Beulbek

Putting it all together: An Ubuntu based mediacenter in the Antec Fusion Remote Black.

During the holidays, I finally decided to order the Antec Fusion Remote Black. With my Logitech Harmony working, I felt I had to finally put it all together. Doing so also enabled me to reinstall the entire software system and set it all up properly. Here’s the pros, but beware: there’s cons also!

One of the major problems after putting all components into the new case, was the system kept on rebooting. Having spent hours and hours, one of my friends finally noticed an extra spacer that caused the short-circuit. Removing it was the key to a stable system. Software could be installed now!

Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex

Start of by downloading an iso of the Ubuntu site. Compared to the gutsy-gibbon x86_64, this installation has been a hell of a lot easier! I chose not to install the x86_64 version. Past year, I haven’t used any 64bit functionality at all. At the other hand, I have been frustrated a lot by not being able to apt-get and not being able to make my software packages. Therefore, the _64 got lost from the x86 install.

Essential software

After installing the base system, I was given the choice of using the restricted drivers for my onboard nVidia card. Using Intrepid Ibex, I could now choose the restricted driver so the proper resolution is used. No more fiddling with self-built drivers! Enable YouTube by installing flash:  apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree. Install your favourite text-editor: apt-get install emacs and mute that annoying speaker: echo "blacklist pcspkr" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist Now, install the one and only media player: apt-get install vlc.

Installing XBMC on Ubuntu 8.10

Add the repositories and install XBMC from scratch:
echo "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-intrepid/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-intrepid/ubuntu intrepid main
" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
apt-get update
apt-get install subversion
cd $HOME
svn checkout  https://xbmc.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/xbmc/branches/linuxport/XBMC
cd $HOME/XBMC
sudo apt-get build-dep xbmc
./configure
make
sudo make install

Install the Aeon skin

cd /usr/local/share/xbmc/skin/
wget "http://www.aeonproject.com/downloads/builds/Aeon_ALPHA14.zip"
unzip Aeon_ALPHA14.zip
Stolen from http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=HOW-TO_compile_XBMC_for_Linux_from_source_code

Automounting the downloads partitions

To automount the downloads we are going to add the download directory to /etc/fstab. A short manual is given at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?&t=283131 .Find the downloads partition and type: blkid.
/dev/sda1: UUID="847eef55-5fde-4242-bccd-1f844d6513d8" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda3: UUID="f0e803d6-5a18-492a-9719-c62818fca8c4" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda4: UUID="5b2cd083-7e84-4b22-873a-891e053c6b46" TYPE="xfs"
/dev/sda5: TYPE="swap" UUID="d01d1d85-f53a-40bd-88e5-6b2b43d0199a"

I will add /dev/sda4 by UUID setting the type to XFS. This is a type I chose because:

XFS is a high-performance journaling file system created by Silicon Graphics, originally for their IRIX operating system and later ported to Linux kernel. XFS is particularly proficient at handling large files and at offering smooth data transfers (source).

Looking at the options, I will add the next entry to /etc/fstab:

# /dev/sda4 to /downloads
UUID=5b2cd083-7e84-4b22-873a-891e053c6b46 /downloads    xfs    auto,user,relatime    0    0

I want to mount the disk with UUID 5b2cd083-7e84-4b22-873a-891e053c6b46 to the map /downloads. It’s an XFS filesytem, it should be auto-mounted for the user and use the default file-alteration-monitoring methods. This is my downloads section, which means all content is replaceable. I choose to set the backup-flag to 0. This is the same for the fsck flag. A reboot showed me it’s all good: user jaap is allowed to create, read and delete a file.

fdisk -l
apt-get install xfsprogs xfsdump
mkfs.xfs /dev/sdb1
blkid
mkdir /downloads2
emacs /etc/fstab
mount /dev/sdb1 /downloads2

Installing the imon LCD driver

Installing the imon LCD driver caused me quite some troubles. After trying a lot of options and reading a lot of information about it, it’s these sites that got me there:
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Imon
http://codeka.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=22
http://codeka.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=64&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&view=print
http://wiki.foxmediasystems.com/index.php/Antec_Fusion_v2_Black_LCD

Finally, configure lirc_imon module options in /etc/modprobe.d/options by adding the following lines:
# Enable Soundgrpah LCD in lirc_imon module
options lirc_imon is_lcd=1
A link for testing the screen: http://mythtvblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/mythtv-imon-server-alpha-release-1.html
Don’t forget to symlink /usr/local/sbin/lircd to /usr/local/lircd. Same goes for lircmd. Enabling the fusion remote is described at http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=40290 , while configuring was described at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=781059 and http://forums.logitech.com/logitech/board/message?board.id=remote_software&thread.id=5632

Meanwhile, I removed the build-deps for XBMC. This caused the programme to stop working. This is solved by installing the necessary packages:
apt-get install libfaac-dev libfaac0 liblzo2-2 liblzo2-dev libsdl-mixer1.2 libtre4

The Results

Voila, here we are: a working XBMC install on an Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex in the Antec Fusion Remote Black. Final results look like this:

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 1st, 2009 at 17:04 and is filed under apt-get, Blog, Commandline, Gadgets, Hardware, HTPC, Logitech, Mediacenter, SABnzbd, Ubuntu, XBMC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.