[grantonstar]

Hi,

I'm going to be purchasing an Intel Celeron NUC (4GB RAM, 32GB SSD) and am a bit stuck considering the best distro to use for XBMC.

Basically I would like the machine to act as an appliance as much as possible and boot directly into XBMC. However, at the same time I'd like to run a few services off the device (openvpn, transmission, ssh, smb, nfs, dlna server and one or two others).

I was inclined toward Ubuntu but don't want to install the full desktop. If I use Ubuntu Server as a base, can I add the xbmc ppa and run XBMC in standalone mode and have it boot directly into that?

Similarly, the Debian edition of LinuxMint or Arch Linux sound great especially with the rolling releases. I've had trouble with Ubuntu upgrades in the past so not having to dist-upgrade is a big plus. Anyone with experience on either of these?

Finally, XBMCbuntu and OpenELEC seem to provide a fairly minimal install (very for OpenELEC) but then you lose flexibility and package availability.

Any recommendations with anyone doing similar would be appreciated. Thanks!

[fritsch]

Start with a minimal Ubuntu and use this thread:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=165707

Don't use 3.9.x kernel, directly use 3.10.5 and fine.

[grantonstar]

Start with a minimal Ubuntu and use this thread:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=165707

Don't use 3.9.x kernel, directly use 3.10.5 and fine.

Thanks..

Is the option to install kernel 3.10.5 part of the minimal install?
Do I still need to do the RC6 fix with the packages from the above PPA?
Do the packages from the above include xbmc-standalone? Is there a standard method of getting it to start on boot? (init script?)

[fritsch]

- 3.10.5 is part of the howto (I added it some hours back).

- RC6 is a kernel problem. Yes you will need this on your Celeron 847. Celeron Brix and Celeron 1007 and so on IVB generation does not need it.

I would use a simple upstart script (after your user is member of at least video / and audio group) and you did. If you start with a Ubuntu minimal installation do the following:

Code:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ssh python-software-properties software-properties-common udisks upower xorg alsa-utils mesa-utils git-core librtmp0 lirc libmad0 lm-sensors libmpeg2-4 avahi-daemon
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Allow every user to start X11

Code:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure x11-common

Code:

sudo adduser xbmc
sudo usermod -a -G cdrom,audio,video,plugdev,users xbmc

Put the following file as xbmc.conf to /etc/init/

Code:

# xbmc-upstart
# starts XBMC on startup by using xinit.
# by default runs as xbmc, to change edit below.
env USER=xbmc

description     "XBMC-barebones-upstart-script"
author          "Matt Filetto"

start on (filesystem and stopped udevtrigger)
stop on runlevel [016]

# tell upstart to respawn the process if abnormal exit
respawn
respawn limit 10 5

script
exec su -c "xinit /usr/bin/xbmc --standalone :0" $USER
#    exec su -c "xinit /usr/local/bin/xbmc --standalone :0" $USER
#   exec su -c "xinit /usr/bin/fluxbox :0" $USER
end script

edit /etc/security/limits.conf and add before the end. remember xbmc is the username, not the application.

Code:

xbmc             -       nice            -1

Last thing is missing some permissions to shutdown, suspend the computer, therefore create the file /etc/polkit-1/localauthority/50-local.d/custom-actions.pkla with the following content (don't introduce line breaks):

Code:

[Actions for xbmc user]
Identity=unix-user:xbmc
Action=org.freedesktop.upower.*;org.freedesktop.consolekit.system.*;org.freedesk​top.udisks.*
ResultAny=yes
ResultInactive=yes
ResultActive=yes

[Untrusted Upgrade]
Identity=unix-user:xbmc
Action=org.debian.apt.upgrade-packages;org.debian.apt.update-cache
ResultAny=yes
ResultInactive=yes
ResultActive=yes

Now follow the tutorial here: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=165707 to upgrade the kernel, check the rc6 settings and so on.

[grantonstar]

Thanks!

So I definitely need to install X11 and can't get away with xbmc in standalone mode?

[fritsch]

Yes, definitely. xbmc runs on X11 on linux. standalone only means, that it does actions for you, a window manager would do otherwise. Btw. the wsnipex ppa installs most things, that you need for you. You can start with:

Code:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ssh python-software-properties software-properties-common udisks upower xorg alsa-utils mesa-utils git-core librtmp0 lirc libmad0 lm-sensors libmpeg2-4 avahi-daemon
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

If you don't need lirc, skip it.

The add the ppa, install the new kernel, get the init script, create the user -> done.

[grantonstar]

Brilliant, thankyou so much.

When generating an xorg config is there anything special I need to add for the NUC or XBMC?

[fritsch]

Yeah, read a bit through the thread I linked you at the beginning. I posted some sample configs (basically to get proper 23.976hz modes - starting page 2 or three with a bit of discussion). Please read the first post carefully concerning the settings you should do in xbmc.

[fritsch]

I meant this one, check your Xorg.0.log before - to get knowledge if your output is HDMI1 or HDMI2 or something else and change accordingly in all two places. The configuration assumes your TV can handle max 1080p @ 60hz

Code:

Section "Device"
  Identifier  "Device0"
  Driver      "intel"
  VendorName  "INTEL Corporation"
  # a user reported, that this could cause high jumping fps in the menus when running on Ubuntu Raring
  # in that case set it to "uxa" instead
  # Remember: There is a vsync bug in the intel driver
  # Set xbmc Vertical-Blank-Sync to Let driver decide and _not_ to Always Enabled
  Option "AccelMethod" "sna"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
  Identifier  "Screen0"
  Device      "Device0"
  # make sure HDMI1 matches
  Monitor     "HDMI1"
  DefaultDepth  24
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth       24
    Modes     "1920x1080@50p" "[email protected]" "[email protected]" "1920x1080@24p" "1920x1080@60p"
  EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
  # make sure HDMI1 matches
  Identifier  "HDMI1"
  HorizSync   14.0 - 70.0
  VertRefresh 24.0 - 62.0
  Option      "DPMS" "true"
  # you might have to tune the 23.97 modeline it is a bit of trail and run
  ModeLine        "[email protected]" 74.175 1920 2558 2602 2750 1080 1084 1089 1125 +hsync +vsync
  ModeLine        "1920x1080@24p" 74.400 1920 2558 2602 2758 1080 1084 1089 1124 +hsync +vsync #INTEL
  ModeLine        "1920x1080@50p"    148.500 1920 2448 2492 2640 1080 1084 1089 1125 +hsync +vsync
  ModeLine        "[email protected]" 148.352 1920 1960 2016 2200 1080 1082 1088 1125 +hsync +vsync
  ModeLine        "1920x1080@60p"    148.500 1920 2008 2056 2200 1080 1084 1089 1125 +hsync +vsync
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
  # fixes tearing
  Option      "Composite"           "Disable"
EndSection

[grantonstar]

Excellent thanks again. Cant wait until it arrives now!

[fritsch]

Lol - you don't already have it? - Hehe. As this ended in a personal howto for you. Please do the howto and afterwards, rewrite it as a complete one - I will add the mini iso + rest installation to the original thread. As all bits are already there, should not be a problem.

[fritsch]

Btw. as you did not unpack the Celeron NUC yet. Just send it back. It sounds harsh, but the Celeron Nuc (the best buy 4 months ago) was now superseeded by a newer celeron IVB and even better: the prices fell since Haswell went out. I would go for that one, if you really need to buy now: http://geizhals.de/gigabyte-brix-gb-xm12...58364.html

In 8 weeks Haswell nucs will be out.

The Celeron is really fine for 1080p and 1080i50 - but not so much future proof - concerning 2K, 4K.

[grantonstar]

I will definitely do a howto. Will the Haswell's be a similar price to the NUC celeron? Is there any definitive release date or models announced?

My current setup is falling over a bit. If the pricing/models are good then I'll wait it out.

[fritsch]

Not sure yet. The Celeron NUC with 150 euros + (SSD + memory + wireless) => approx 245 Euro in sum is not so cheap as one imagines in the first place. There are some zotac boxes. Check the Zotac ID62 - that one has the Ivybridge Celeron. I would go for this one from the hw specs point of view. Check the reviews concerning the noise.

[fritsch]

They say, that the CPU fan is a bit loud, when not set manually to 30%

Check the Zotac ID18E if it is no joke. You will get the next generation IVB Celeron for just 108 Euros.
Link: http://www.zotac.com/products/mini-pcs/p...tions.html