Foxconn NetBox-nT330i as MediaDirector

[aico]

Hi,

has someone tested this NetBox for use as MediaDirector?

Foxconn NetBox-nT330i

Tecnical Data:
Intel Atom 330 Prozessor 2x 1,6 GHz
NVIDIA 9400GT onBoard
Wireless LAN IEEE 802.11 b/g
6x USB 2.0
1x Gigabit-LAN
1x HDMI
1x DVI
Cardreader SD / SDHC / MS / MS Pro / MMC

It looks very interesting for use as a MediaDirector...

Sorry about my poor english!

Thank you!

[Techstyle]

I was asking the same question on the IRC chennel but nobody had seen to.  It is for sale at Newegg for $199.  Like you said, would make a great MD.

The issue I see is that the NIC is an Atheros ar8131m which reportedly is not recognized in Ubuntu 0810, which means LMCE would probably have issues with it

[totallymaxed]

Hi,

has someone tested this NetBox for use as MediaDirector?

Foxconn NetBox-nT330i

Tecnical Data:
Intel Atom 330 Prozessor 2x 1,6 GHz
NVIDIA 9400GT onBoard
Wireless LAN IEEE 802.11 b/g
6x USB 2.0
1x Gigabit-LAN
1x HDMI
1x DVI
Cardreader SD / SDHC / MS / MS Pro / MMC

It looks very interesting for use as a MediaDirector...

Sorry about my poor english!

Thank you!

This looks to be a good Atom/ion machine...there are tons of these now of course. As Techstyle points out the only potential problem is the Atheros NIC...but there seem to be people in XBMC world that have got this box running under the current XBMC Live Disc so it looks like this problem ix fixable. However this is all guess work on my part as we have not tested the T330i so tread carefully on this unit ;-)

All the best


Andrew

[Beeker]

Hi,

has someone tested this NetBox for use as MediaDirector?

Foxconn NetBox-nT330i

Tecnical Data:
Intel Atom 330 Prozessor 2x 1,6 GHz
NVIDIA 9400GT onBoard
Wireless LAN IEEE 802.11 b/g
6x USB 2.0
1x Gigabit-LAN
1x HDMI
1x DVI
Cardreader SD / SDHC / MS / MS Pro / MMC

It looks very interesting for use as a MediaDirector...

Sorry about my poor english!

Thank you!

This looks to be a good Atom/ion machine...there are tons of these now of course. As Techstyle points out the only potential problem is the Atheros NIC...but there seem to be people in XBMC world that have got this box running under the current XBMC Live Disc so it looks like this problem ix fixable. However this is all guess work on my part as we have not tested the T330i so tread carefully on this unit ;-)

All the best


Andrew

Andrew,
I just brought one and funnily enough the nic is not recognised I have tried following the steps in the wiki's of unrecognised nic's but no luck any suggestions

[aico]

Hi,

did anyone get the Foxconn NetBox-nT330i networkcard work with LinuxMCE?

regards!
Johannes

[Beeker]

Hi Johannes,
I haven't had time to try Andrew's suggestions and there are other suggestions in the forum to try as well but it requires a deeper understanding then my basic cmd line knowledge so I am waiting to see if someone has some added instructions. I hope to get this up and running when I get back in a weeks time over the school holidays as I have a brand new unit sitting in the cupboard collecting dust. Does anybody have any suggestions on using a iPhone as an orbiter?

Beeker

[mishanya]

Hi,
I have one such as the MD runs for 2 months.

LAN controller Attansic requires module atl1c. Without it I have kernel panic during an attepmt to PXE boot. Way to get nettop work described in wiki page http://wiki.linuxрmce.org/index.php/Unrecognized_NIC, section Modify the media director initial ramdisk.

Here's a quick tutorial:

1. First, download atl1c module source files from here - http://lnx.sensibile.it/files/foxconn/AR81Family-linux-v1.0.1.4.tar.gz;
2. Modify .src/makefile changing "DRIVER_NAME = atl1e" to "DRIVER_NAME = atl1c";
3. Compile module, this will give you file atl1c.ko;
4. Create directory atl1c in /usr/pluto/diskless/<MD#>/lib/modules/2.6.xx-xx-generic/kernel/drivers/net/ and copy file atl1c.ko into it.
5. Add line atl1c into files /usr/pluto/diskless/<MD#>/etc/modules and /usr/pluto/diskless/<MD#>/etc/initramfs-tools/modules;
6. Recreate initial ram disk of MD

Code Select Expand

cd /usr/pluto/diskless/
chroot <mediadirector-id>
depmod
cd /boot
mkinitramfs -o initrd.img-`uname -r` `uname -r`
exit,

and after these steps MD PXE boot should be successfull. I advice to remove quiet splash boot options ( set Extra Parameters Override to 1 for MD in Webadmin/Devices/Media Directors) to make sure it is.
During the boot will take several minutes (and two reboots) to download and install nvidia drivers.

If you connect your MD to monitor or TV with HDMI, you won't see AVWizard after boot. Way to see AVWizard initial screen in this topic http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=9884.0. NetBox nT330i have no VGA output, so AVWizard should be in DVI.

Also, I had to edit xorg.conf to make friends nettop with my 40" FullHD SONY LCD, because after nvidia drivers installation and second reboot i see message that drivers are already installed on HDMI output and black screen instead of AVWizard on DVI output.
I added section monitor with following

Code Select Expand

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
Option   "DPI" "96 x 96"
        Modeline        "1920x1080" 148.5 1920 1960 2016 2200 1080 1082 1088 11$
        HorizSync       20-500
        VertRefresh     59-61
EndSection


Line Option   "DPI" "96 x 96" added fоr corrent KDE desktop mapping, desktop icons and titles become unreadable without it.

Works close to great with UI2 Overlay, VDR, FullHD video. I have problems with MD freezing while playing video files and wathing TV.

Hope it helps someone.

[crisis90]

better just upload the newest driver AR81Family-linux-v1.0.1.4.tar to the core

sudo tar xvf AR81Family-linux-v1.0.1.4.tar

sudo make install

sudo nano /etc/initramfs-tools-interactor/modules

add line atl1c

sudo /usr/pluto/bin/Diskless_BuildDefaultImage.sh

sudo mkinitramfs -d /etc/initramfs-tools-interactor/ -o /tftpboot/default/initrd

reboot md

done

[Beeker]

Sorry for the stupid question but how do we download the driver from the cmd line into the core.............I can follow the rest of your instructions. Thanks for the tip and I look forward to making the Foxconn work as it has been on the desk for some months collecting dust

Cheers
Beeker

[Kezza]

This should do the trick:

sudo wget http://lnx.sensibile.it/files/foxconn/AR81Family-linux-v1.0.1.4.tar.gz

[Beeker]

Hey Kezza,
Thanks.............got it to download
Do you still need to do all the instructions as per the previous posts

Cheers
Beeker

[locutus]

yes, wget just downloads the file

the other commands unzip and install the file

[Beeker]

Thanks all though when I tried to unzip but it says it can't find the file or directory.....I'm guessing it in a directory that I need to change too, any help appreciated

Cheers
Beeker

[joerod]

so, this board works? Sounds like an awesome relatively inexpensive media director... 

Any other experiences with the equipment?

[crisis90]

if you face any problems on install..

dont untar the file in the home dir!

cd /
mkdir AR81Family
chmod 777 AR81Family

(upload newest tar to dir)

tar zxvf xxx.tar.gz

sudo su
make install
modprobe atl1c
exit