almost certainly be the Unichrome Pro driver not the Unichrome Pro II driver (which is only available to OEMs). But the other problem with copying the driver across like that is that if it was not built against the same kernel version & libs then it will either not work or be very unstable... and then the other problem is that when the lmce kernel moves on under lmce-0710 then this driver will almost definitely break.

Build the Unichrome Pro drivers from Viaarena... its not that difficult (see my other posts on this) if you want stability and a working MD ;-)

[Zaerc]

Good thing I didn't got my hopes up to much then.

Funny thing, I just checked the status of the shipping and it said that the package had cleared customs.  I was looking at this thread wondering whether to post a message to say it was almost here and the doorbel rang. 

Anyway, I'm about to turn it on now so if you guys don't hear from me in a while...  then it probably works.  

EDIT: Here's my first impression:

It took me a few minutes to figure out how to get it to PXE BOOT, it does boot from the Core but unfortunately it chokes during the setup saying: "ERROR: Cannot connect to router, rebooting in 5 seconds...".  It could very likely be something I messed up on my test-core setup earlier, so I'll have to do some more testing.  Even with this minor set back I'm very optimistic considering that the device booted and initialized it's network properly.  Maybe it needs a little work from the LMCE side of things, but I'm not ready to draw that conclusion just yet.

On a sidenote, setting up the Zonbu's own OS was easy as pie, you're surfing the web in a matter of minutes after hooking it up.  There was also an upgrade available, but I haven't bothered with that just yet.  It's not the fastest I've ever seen, but surely the easiest and friendliest linux I've ever encountered so far.  A little patience goes a long way, and I personally would see no problem to even sell this device to my own grandmother... 

[Faceless King]

Awesome Zaerc. 

Keep us in touch, I'd love to see how this goes.  Let me know about any issues you run into.  I am considering buying one for the Bedroom as a MP.  My wife would be thrilled.  Though are there AV hookup's on it?  If not I suppose I could rig a PC monitor with it.

[Zaerc]

The device only has VGA out. I have it hooked up to a 20" flat panel which it properly configured (1680x1050@60) all by itself.

I've just been playing around a bit and I can't tell you how impressed I am.  I can see my core on the network and play the videos on it's shares without any problem.  I'd almost forget why I bought it. 

[Faceless King]

I can see my core on the network and play the videos on it's shares without any problem.  I'd almost forget why I bought it.

Hmm?  This doesn't seem to make any sense, either one of your words is in the wrong tense, or you missed a negative.

The fact that it properly configured is cool, are you still running it as Zonbu OS, or did you install the LinuxMCE on it yet?

[Zaerc]

That's from the installed Zonbu OS, I haven't looked into the diskless MD boot further yet. And I don't really see what's wrong with those sentences, the reason I bought it was to run LMCE, not the Zonbu OS.

[Faceless King]

I dunno, maybe I am insane or something. 
If the Diskless isn't working, have you thought about installing LinuxMCE directly onto the system.  You could always toss a new CF card in it to try it, then have the original safe if it fails.

[Zaerc]

Oh I'll get this device working as a diskless MD alright, trust me.  I'm just not in much of a rush, so it probably won't be today (or even tomorrow). 

Looks like it can boot from an USB disk as well so I probably won't even need a second CF card when I want to try that, and eventually I probably will.

EDIT:

Just a small update, I have tried again with another test install and the diskless boot got a bit further, this time it stopped telling me that the diskless setup script failed.  To verify that my test system was working properly I tried hooking up another diskless machine (that I knew to work) and that one gave me the exact same error, so it's likely not to be a problem on the zonbu's end.  I'm going to try again soon with a fresh install.

[Zaerc]

Eureka!  Turns out the problem is that lmce thinks it's a fiire station , solved that by setting it up manually as a "generic PC" in the web-admin.  With some added tinkering to get it through the AVWizard it's now running UI1 as after this ordeal I didn't feel adventerous enough to go for UI2.  Wil try to see how far I can get with the UI2s later.

[Faceless King]

Sweet, hope UI2 works, as I'd prefer that.

[Zaerc]

Some more observations, the via driver included with LMCE doesn't work on this machine and the via driver included with the zonbu seems to make UI1 run smoother but does not seem capable of running UI2 (masking) properly.  So I guess next is building the Unichrome Pro drivers from Viaarena like totallymaxed suggested earlier.

[totallymaxed]

Eureka!  Turns out the problem is that lmce thinks it's a fiire station , solved that by setting it up manually as a "generic PC" in the web-admin.  With some added tinkering to get it through the AVWizard it's now running UI1 as after this ordeal I didn't feel adventerous enough to go for UI2.  Wil try to see how far I can get with the UI2s later.

We noticed that too! Also you will notice that the kernel loaded when it detects your Zonbu as a Fiire box is not 2.6.20-15 ... it actually loads an 'old' pluto built kernel ;-)

[Hagen]

Could this have been fixed for 710?

[totallymaxed]

Could this have been fixed for 710?

Yes this has changed under 0710... but under 0704 that was how the Fiire boxes were intended to be installed due to limitations in the Via drivers.