Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron Minimal Install, Auto Login with gdm.
[for Linux beginners]
1). download Ubuntu 8.04 mini.iso and install basic configuration
2). Install xorg
Code:
sudo aptitude install xorg
3). - Install and svn, checkout xbmc svn, build xbmc using dependencies from README.linux for Hardy Heron. (easier than it sounds).
4). Install your system video drivers. ( I am using amd 780g /ati radeon 3200 so I downloaded and installed proprietary driver for 3d acceleration support and all that good stuff).
5). add '~/XBMC/BUILD/XboxMediaCenter -q to .xinitrc
Code:
echo "~/XBMC/BUILD/XboxMediaCenter -q" > ~/.xinitrc
this allows us to auto launch xbmc as soon as xorg starts.
6). add 'startx' to .bash_login
Code:
echo "startx" >> ~/.bash_login
this allows us to auto launch xorg as soon as you log user in at command line.
7). install gdm
Code:
sudo apt-get install gdm
we'll use this to autologin user at command line.
8). reboot. set user auto login. select session gnome. will boot to terminal in xorg.
select security and enable autolig and select user.
change default session failsafe terminal. while you are here you might also want to change the background color to black so you don't see beige for the millisecond before XboxMediaCenter launches.
side notes:
on system boot it should boot directly into to xbmc-linux. go to video settings and set your resolution to match desktop in order to boot to full screen permanently.
I have not figured out how to get the shutdown button to shutdown the system right now shutdown reverts back to the gnome login screen
If you do not want to set default session to failsafe terminal (in gdmsetup) .xinitrc will not load and instead it will look for ./xsessions to circumvent this you can just sys link .xsessions to .xinitrc using this command
Code:
ln -s ~/.xinitrc ~/.xsession
for ir remote support you will need to install lirc and get it to run as daemon and if you are using a serial receiver and a unique remote you can use irrecord to build a lirc.conf for that specific remote.
next step besides getting shuitdown in xbmc to shutdown the system, is to maybe build a splash screen. I think Ubuntu usually uses usplash but I have no idea where to start on that.
special thanks to Althekiller for helping me with some of the commands and the rest of the xbmc-linux community for all your hardwork in making the best media center ever.
test hardware: amd 780g/ ati radeon 3200 hd (onboard hdmi/dvi/vga) , amd dual core 5000+ BE (not overclocked) 2gigs ram.