[PPC] Load XBMC with no finder or less GUI Bloat?
#16
My feeling all along was that it would be better on linux than OSX , however I do not see anyone here that has indicated success. One post said it "sucked" after he finally did get it working, specifically on a Mac Mini. Truth is I bought the Mac Mini to play around with thinking that XBMC PPC was in the PPA . Turns out all of that PPC support spoken of is only on the highly constraining OSX . There is a whole thread here devoted to Linux PPC development that I recall is at least a few pages long. If it is so easy , why then has it not been done?

I mean really I am not looking for someone to do things for me so much as to understand why there is so much contradictory information. Why would I think I would have success with my limited linux knowledge where others have failed? That is if they truly have tried and failed. I am not a programmer and far from it. Hell I could not even make it into a deb file or create a PPA if I had success, as I dont know how to and would surely want a way that I could pass it on to others, and use it again later for myself, if I was successful.

Also I have No desire to mess around with unstable versions. I know that seems to be the thinking here at present but there are warnings here that the nightlies are considered "unstable" and if you want stable stick to 10.1 . On top of that I have confirmed three times now that XBMC 10.1 does not install on a clean install of OSX 10.4 PPC . There appears to be a permissions issue on folders or files that are created at first run. Work around? INstall the nightly , run it , exit it (if you can), delete from Applications then install the 10.1 version.

Correct me if I am wrong but on the Sheva Plug that is a distro designed for that architecture. Have a look at what some of these guys are running XBMC live distros on (not the official XBMC Live bit others) For example Ubuntu 8.10 . Development is continuing through Ubuntu 11.x on PPC platform and I doubt it will go away and if it did Ubuntu 10.10 will work for a couple of more years on these old PPC macs. even if one has to stick to Dharma.
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#17
MarkosJal Wrote:Tell me where then. I have been looking for weeks . It will not build onto PPC the last time I tried 10.1 from source and believe it was lGLEW that I needed. I also tried a nightly, with separate issues.

It's Davilla, not Davila Smile

Checkout the current trunk, satisfy the depends and build it. If it barfs somewhere, then you post details regarding the issues. we work them out, rinse/repeat until done. If you are just looking for a pre-build Linux PPC, sorry we don't offer that but the build system does support Linux PPC.
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#18
MarkosJal Wrote:Also I have No desire to mess around with unstable versions.

Then wait a few weeks and nightlies will become the new stable and you can feel comfortable using it.

What you don't seem to understand is nightlies CAN be unstable depending on the phase of the development cycle. Right now, today we are in a hard freeze as to what can be touched in git trunk. That means only and I do mean ONLY bugs can be fixed. No new features, no updates, zero. So right now, in the development cycle, nightlies are very stable and will become even more stable as we push towards a release. Once we feel it has reached a nice place, we roll out the release.

So if you want some sort of PPC, then it is up to you. Either join the effort to find/fix issues for this release, or continue to pray to google for someone to build a Linux PPC for the specific distro you run. It's that simple.
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#19
Dont get me wrong here. I am not trying to sound unappreciative of XBMC developers. I am trying to come from, a user standpoint. I can not possibly compile for every OS, or even half of them, that passes through my hands and believe me at present there are plenty.

I have not seen a single feature that I would say that makes it worth going to Eden. In fact on the Eden ionstalls that I have done ATV2 add ons are more problematic , specifically Pelisalacarta, TValacarta, and ESPN GO does not install AT ALL. On a previous version that I dealt with wich I think was the Open Electric there was tons of "Live TV" stuff in there that most do not want or need. As I recall it was "a Part" of Eden. SOme Eden installs have failed without reason it seems.

I think there will be people using 10.1 for a long time because "it just works" and you will be chasing down bugs in Eden for some time to come. Dont get me wrong I applaud you for it, but it does not mean I want to run it nor to spend the time and effort compiling it to find it will not exit such as the Dec 1 Nightly OSX PPC. Just because it is "blessed" as stable does not mean I will adopt it immediately. In the case of OSX PPC Dharma it is not "stable" and was so blesssed by the XBMC team. I dont take anyones word for anything. Only my own tests tell me what is stable for me.Thgis is why I acquired a Mac Min PPC and why I built MiXBMCu (Mint / XBMC / Apple Bootloader) so that I would knbiw what was stable for me and what was not.

There is losts of interest in repurposing Mac Mini PPCs for Lunux/XBMC and if it is in fact viable, it raises the question... why is there no official release?


Furthermore relating to me posting and someone offering help. I have received so little help here in fact often I get no reply. It is more probable someone would tell me to use a different hardware platform or different OS, if I were talking Mac Mini. Already in this thread I am having to justify my choice of OS. If I choose a viable OS why then would someone here tell me that I should use debian? Is ubuntu 10.10 unworthy or does it have unsatisfiable dependencies?
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#20
MarkosJal Wrote:Dont get me wrong here. I am not trying to sound unappreciative of XBMC developers. I am trying to come from, a user standpoint. I can not possibly compile for every OS, or even half of them, that passes through my hands and believe me at present there are plenty.

Neither do I, my hands are full with OSX, iOS and embedded Linux.

When PPC Dharma was release, based on user feedback, it was stable. That's how we tell if there are issues. There is no way we can test all variations under a multitude of different conditions. So we rely on user feedback. If we don't get much feedback, then that's that and not much we can do. Builds and seems to work so ship it as we say.

EDIT::

Notice the reoccurring theme here, we supply the coding effort, but we expect users to supply the detailed feedback on issues. That's why nightlies churn out every night.
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#21
Darkscout and Davila


I thank you very much for your input on the thread.


Darkscout
sorry I never mentioned that what I posted about here was currently running OSX 10.4.11 . I should mention that I heard I might get better performance from 10.5 but then again I read that it has even more bloat and runs slower on "minimal systems"

Davilla,
Thanks again for the input. I do appreciate all that gets done here with XBMC. There are more and more people around me evry day looking for systems and the number keeps growing. I have to deal with the iThingies, Mac, Linux and Windows and all of the variants, and problems thereof.


For both
I am posting a new thread with some interesting stats, I will call it "ATV1 vs Mac Mini 1.25 Ghz". You may want to have a look. I am not a coder in any way however I have done things thgat at times surprised myself. I would be willing to assist/contribute/test in any way I can for the development of XBMC linux PPC
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#22
defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow Finder

Does not work!

Mac replies....

2011-12-03 09:38:04.443 defaults[219]
There is no (Finder) default for the (com.apple.loginwindow) domain.
Defaults have not been changed.


I think this may be causing my XBMC.app to not get the IP address? Now I cant seem to undo it.
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#23
Finder shouldn't need to be open to to get an IP address.

If you ssh in you can try:
"open /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app"
Code:
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON `xbmc_%`.* TO 'xbmc'@'%';
IF you have a mysql problem, find one of the 4 dozen threads already open.
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#24
The question remains how I undo the boot to XBMC bypassing the finder. I will only know for sure once I test.

Computer has an IP , XBMC does not see it.

Moving IP issue to this thread

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=116060
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#25
Code:
defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app

Stab in the dark.
Code:
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON `xbmc_%`.* TO 'xbmc'@'%';
IF you have a mysql problem, find one of the 4 dozen threads already open.
Reply
#26
Darkscout,

I am considering what you have suggested and the dependencies for the .deb package you led me to are way too new for the latest Ubuntu 11.10.

So I need to get some clarity on the names and numbers of Debian releases. Some seem to say that SID just always refers to the latest unstable, and the lists that correlate release numbers with names do not even list Sid, seemingly confirming that . This is typical of what I have found with each install of Debian I have done. One must always "chase down" an answer even the most simple questions for example; what names correlate to what version number?! . The download page I found has numbers and no mention of names! That thought alone like makes me uneasy of what I am getting into.

An OS should always use the name or number NOT BOTH. If they use both they need to ALWAYS USE BOTH. Any other way and it gets too confusing to those of us who deal with many OSes and distros (or I am getting too old)

So my question is because I have come to a fork in the road, have you installed that xbmc ppc deb and if so has it worked for you? What exactly did you install it on OS (NAME AND NUMBER PLEASE FOR CLARITY) and hardware?


I have wasted far too much time on the OSX PPC versions and need to move on. My original intention was to install in Linux, until I found that it was not in the PPAs,. I even bought a used machine just to try it.

If I see this as stable I will gladly make a disk image that can be downloaded, but that is the best I can do. I do not enter into another Debian install and configuration with too much confidence based on past experience, but maybe the .deb will make it easier than compiling
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#27
Debian has 4 concurrent developments going.
experimental - where stuff first hits repositories. Don't run it if you're crazy.
unstable - "unstable" not because it'll crash your computer. "unstable" because it changes a lot. Always better than Ubuntu.
testing - once stuff is vetted in unstable it
stable - STABLE. This is what people who run websites run.

Stable also gets a name:
Debian 6.0 (squeeze) — current stable release
Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 (lenny) — obsolete stable release
Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 (etch) — obsolete stable release
Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 (sarge) — obsolete stable release
Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 (woody) — obsolete stable release
Debian GNU/Linux 2.2 (potato) — obsolete stable release
Debian GNU/Linux 2.1 (slink) — obsolete stable release
Debian GNU/Linux 2.0 (hamm) — obsolete stable release

Unstable is ALWAYS Sid (the unstable kid from Toy Story) and it has no version number. Packages are constantly updated, none of this "we just released so this is what we're locked to" BS.

However, new code is also untried code, and those packages are only distributed with clear disclaimers. For packages to become candidates for the next "stable" release of the Debian distribution, they first need to be included in the "testing" suite. For a package to be included in testing:[66][67]
It must have been in unstable for the appropriate length of time (the exact duration depends on the "urgency" of the upload)
It must not have a greater number of "release-critical" bugs filed against it than the current version in testing. Release-critical bugs are those bugs which are considered serious enough that they make the package unsuitable for release.
It must be compiled for all release architectures the package claims to support (e.g.: the i386-specific package gmod can be included in "testing")
All of its dependencies must either be satisfiable by packages already in testing, or be satisfiable by the group of packages which are going to be installed at the same time.
The operation of installing the package into testing must not break any packages currently in testing.


Quote:xbmc ppc deb
Step 1) Install Debian.
Step 2) Add debian multimedia repository.
Step 3) apt-get install xbmc, that's it. Debian will sort it out. (Which is why Debian is awesome).

That deb was built for Debian and not Ubuntu so that's why it won't work.
Code:
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON `xbmc_%`.* TO 'xbmc'@'%';
IF you have a mysql problem, find one of the 4 dozen threads already open.
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#28
I am very perplexed because I do not see how to install the unstable / sid. Apparently that is what this deb is built for.

I assume then this is not a daily build then, daily build would be experimental.

This is one of the complexities of things having two names daily = experimental?
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#29
That package is 10.1. If you want a nightly for linux you're going to have to compile it yourself or get it from: http://sshcs.com/xbmc/ (It doesn't check any dependencies so you have to make sure you have stuff installed).

You install stable add the unstable mirrors and dist-upgrade to sid.
Code:
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON `xbmc_%`.* TO 'xbmc'@'%';
IF you have a mysql problem, find one of the 4 dozen threads already open.
Reply
#30
I am not referring to XBMC I am referring to the debian distros. They seem to require a secret handsshake that I do not understand .

I dont understand why they must make it so confusing
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[PPC] Load XBMC with no finder or less GUI Bloat?0