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[LIVE] HOW-TO install XBMC Live on Acer Aspire Revo - The Complete Guide for Newbies - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: [LIVE] HOW-TO install XBMC Live on Acer Aspire Revo - The Complete Guide for Newbies (/showthread.php?tid=53888)



- roatsche - 2010-12-05

Thanks a lot. I'll try your ideas shortly. BTW, I'm not running Firefox on the Revo. I have to do whatever I can on my Windows XP desktop, then plug and unplug my peripherals to run on the Acer.


- schneidz - 2010-12-08

hi, this thread seems the same. it seems that there is some difference in the revo-3700 that is causing xbmc to flake:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=86922


stuck in middle of install - roatsche - 2010-12-09

Thanks, schneidz, this thread seems promising.

I tried your latest suggestions, but I couldn't boot up in terminal. I downloaded your NVIDIA driver installer, but on my Windows machine. I don't know how or where to install it on my revo to run your commands.

I have a coworker who knows linux and has been helping me understand your suggestions, but he recently moved to another building at work. I'm moving there, too, but not for another couple of weeks. I've also requested a recovery disk from Acer so I can hopefully reinstall Win 7 and start over again, but that won't arrive for another week or two. So I'm going to put this install on the back burner until I can talk to my friend or reinstall Windows.

I will see where this new thread takes me, though. Thanks.


- schneidz - 2010-12-09

well at least you are learning a bit about computers...

sux that your win-7 seems gone.

most newer pc's (since dvd-drives are passe) include a hidden partition in the front of the drive in case a reinstall is needed (win-xp would require it every 1.5 years).
this is what my acer looks like in fedora:
Code:
[schneidz@hyper hyper]$ fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xc5996bd7

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
[b]/dev/sda1               1        1959    15728640   12  Compaq diagnostics[/b]
/dev/sda2   *        1959        8333    51200000    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3            8333        8358      204800   83  Linux
/dev/sda4            8359       19457    89152717+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5            8359       19457    89152512   8e  Linux LVM
(not sure why it is labeled compaq diagnostics)

xbmc-live-usb is a live linux distro albeit very limited to mulimedia (sux that it seems you cant get to the command line terminal). maybe if you ran a more robust live-usb like knoppix or fedora you can at least check to see if your restore partition is still there and if so re-install win-7 ?


Stuck in middle of install - roatsche - 2010-12-13

How would I install fedora? Early in the install process, I think I was prompted to select a distro and chose ubuntu. I can't get back there to select something else.

Is there some command in linux to let the revo read the Windows recovery disk?


- schneidz - 2010-12-14

^ download the iso to a usb hard drive and boot from it:
https://fedorahosted.org/liveusb-creator/


it mite be a highly over-engineered solution, but maybe we can figure out what is going wrong inside.


_____

next time you boot up xbmc, try hitting tab at the grub menu and adding this to the long line:
Code:
xbmc=autostart
. the thread linked above mentioned it; i am not sure how fubar things are now that we tried to install another graphics driver but it is worth a shot.


Stuck in middle of install - roatsche - 2010-12-14

I'm not sure what the grub menu is, but I tried hitting tab when "grub" appeared briefly at the top of the screen during bootup, and also when the menu appeared for selecting safe mode, but nothing happened either time.

Yesterday I received the recovery disks from Acer. I tried, as instructed, to boot up from the System Disk, but it didn't work. This morning I called Acer tech support. It turns out that apparently the revo no longer recognizes my external CD/DVD drive. I've returned the revo to Acer for repair, so this project will be on hold for a couple of weeks.

BTW, why am I trying to install xbmc live instead of the Windows version? Is there some advantage to getting involved with linux when all I want is a functioning media center so I can move on to other problems/projects?


- schneidz - 2010-12-15

it mite be 'e' to edit in grub (sorry i dont have a keyboard for my acer so i cant play around with it to figure it out).

the live version feels more like a set top box. (no mouse/ keyboard needed in the living room once it is all set-up).

if you got a version of windows i think the windows version would be quite similar


Stuck in middle of install - roatsche - 2010-12-15

I DO want it to act like a set-top box. When I get the acer back, hopefully it will have Windows reinstalled on it, and I can try again to install Live. But if it proves to be a giant hassle again, I'll reinstall Windows and go for the Windows version. I'll let you know what happens in a couple of weeks. Thanks again for your help.


- schneidz - 2010-12-16

roatsche Wrote:... and I can try again to install Live...
your welcome, i dont know if this is the rite way but i didnt install it to the hard drive. when i want to watch a movie or youtube i boot it from the 4 gb usb drive. when i want to do something in windows (which is rare in my living room) i hit f12 and tell it to boot from the internal hard drive. (the benefit of running a live os is that it doesnt touch the internal hard drive -- unless you tell it to)


Stuck in middle of install - roatsche - 2010-12-16

Wow. Thanks for explaining your system. I just assumed most of you were heavily into linux and installed xbmc to your hard drive, which is where I may have gone wrong. However, at the moment I expect to completely dedicate the revo to this application, so maybe it's OK to install on the hard drive. We'll see when I get the revo back.


Lost USB Drive - edbro - 2010-12-19

Last night I upgraded my install and now XBMC does not recognize my external HD. It worked before the upgrade. Is there some config I need to tweak to get it to see the external?

I know nothing about Linux. The only way I got this up and running the first time was following explicit instructions, not understanding exactly what they were.

Edit:
I tried a few suggestions from another thread without luck. I believe the system sees the disk but isn't mounting it?

On my system fdisk -l reports:
dev/sdb1 ID=42 System=SFS

Mount reports:
dev/sda1
Mount does not mention sdb1


- Zipr - 2010-12-20

I am trying to do a new install from a USB stick. I used unetbootin to put it on the drive. When I boot from usb I get sent to a flashing dash. I read to edit syslinux.cfg and change all the boot=cdr to boot=usb. Mine doesn't have boot=cdr, it has boot=live. I tried changing that but it didn't work, it still hung on the boot. Can anybody help me out please?

Code:
default menu.c32
prompt 0
menu title UNetbootin
timeout 100

label unetbootindefault
menu label Default
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit video=vesafb boot=live xbmc=autostart,nodiskmount splash quiet loglevel=0 persistent quickreboot quickusbmodules notimezone noaccessibility noapparmor noaptcdrom noautologin noxautologin noconsolekeyboard nofastboot nognomepanel nohosts nokpersonalizer nolanguageselector nolocales nonetworking nopowermanagement noprogramcrashes nojockey nosudo noupdatenotifier nouser nopolkitconf noxautoconfig noxscreensaver nopreseed union=aufs

label ubnentry0
menu label XBMCLive
kernel /live/vmlinuz
append initrd=/live/initrd.img video=vesafb boot=live xbmc=autostart,nodiskmount splash quiet loglevel=0 persistent quickreboot quickusbmodules notimezone noaccessibility noapparmor noaptcdrom noautologin noxautologin noconsolekeyboard nofastboot nognomepanel nohosts nokpersonalizer nolanguageselector nolocales nonetworking nopowermanagement noprogramcrashes nojockey nosudo noupdatenotifier nouser nopolkitconf noxautoconfig noxscreensaver nopreseed union=aufs

label ubnentry1
menu label XBMCLive, SAFE MODE
kernel /live/vmlinuz
append initrd=/live/initrd.img boot=live xbmc=nodiskmount quiet loglevel=0 persistent quickreboot quickusbmodules notimezone noaccessibility noapparmor noaptcdrom noautologin noxautologin noconsolekeyboard nofastboot nognomepanel nohosts nokpersonalizer nolanguageselector nolocales nonetworking nopowermanagement noprogramcrashes nojockey nosudo noupdatenotifier nouser nopolkitconf noxautoconfig noxscreensaver nopreseed union=aufs

label ubnentry2
menu label Install XBMCLive
kernel /install/vmlinuz
append initrd=/install/initrd.gz quiet preseed/file=/cdrom/install/preseed.cfg cdrom-detect/try-usb=true priority=critical --

label ubnentry3
menu label Memory test (memtest86+)
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit



- bostoneric - 2010-12-20

Upgraded to newest Live version 10.0 “Dharma” used UNetbootin to create USB stick install for me Revo 3610. Install went smooth and fast. Setting up my SMB network shares right now watching xbmc scan and add them to the library.

BUT for the life of me I cant FTP into xbmc to setup the .asoundrc because I have no audio right now!

I've tried from both Win and Mac OS's, multiple different FTP programs on each.
they all basically error

Status: Connection established, waiting for welcome message...
Error: Connection timed out
Error: Could not connect to server

I'm able to connect to the xbmc web interface from computers and iphone, even from outside my house.


- schneidz - 2010-12-20

^ ftp is deprecated; try scp.

(by and by i used to live in somerville.)