[arkaplanda]

Dear Friends;

I searched a lot, but I can not find a working solution for my below question.
I have a Foxconn AHD1S-K mainboard which has AMD fusion technology with E 350 Processor.

I want to run XBMC on Linux.

How do I need to install XBMC to work smoothly without any problem for everything. Which version do you suggest Eden(RC2 for the now) or Dharma?

My sub questions:

1) Will the HDMI cable work or not?
2) Will te HDMI cable trasnfer the sound in the same time , or will I have problems?
3) Can I play the MKV files without any problem?
4) Will it support bluetooth?

If there are some experienced guys with the AMD platform, can you please share your experiences.

Thanks and best regards;

[mclog]

My understanding is that openelec is working well with the E350 platform, maybe check in their forums?

openelec forums

[arkaplanda]

I already tried Open Elec , but it gave keyboard error and I cant solve it.

[Robotica]

Besides openelec (should work; otherwise you can file a bugreport at their forums) there is a special version with xvba: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=116996

"Normal" XBMC isn't out of the box ready for Linux and AMD.

[arkaplanda]

What about "Eden" Will it support fusion?

[arkaplanda]

Any ideas?

[acegis]

should support, yesterday I installed XBMCBuntu "Eden" RC3 and I can enable hardware acceleration but I did't test so far if I can play any HD movie ;-)

[arkaplanda]

I installed Open Elec latest (v34).

First I had problem with wireless usb stick. But when I install for the second time it is okey and worked. (TP link Usb Wifi).
Then I had sound problem. I had no sound.

I checked “aplay –l” from terminal and see which card is analog.

Then I see card 1, and the device 1 as analog card and goto XMBC sound setting.
Then I goto XBMC System => System => Audio output [Both Audio Out and passthrough] on custom
"plughw:1,1" [Card 1, Device 1 from "aplay -l in]

Now sound is working.

Now I have another problem. There is no problem with 720 p movies. But when I tried 1080 p, it started tearing and when there are speedy scenes, it is unwatchable.
When I disable the VAAPI support, problem solved but this time it is very very very slow, so you can not watch.

I only tried one file 1080 p, today I will try some other files. Do you have any suggestion for this problem?

[pfennig]

I have the Foxconn R20-A1 (AHD1S-K mobo) also -- Foxconn uses this same mobo on several of their barebones models (R10-A1 through R50-A1 I think).

I added a 2GB stick of ram and am booting off a USB stick with XBMCbuntu Eden Beta3. I think it was like $110 shipped for the barebones plus the RAM, due to a newegg sale at the time.

Machine tops out at about 26 watts.

It runs 1080p perfectly for my purposes. No problems with MKVs. HDMI is fine, including 5.1 audio. I do see some tearing but not enough to be distracting to me personally. Might get better or be able to configure it away, not sure.

I don't think bluetooth is included on the mobo, so you'd need a USB bluetooth dongle. I'm using an RF keyboard with trackpad, so no comment on whether a bluetooth dongle would work, but it should.

XBMCbuntu Eden B3 is great for me so far. If I logout and switch to the desktop the audio device appears to crash -- no audio after doing that. Hopefully this will improve in future builds.



For others considering this type of machine, I think it's fantastic for the price (did I mention $110 for the whole computer?). The case seems sturdy etc. There's even a PCIe x16 (x4 speed only) slot for upgrades. The most annoying thing so far is that there's nowhere to mount an SSD. I ended up putting mine in with zip ties and creative wedging.
I've got Ubuntu 12.04 beta on the SSD currently. The OS has errors frequently, and I haven't yet been able to get XBMC to properly hardware accelerate on it. VAAPI is enabled in XBMC menus, but never used. I will be going this way eventually once things are more stable, so I can also use it for more standard linux tasks. But for just XBMC, XBMCbuntu on this box is working fine so far.

This is a moderate upgrade over my old machine, a single core Atom nettop with a crystalHD card. That one also played 1080p, but has only VGA out and stereo audio. Hopefully this one will be a bit more flexible. The old machine is going to different room once I figure out whether the RAM needs replacing or if I can just tell Linux to ignore the bad part.