[frumpy_uk]

For what it's worth, I'm a few days (and nights) into installing linux on my atv, following the instructions at http://code.google.com/p/atv-bootloader/.

As far as I can tell you need a mac or a linux box in order to follow these instructions.

I'm quite a linux noob and I'm finding it pretty hard. I have hard modded my xbox, I'm running a Ubuntu desktop, I fix PCs for friends etc etc so I'm not entirely skill free.

I guess I could sum up my experience by saying you can't rely on copy & pasting from the instructions. The instructions are very well written but ultimately it's a complicated process, and you'll either need a knowledge of basic linux commands/file systems, or excellent google fu...

My suggestion would be to read through the whole process of patchsticking, the boot loader, and installing linux - especially the latter - before starting.

I imagine this is an area which will see a lot more interest though, as more people see the potential of the atv with the broadcom card.

One more thing - there seems to be a small but at least active community willing to help with linux on the atv here : http://groups.google.com/group/atv-bootloader

[dzenc]

For those of you successfully running Linux on your AppleTV, what distribution/version of Linux are you using? And are you using CrystalHD?

I'm planning my next weekend project. :-)

Thanks
-Dan

[tintamarre]

Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 with Crystal HD. Take a look here if you want to start with the USB stick version : http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=64634

[neomits]

Those booting off a linux install... what are the boot times compared to direct boot into XBMC on a ATV install?

I was pleasantly surprised how fast XBMC boot straight from a cold start if it was set to auto start, but if a linux stick version would boot even faster that would be a huge draw for me.

That and if fanart is smooth, although there appears to be some discrepancy on how much faster linux really makes it.

[TeknoJnky]

linux makes the ui much more responsive vs osx using the same skins. xbmc linux on atv is how the atv should perform.

video appears for the most part about the same, perhaps with less occasional stutters with linux.

problems with linux include;
- getting it installed and running if your a linux n00b is not easy or straightforward.
- video overscan (where desktop/video extends past the limits of your tv) problems are all over the forum
- hdmi audio, last I had tried you needed specific older nvidia drivers to have hdmi work, as newer drivers breaks hdmi audio
- I installed ubuntu 8.04 and 9.10 multiple different times on my atv/crystalhd and never got it working correctly consistently. Whether its my linux noobness or other issues is up for discussion.
- I also ran into various dependecy issues when trying to compile from svn

as far as booting, its a bit faster than the normal atv os, however its offset by having to essentially booting linux twice (atv-bootloader boots first, then linux is booted from atv-bootloader).

[BORIStheBLADE]

I would love to be able to put Linux on my Atv. It would be cool if somewhere down the line we just need flash a thumb drive just as easy as putting XBMC on and it installs it onto the internal hd.

[sircube]

problems with Linux include;
...
- HDMI audio, last I had tried you needed specific older NVIDIA drivers to have HDMI work, as newer drivers breaks HDMI audio

Hi,
can you confirm that audio does work with specific e.g. v190 NVIDIA legacy driver? Thus theoretically audio over HDMI can be solved with attention.
****I need this feedback before going to switch platform.****

Compressed textures for FanArt
With the possible speedup on fanart and poster presentation I'd like to enjoy the full speed of the solution and not get trapped by the slow menu-response anymore under the ATV OSX.
thx!

[pin87a]

Hi,
can you confirm that audio does work with specific e.g. v190 NVIDIA legacy driver? Thus theoretically audio over HDMI can be solved with attention.
****I need this feedback before going to switch platform.****

It only works with 100.14.19 (which doesn't compile under current versions of ubuntu).
With earlier Nvidia drivers the hdmi audio device isn't available at all.
In later versions the hdmi audio device gets disabled by the Nvidia driver when X starts.

If you can use optical audio instead it is preferred as it pretty much 'just works.'

[dan1son]

Running Ubuntu 9.10 with CrystalHD card (8.04 was only required with the original leaked drivers... it's safe to run a newer version now). Less "tweaks" are required to get things like optical, remote, etc. working on a newer version. I'm also running the atv event client (http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=63513) which makes the remote work as well as the light on the front stop blinking.

I'm running Xubuntu which uses XFCE instead of Gnome as it's lighter weight. I have the machine boot straight into XBMC on startup without loading XUbuntu (uses xbmc-standalone). Xubuntu is only there if I want to use the ATV as a computer (which, ironically, has never happened).

No clue on boot time since I leave it on.

I'm using nvidia drivers 195.30 beta drivers with some xorg tweaks.

Code:

ection "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Unknown"
    HorizSync       15 - 70
    VertRefresh     23 - 62
    Option         "DPMS"
Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "TRUE"
ModeLine "1920x1080_59i" 74.1097 1920 2008 2052 2200 1080 1084 1094 1124 +hsync +vsync Interlace
ModeLine "1920x1080_59" 148.3515 1920 2008 2052 2200 1080 1084 1089 1125 +hsync +vsync
#ModeLine "1920x1080_24" 74.1756 1920 2558 2602 2750 1080 1084 1089 1125 +hsync +vsync
#ModeLine "1920x1080_24" 74.1738 1920 2558 2602 2750 1080 1084 1089 1125 +hsync +vsync
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
Option "ModeValidation" "NoEdidModes"
Option "RegistryDwords" "RMDisableRenderToSysmem=1"
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "DFP"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
Option      "DynamicTwinView" "False"
Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "True" # we have proper modelines
Option "FlatPanelProperties" "Scaling = Centered"
Option         "UseEDIDFreqs"         "False"
    Option         "ModeValidation"       "NoEdidModes, NoMaxPClkCheck, NoEdidMaxPClkCheck, AllowNon60HzDFPModes, NoXServerModes, No$
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes "1920x1080_59" "1920x1080_59i"
#       Modes "1920x1080_24"
    EndSubSection

EndSection

Section "Extensions"
        Option          "Composite"     "Disable"
EndSection

That TV only supports 60hz playback on 1080p material, hence the 24hz modelines being commented out.

The RegistryDwords line gives some memory back from the GPU to the system. Davilla mentioned it at some point... it does seem to help considerably.

My rc.local looks like this.

Code:

/home/dan/crystalhd-for-osx-read-only/crystalhd/driver/linux/bcm_70012_run.sh

/usr/local/sbin/atvclient

exit 0

That sets up the Crystal HD card and starts the atvclient on bootup. Since I'm running the bcm_70012_run.sh script from somewhere other than it's directory, I had to modify the property "bcm_dev_bin_ko" in that file to have the absolute path otherwise it won't find it.


Hope that information helps. Let me know if you have more questions.

[dzenc]

Thanks! Do you have HDMI audio working, and is it working well?

Did you try 8.04 at any point, or jump straight to 9.10?

[davilla]

My rc.local looks like this.

Code:

/home/dan/crystalhd-for-osx-read-only/crystalhd/driver/linux/bcm_70012_run.sh

/usr/local/sbin/atvclient

exit 0

That sets up the Crystal HD card and starts the atvclient on bootup. Since I'm running the bcm_70012_run.sh script from somewhere other than it's directory, I had to modify the property "bcm_dev_bin_ko" in that file to have the absolute path otherwise it won't find it.


Hope that information helps. Let me know if you have more questions.

if you are running the version that creates a udev rule, then you don't need to run bcm_70012_run.sh anymore.

[dzenc]

Hi Davilla,

Thanks for all the hard work you've put into this! It's really appreciated.

At some point in the past, I think you recommended going with 8.04 over 9.10. Is that still the case (for Apple TV)? If so, can you explain why?

Thanks
-Dan

[davilla]

Hi Davilla,

Thanks for all the hard work you've put into this! It's really appreciated.

At some point in the past, I think you recommended going with 8.04 over 9.10. Is that still the case (for Apple TV)? If so, can you explain why?

Thanks
-Dan

8.04 is simple to install, no fixes, uses grub not grub2, supports the nvidia driver needed for audio over HDMI.

[dzenc]

8.04 is simple to install, no fixes, uses grub not grub2, supports the nvidia driver needed for audio over HDMI.

Cool! Thanks! I will go with 8.04.

-Dan

[dan1son]

Thanks! Do you have HDMI audio working, and is it working well?

Did you try 8.04 at any point, or jump straight to 9.10?

I don't use HDMI audio, so I can't comment on that.

I ran 8.04 up until the point where the official broadcom drivers came out (I believe I was one of the first couple outside of the devs with a working CrystalHD card in XBMC). I jumped to 9.10 as soon as it seemed viable. I was having odd problems with networking speeds on 8.04, had to manually compile LIRC to work with my MCE remote (not used on the ATV anymore), and a couple of other annoyances.

I also run Ubuntu 9.10 on 3 other machines in the house, so I figured it made sense for consistency. That and I like having the latest and greatest tools

I since bought an Aspire Revo which is now in the living room and the ATV with CrystalHD card is happily playing videos and music in my bedroom.