[GUIDE] Simplified Guide for a perfect minimal HTPC on INTEL platforms

drip · 2011-11-15 09:18

How do I verify the correct output? Running the "xrandr -q" from ssh returns "can't open display". You mention a need to run x server; how do you do that?

**alanwww1** · 2011-11-15 10:22

drip Wrote:How do I verify the correct output? Running the "xrandr -q" from ssh returns "can't open display". You mention a need to run x server; how do you do that?

Code:

sudo stop xbmc

rm .xsession

startx

You HAVE to do it from the machine's own xterm window, not from ssh.

digitalAir · 2011-11-18 08:31

drip Wrote:alanwww1, thank you very much for this guide. It is exactly what I want to achieve, however I am having no end of trouble trying to get the minimal install cd to work properly.

Each attempt to install the OS fails/freezes. I've been choosing command-line install and I progress past all the initial stages successfully (language, location, keyboard, network, etc) until it tries to download additional components from the net. Each time it will progress a little before having an error and asks me to retry, select new mirror, or cancel. I have tried choosing different mirror countries, manually inputing details of a specific mirror, reconfiguring the network settings automatically and manually, and have even tried the 11.04 minimal install disc. Regardless I always seem to have errors downloading from the mirror. I either get an error message or the installer will just freeze with the progress bar on screen.

Persevering and using a combination of different mirrors and telling it to 'retry', has gotten me past partitioning and to installing base system, but I haven't been able to get past about 6% here. I either get similar error messages about choosing a different mirror, error messages about not being able to download a specific component (which gives me the options to continue or go back; both of which seem to do the same thing of going back the progress bar) or the system freezes.

Has anyone else had difficulties installing with the minimal cd? Anyone got some suggestions that may help? This is getting really annoying.

I an located in Australia, have a stable, fast internet connect and my system specs are:
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500
RAM: G Skill 8G(2x4G) DDR3 1600MHZ PC3-12800
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3
HDD: OCZ Vertex 2 SSD

I have installed the complete 11.10 OS on this system but have problems getting my plasma HDTV (not full HD, only 720p/1080i) working; it shows 'out of range' on screen. I was hoping to follow this guide and adjusting the etc/X11/xorg.conf to include the resolution and frequency of my tv.

I would greatly appreciate any help/suggestions.

Drip,
You have the same mobo that I do, and I have experienced the same issues. To successfully get 11.10 installed, I actually did a minimal install of 11.04 and performed the "do-release-upgrade". The problem seems to lie in the r8169 nic drivers that exist on the 11.10 initrd.

After solving that issue, I've almost gotten a perfect install. there are other conflicts with the plymouth splash screen that I'm trying to work out now. I'm going to attempt changing the framebuffer to vesa during boot up....

-digitalAir

drip · 2011-11-18 10:15

@-digitalAir

What problems were you experiencing? I can get a minimal install of 11.10 working fine on my hardware but I can't get it working with my display.

**alanwww1** · 2011-11-18 10:33

drip Wrote:@-digitalAir

What problems were you experiencing? I can get a minimal install of 11.10 working fine on my hardware but I can't get it working with my display.

There is a new kernel patch that detects CEA TV modes correctly. Also already in mainline there is a EDID to ELD patch which can handle audio capability auto detection of Monitorts TVs, Av receivers. As soon as Kernel 3.2 is out, I will make a patched version which will include the CEA patch and upload a .DEB package here so that everyone can use it. With this kernel you won't need any XORG.CONF or manual ELD overrides at all ! Stay tuned. 3.2 is at RC2 stage at the moment.

maruchan · 2011-11-18 17:11

alanwww1 Wrote:There is a new kernel patch that detects CEA TV modes correctly. Also already in mainline there is a EDID to ELD patch which can handle audio capability auto detection of Monitorts TVs, Av receivers. As soon as Kernel 3.2 is out, I will make a patched version which will include the CEA patch and upload a .DEB package here so that everyone can use it. With this kernel you won't need any XORG.CONF or manual ELD overrides at all ! Stay tuned. 3.2 is at RC2 stage at the moment.

Is there any way I can test this early by installing RC2? Do I have to compile the kernel myself? Never really messed around with Linux, but following this guide everything has been going OK aside from modelines.

**alanwww1** · 2011-11-18 18:13

maruchan Wrote:Is there any way I can test this early by installing RC2? Do I have to compile the kernel myself? Never really messed around with Linux, but following this guide everything has been going OK aside from modelines.

The ELD patch will be finalized only in RC3 or RC4. The CEA patch will only land in 3.3. So you have to compile a custom kernel. When 3.2 will be final I will post a custom kernel deb file here so you don't have to compile. Anyway if you want to test here is how to do it.

Code:

sudo apt-get build-dep linux

sudo apt-get install kernel-package git-core fakeroot build-essential ncurses-dev

cd ~

mkdir Builds

cd Builds

mkdir Kernel

cd Kernel

git clone https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git

cd linux-2.6

wget http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/dri-devel/attachments/20111113/541f5960/attachment-0001.bin -O ./CEA.patch

patch -p1 < ./CEA.patch

cp /boot/config-`uname -r` ./.config

make-kpkg clean

CONCURRENCY_LEVEL=`getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN` fakeroot make-kpkg --initrd --append-to-version=-my-custom-kernel kernel_image kernel_headers

sudo dpkg -i ../linux-*

sudo reboot

You might have to answer some config questions which are new to the just fetched kernel version compared to the one you have installed. Just choose the default option at all times.

And the best thing about this method that you will have two DEB files in the parent dir that you can install anytime on another computer with sudo dpkg -i.

Hope this helps.

maruchan · 2011-11-18 18:37

Awesome

Thanks for the fast reply! Also, a few other questions:

1.) How do I get back out into the terminal from XBMC? Every time I type 'startx', it launches me into XBMC. Is there any way to startx in console mode?

2.) Is there any way you could add a section on getting the Wireless Manager plugin working under this setup? I'm building a htpc for some family members and there's no way they'll be able to SSH into the machine and connect to wifi via terminal commands.

**alanwww1** · 2011-11-18 23:21

Just look up a few posts: :-)

http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=936...stcount=22

digitalAir · 2011-11-19 02:37

drip Wrote:@-digitalAir

What problems were you experiencing? I can get a minimal install of 11.10 working fine on my hardware but I can't get it working with my display.

Major NIC problems. Every variant of 11.10 that I tried to install was able to detect the lan (i.e. I could see in the logs that it was detect when the cable was plugged in or unplugged), but neither DHCP or static IP configuration worked. Sometimes it would work for a little while, and I'd get up to 6% download, but most of the time, the install just reported "unable to configure (or detect) the network".

I even found some posts about using the r8168 driver from realtek instead of the r8169. So, I built the driver on another machine and mod'd the initrd of the boot ISO, but that didn't work either.

In the end, I've discovered that if you perform a 'do-release-upgrade' immediately after installing 11.04, it works pretty consistently... takes a little longer, though Eek

In addition to the NIC issue, I'm running into a boot splash screen issue even on 11.04. When I boot, I see nothing but a blank black screen for about 30 seconds or so (booting from a usb drive during test and HDD otherwise... no SSD in this one yet). Then I just get a blinking cursor in the top left corner.

The system is booted at this time, though. If I ctrl-alt-F1, I get TTY1 to log in. Some Googling found that this is an issue with the framebuffer and vesa/fb drivers that get loaded by Plymouth to display the Ubuntu booting splash screen. So, I'm still working on this issue.

-digitalAir

-digitalAir

drip Junior Member Posts: 5 Joined: Nov 2011 Reputation: 0	2011-11-15 09:18 Post: #21 How do I verify the correct output? Running the "xrandr -q" from ssh returns "can't open display". You mention a need to run x server; how do you do that?
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drip Junior Member Posts: 5 Joined: Nov 2011 Reputation: 0	2011-11-18 10:15 Post: #24 @-digitalAir What problems were you experiencing? I can get a minimal install of 11.10 working fine on my hardware but I can't get it working with my display.
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alanwww1 Team-XBMC Member Posts: 1,301 Joined: Nov 2008 Reputation: 32 Location: Hungary	2011-11-18 23:21 Post: #29 Just look up a few posts: :-) http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=936...stcount=22 Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting. Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules. For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.
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