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febs · 2004-03-11, 13:33

using xbmc as dash:
if the xboxmediacenter.xml is broken in some way, the dashboard does not start. well, it should pheraps be *strongly* broken, but it's quite boring when it happens.

so can it be possible to create a default.xbe who runs a minimal dash (ftp server) if does not finds xboxmediacenter.xml nor others files, folders or settings?

it can make usage and experimenting with xbmc as a dashboard safer.

thanx

Gamester17 · 2004-03-11, 16:26

good idea, maybe simply a holding down a button combination during boot/start-up to enable the ftp-server + web-server and be the 'safe mode'?

Frodo · 2004-03-11, 17:30

i'll look into it, but it will need the skin/font files
for it 2 show anything
frodo

febs · 2004-03-11, 17:34

it's not necessary to show something Smile

just a built-in line "xbmc safe mode" to know that something's alive.

Gamester17 · 2004-03-11, 19:08

(febs @ mar. 11 2004,15:34 Wrote:it's not necessary to show something

exacly, as long as one can get acces via ftp so one can manualy edit the files, there's no need to show anything on the tv/display

Butcher · 2004-03-11, 19:11

need a font file to render text (unless we embed a graphic for "safe mode" in the xbe.)

febs · 2004-03-11, 19:16

will be that difficult to implement, or increasing the xbe size by.. too much?

Butcher · 2004-03-11, 19:31

depends on the res of the text. we could fit some hard-coded 8 pixel high text in a few bytes though (could be scaled up when rendered).

jmarshall · 2004-03-11, 23:07

i agree that this should be done.

as soon as we hit 1.0, i forsee many "help it doesn't load!", "xbmc doesn't work - what a crap piece of software" etc. etc.

i suggest we imbed a font in the xbe with "xbmc is starting in safe mode due to <insert fault here>" and the ftp server should be auto-started.

that way the user knows it's their fault, and they have a hint at what to fix. we know why it is crapping out, so we should be able to at least hint at what is wrong.

another thing is to move all unnecessary stuff out of xboxmediacenter.xml and into the gui - it's a drag to code, but the goal has to be to assume the user is stupid. Smile

febs · 2004-03-11, 23:39

(butcher @ mar. 11 2004,17:31 Wrote:depends on the res of the text. we could fit some hard-coded 8 pixel high text in a few bytes though (could be scaled up when rendered).

it can be the ugliest and smaller i can imagine. Smile

it's only need is to communicate something more than a black screen. Smile

zilvershadow · 2004-03-11, 23:55

would it also be an idea to autoreplace xboxmediacenter.xml with a default version or load hardcoded values when errors occur? then send a message to the screen? i'm sorry if i'm suggesting something realy stupid here.
safe mode would also be realy great!

zilvershadow

Gamester17 · 2004-03-12, 15:21

if a font going to be included in the xbe anyway then there might be a good idea to output the xbmc logfile (if available) to the tv?

Butcher · 2004-03-12, 16:07

(febs @ mar. 11 2004,21:39 Wrote:
(butcher @ mar. 11 2004,17:31 Wrote:depends on the res of the text. we could fit some hard-coded 8 pixel high text in a few bytes though (could be scaled up when rendered).
it can be the ugliest and smaller i can imagine.
it's only need is to communicate something more than a black screen.

much less 8 pixels and you can't read it. Wink

Frodo · 2004-03-12, 18:25

ok, i did some tests with todays cvs version (12-3):

no settings.xml or no calibration.xml:
xbmc starts fine. missing files are created
ftp server will start if the user has choosen for it in the setup

no xboxmediacenter.xml:
xbmc runs and starts the ftp server automaticly

dashboardmode:
it will try to load the mediacenter skin from the same directory as the .xbe is in.
this will most likely fail as skins are placed in another drive/directory. so this will result in a black screen

ftp server gets started. the ip adres/netmask of the xbox are not set by xbmc. meaning we dont know which ip adres the xbox has now

no-dashboardmode:
it will try to load the mediacenter skin from the same directory as the .xbe is in,so this will probably work unless the user removed the default mediacenter skin

ftp server gets started. the ip adres/netmask of the xbox are not set by xbmc, meaning it will use the existing values set by avalaunch, evox or whatever dashboard you use

things to improve:

1. use default ip adres/netmask (192.168.0.1 / 255.255.255.0) if xboxmediacenter.xml is missing

2. avoid black screen by embedding a small font in the .xbe
that way we can display whats wrong , and show the ipadres/netmask

frodo

Butcher · 2004-03-12, 19:32

frodo: you can call xfont_opendefaultfont for a default font (saves the bother of setting one up and embedding it ourselves).