LinuxMCE - User contributions [en]

Use my own pictures in the Screen Saver

2008-11-09T03:58:56Z

Jrglasgow: added section "Reload the Screen Saver"

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The photo screen saver does a great job in ensuring that media is displayed on the Media Station screen at all times, even if you just happen to be listening to music.
By default, the photos come from flickr and are downloaded regularly to your local drive.

However, it is nice to use your own photos for the screen saver, either by themselves or alongside the flickr images.

In the current version it's possible to select photos for the screensaver easily.

*Goto the [[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Files & Media -> Screensaver menu.

The following sections are included for legacy reference only.

=== Background ===
All media on a LinuxMCE system is catalogued and stored in a database. The database allows for attributes to be stored for each media file.

One such attribute is "Screen Saver For MD". If this attribute is set for a picture, it will be used as one of the pictures for the Media Director Screen Saver. Pictures must be smaller than 1240x1240px.

Photos are selected by random from all the photos with the "Screen Saver For MD" attribute set.

There are a number of ways to set this attribute for individual files. They are;
* Setting an attribute from the web admin screens
* Setting an attribute from the command line
* Assigning a picture to the screen saver from the Orbiter

=== Setting an attribute from the web admin screens ===

*Goto [[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Files & Media--> Media Files Sync

*The left hand window frame gives a tree view into the directory structure of home/public/data.
Typically photos will be stored under the pictures sub-directory.
The right hand window frame gives a view of the files found and their status with relation to linuxMCE's database.

*Determine the pictures you wish to use, and locate them using the directory browser.
*Ensure that the files are ticked to indicate that they exist in both the database and on the disk. If not, then choose the type as 'LinuxMCE Pictures' and press the 'Add to database' button.

*Once they are added to the database you should be able to select them and see the details (metadata) that are associated with them.
:*Part of the details include any currently set attributes for the file, which you can choose to Edit or Remove.
:*There is also a section to Add Attributes. Only attributes that have been associated with the particular file type can be selected from the drop down box.
:*''Note: If you do not see 'Screen Saver For MD,' then 'Associate the attribute.' ''

:*Select the attribute 'Screen Saver For MD' and enter or select the Attribute name value of '*'. Then press the Add button next to the box and your done.

A [[quick reload router]] should be enough to ensure that files are refreshed from the database. The selected picture should then be seen to be one of the screen saver files.

==== Associate the attribute ====
''The instructions in this section may be obsolete.''

Unfortunately by default this attribute has not been associated with the picture media type. (Perhaps a bug?) To associate it you will need to run the following piece of SQL to put the required association into the database.

You will need to get to the command prompt of your CORE machine and from the command prompt (your default user should be fine) run:

mysql -u root -D pluto_media -N -e "INSERT into MediaType_AttributeType(EK_MediaType, FK_AttributeType, Identifier, CombineAsOne) values(7,30,0,1)"

Do a [[quick reload router]] and then the attribute should show up in the dropdown box under add attributes.

=== Setting an attribute from the command line ===

There is functionality built into the system that allows an attribute to be set through a sequence of Command Messages sent directly to the right device. This is the method the flickr.pl script uses to assign the downloaded files the right attributes. The commands can be executed from anything that sends LinuxMCE messages (including the LinuxMCE Admin Website screens).

This method utilises the MessageSend utility available from the Linux command line. This method assumes that the file has already been sync'd with LinuxMCE and already exists in the database.

You will need to determine the full filename and path for the file you wish to set the attribute for.

*The first command queries the database for the file ID of a particular filename.
The second command assigns an attribute type/value to the returned file ID.

* Logon to your LinuxMCE Core and go to the Linux command prompt.
* Execute the following command:
/usr/pluto/bin/MessageSend dcerouter -targetType template -r -o 0 2 1 819 13 <pathtofile>

Substitute the "full path to the file" where is says <pathtofile>. For example:

/usr/pluto/bin/MessageSend dcerouter -targetType template -r -o 0 2 1 819 13 /home/public/data/pictures/sample.jpg''

*You should get a response something like this:
0:OK
145:11392

The number next to the '145:' is the important part. This is the fileID. If this is zero then your command has not found a match in the database and you may need to take other measures to ensure that the database is sync'd with your files.

*Now execute the following command:
/usr/pluto/bin/MessageSend dcerouter -targetType template -r -o 0 2 1 391 145 <fileID> 122 30 5 "*"

*Substitute the fileID that you just discovered where it says <fileID>. For example:

/usr/pluto/bin/MessageSend dcerouter -targetType template -r -o 0 2 1 391 145 11392 122 30 5 "*"''

*You can then repeat for any other files that you want to use

Below is a simple script which takes all the jpg files in the current directory, resizes them
to a screensaver safe size, and then marks them as being usable by the screensaver. There is no error checking and it shrinks all the images in place, so make sure you make a copy of the images first and place them in another directory. Note: this would normally be run on a directory below /home/public/data/pictures.

#!/bin/bash

# Copyright 2008 (c) Daniel Kristjansson
# You may use this for any purpose whatsoever, so long as you preserve the copyright notice.
# You may relicense this and add your own contributions freely.
# Use this at your own risk.

MAX_SIZE=1024 #don't set it bigger than 1240

for FILE in `ls *.jpg *.JPG` ; do
PWD=`pwd`
FILEID=`/usr/pluto/bin/MessageSend dcerouter -targetType template -r -o 0 2 1 819 13 $PWD/$FILE | tail -n 1 | sed -e 's/^.*://g'`
RES=`identify -verbose $FILE | head -n1 | awk '{ print $3 }'`
WIDTH=`echo $RES | sed -e 's/x.*//g'`
HEIGHT=`echo $RES | sed -e 's/.*x//g'`

NEW_WIDTH=$WIDTH
NEW_HEIGHT=$HEIGHT
if [ $WIDTH -gt $MAX_SIZE -o $HEIGHT -gt $MAX_SIZE ] ; then
if [ $WIDTH -gt $HEIGHT ] ; then
NEW_WIDTH=$MAX_SIZE
NEW_HEIGHT=`expr $NEW_WIDTH "*" $HEIGHT "/" $WIDTH`
else
NEW_HEIGHT=$MAX_SIZE
NEW_WIDTH=`expr $NEW_HEIGHT "*" $WIDTH "/" $HEIGHT`
fi
fi

if [ $WIDTH != $NEW_WIDTH -o $HEIGHT != $NEW_HEIGHT ] ; then
echo file id: $FILEID old dim: $RES : w $WIDTH : h $HEIGHT \-\> new dim: $NEW_WIDTH $NEW_HEIGHT
convert $FILE -resize ${NEW_WIDTH}x${NEW_HEIGHT}! resized_$FILE
mv resized_$FILE $FILE
else
echo file id: $FILEID old dim: $RES : w $WIDTH : h $HEIGHT
fi

/usr/pluto/bin/MessageSend dcerouter -targetType template -r -o 0 2 1 391 145 ${FILEID} 122 30 5 "*"
done

New simpler script for 0710 which does not resize the images:

#!/bin/bash

HOST=dcerouter

for FILE in `ls *.jpg` ; do
PWD=`pwd`
FILEID=`/usr/pluto/bin/MessageSend $HOST -targetType template -r -o 0 2 1 819 13 $PWD/$FILE | tail -n 1 | sed -e 's/^.*://g'`
echo file id: $FILEID old dim: $RES : w $WIDTH : h $HEIGHT
/usr/pluto/bin/MessageSend $HOST -targetType template -r -o 0 2 1 391 145 ${FILEID} 122 30 5 "*"
done
=== Reload the Screen Saver ===

After adding the photos you might want to reload the screen saver. You can do this from the web interface by going to the Files & Media >> Screen Saver page. I would like the option to do this from the command line at the end of my script adding the photos, is there a command line command to reload the screen saver?

=== Assigning a picture to the screen saver from the Orbiter ===

Sounds like a good idea??? Unfortunately it is not currently possible, but I thought that this sounded like a logical thing to do so have put this placeholder in.

Essentially, screens in the Orbiter have buttons that trigger message Command to be sent. So setting up a button in the Picture view screen "add to Screen Saver" should be quite straight forward.

If you feel like getting involved maybe this is somewhere you can start.....

NOTE: Pictures must be smaller than 1240 x 1240. Hope this saves some a bit of fustration.

[[Category: Tutorials]]

Fiire Chief

2008-11-08T01:04:53Z

Jrglasgow: /* Adding Fiire Chief remote */

[[Category: Hardware]]
[[Category: Input]]
[[Category: Infrared]]
[[Category: Supported]]

[[Image:FiireChief.jpg|thumb|200px|Fiire Chief Remote Control]]

== Status ==

Supported by [[Fiire]] (LinuxMCE support) / [http://www.polywell.com Polywell Computers] (hardware).

== Bugs ==
Many users have reported "drifting" issues with the mouse pointer. This issue causes the mouse to move on it's own even when the remote is held still or placed on a table. This has been a long on-going issue with no indication it will be resolved.

== Features ==
* Wireless R/F gyro remote control specially designed for use with LinuxMCE.
* Universal I/R support for up to 3 legacy devices.
* Follow me function (requires additional USB dongles).

== Sales Pitch ==
The [[Fiire Chief]] controls both the [[Fiire Engine]] and the [[Fiire Station]]. It uses RF wireless, and has a range of approx. 50’. It is omni-directional and does not require line of site like an infrared remote. The FiireChief has all the traditional, legacy remote control buttons, as well as 3 specialized ‘gyro’ buttons in the middle that let you control every function using only those 3 buttons and gestural movements. It also has a built-in ‘follow-me’ feature. You can start media in one room, and when you want to move to another room, just take the remote with you and press ‘Follow-me’. Fiire is able to track each remote individually, so whatever media you started with that remote will follow that remote around the house. Your movies, TV and music effortlessly follow you as you move from room to room. And whenever you enter a room, the FiireChief instantly and automatically switches to control the devices in that room. So when you’re in the living room, the volume button controls the volume on the tv in the living room. Take the remote into the bedroom, and the volume button controls whatever tv is in the bedroom, whether or not it is the same brand as the one in the living room. The FiireChief is the only remote control you will need for every room in the home, and you don’t need to worry about which remote goes with which room since any remote can work in any room.

Additionally, the FiireChief has a universal i/r remote built-in with both pre-stored codes and learning. You can program up to 3 i/r devices to control with the ‘tv’, ‘aux’, and ‘cab/sat’ buttons at the top. In those modes, it acts like a normal, universal i/r remote.

The FiireChief includes one USB dongle which you connect to a Fiire Engine, Fiire Station, or other LinuxMCE PC running UI2.

== Compatibility ==
The device will register as a standard USB keyboard and mouse in recent linux kernels (tested in 2.6.25). However, there are still some buttons on the remote that will _not_ be registered by these drivers. To simplify detecting these buttons there is a ruby gem (install via `gem install gyruby`) called [http://rubyforge.org/projects/gyruby gyruby].

== Where to buy ==

[http://www.fiire.com/fiire-chief.php Fiire website].

== Adding Fiire Chief remote ==

Just plug in the USB dongle (do not press the button on it) whilst the orbiter is running. It will install the software on its own. Then press the Connect button at the bottom of the remote and wait for 5 seconds. A message will pop up in the top left of the orbiter saying Active or Connected.(In my case the router did not respond as expected, the buttons didn't work etc... until I reloaded the on-screen orbiter. - jrglasgow)

You need to press that button to bind them after every reboot or reload of the router (or orbiter).
(I did not see this happen with my Fiire Chief, I rebooted the core and it still worked fine without re-connecting. - jrglasgow)

The LED flashes when you press buttons or the gyro is detecting motion - it is very sensitive, so even the vibrations from music can cause it to continue lit even if you aren't touching it!

BTW, the gyro times out after a short while (to save batteries?) of no motion - hit the big hand button in the middle or the menu button above it to wake it up...

discussion at
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4086.0

Netboot

2008-08-24T18:17:02Z

Jrglasgow: /* Alternatives to netbooting */

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[[Category:Tutorials]]
[[Category:Networking]]
A netboot is the process of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_booting booting an operating system over a network]. The operating system image is stored on a central server's hard drive (in this case the [[Core]]), and loaded into the RAM of the PC which is requesting the netboot.

In many ways, it is similar to booting from a LiveCD or floppy, but the storage media is on the network.

==Hardware enabled netboot==
Many newer PCs have [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment PXE] built into the BIOS and are able to netboot. Older PCs from the 1990s may not have this capability.

Many current Ethernet NIC cards have a hardware chip ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment PXE]-ROM) that allows booting over a network. This option is selected from the BIOS configuration on the PC.

Netbooting is more difficult [[Wireless_Networking#Netbooting_Wirelessly|wirelessly]] if the wireless card does not have an embedded PXE-ROM chip. Check the manufacturer's specifications. Some users have used [[Wireless_Networking#Netbooting_Wirelessly|wireless bridges]] to enable wireless netboots.

It the PC has both an active wireless and a wired Ethernet card, or multiple active wired NIC cards, it can be tricky to set which card to use for PXE netboot.

In general, direct netbooting from the BIOS is more successful over a single wired connection.

==Software enabled netboot==
Alternatively, a netboot can be specified using a boot loader on the local PC's hard drive, such as GRUB. See [[GRUB_PXE_network_boot|this discussion]].

This can be configured to use different Ethernet cards and allows for greater flexibility, but there is a certain amount of configuration and Linux knowledge required.

==Netbooting in LinuxMCE==
LinuxMCE can automatically configure itself to allow the [[Media Directors]] to do a "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_booting Network Boot]". In the past, network booting has been used mostly by Apple computers, and Windows generally hasn't supported it. Nevertheless, nearly all modern computer are capable of doing a network boot, offering some significant advantages.

When a computer does a network boot it means that it does not use its internal hard drive at all. Instead it boots up off the Core. This allows you to leave your current computer system on your local hard drive untouched by LinuxMCE, and you just hit a button on the remote to indicate if you want to use your computer like a normal PC (normal boot) or as a media director appliance (network boot). When it boots up as a Media Director, you don't have any computing issues to worry about. It functions just like an appliance -- no start menu, no software to install, nothing to configure, no viruses to worry about. This solves one of people's biggest complaints with media PC's (like Windows XP Media Centers) -- when they just want to watch TV, listen to music, or play a DVD they don't want to mess with a computer. They just want an appliance. With network boot you get the best of both worlds--it's a computer when you want to do computing, and an appliance the rest of the time.

Best of all there's no software you need to install to make it work. When you first turn your computer on, just press the key to enter the BIOS or setup program. There is normally an option to enable network boot, sometimes called "PXE". (This is an embedded Linux netboot protocol.) There will also be an option for boot order. Put the network boot option before the hard drive boot option -- that way the Core can tell the computer whether it should do a network boot or boot like normal.

If you can't figure out how to set this in your computer, you should contact the manufacturer's tech support. You can also try LinuxMCE's support and forums.

Normally, once you enable network boot in your BIOS, every time you turn on your computer it will show you this MAC Address for a few seconds.  There is also an Advanced / IPs and Mac's page in the LinuxMCE Admin site that will show all the Mac Addresses in use in your home.

DHCP must be enabled on the Core to use netboot. You can do this by checking the box in the installation wizard, or after the fact from the LinuxMCE Admin web site.

===Disadvantages of netbooting===
Netbooting can be slower than booting from the hard drive -- depending on network speeds, it can be much slower.

In addition, if there is limited memory on the client, swap time is potentially slower over the network. The hard drive used by the peripheral PC remains on the central Core, so in effect, the effective "bus speed" becomes the data transmission speed of your network.

Lastly, unique hardware drivers and configurations for the client may not be recognized by a netboot, potentially causing a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_Panic kernel panic] (i.e. the hardware can't be recognized well enough to netboot the OS).

===Alternatives to netbooting===

This may seem like a silly section, but the creators of Pluto and LinuxMCE are enamored of the concept of netbooting. Personally, I don't like it, for the reasons listed above.

Very few PCs these days come with small hard drives, and it seems trivial to me to set up a second partition (using the Gparted Live CD, for example) on any PC that I intend to use as a Media Director. I simply install LinuxMCE on that second partition and [[Media Director without netbooting | configure it to automatically start as a Media Director]]. When I start the PC, the GRUB bootloader will give me the choice of using it as a Media Director or of using the native OS on the primary partition anyway. This is slightly less troublesome then using netboot (in which I have to change the BIOS settings), in fact.

Booting LinuxMCE from a second partition on the hard drive is far faster than performing a netboot. Furthermore, I can even disable the Kubuntu hardware auto-detection modules in order to speed up the boot process even more (but that's not a job for a newbie!)

Plug and play is great, but touch and go is better!

===See also===
See also: [[Automatic diskless boot of media directors]]

===Troubleshooting===
*[[MDs Do Not Network %28PXE%29 Boot]]
*[[Automatic_diskless_boot_of_media_directors#Troubleshooting|Troublshooting an automatic diskless boot]]

Orbiters

2008-08-17T03:17:25Z

Jrglasgow: /* Setting up an Orbiter from the LinuxMCE administration screen */

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[[Category: Orbiters]]
[[Category: Admin Website]]
[[Image:Orbiters.jpg|thumb|250px|Orbiters Page Admin Website]]An '''Orbiter''' is a high-tech remote control that you use to control your LinuxMCE system.

It can be a laptop, a Blackberry, a handheld remote control (such as a Windows MCE remote control, a Fiire Chief, or a Bluetooth remote control), or even a universal infrared remote control (connected by USB-UIRT). The functions of the Orbiter remote control are displayed on the local video monitor in a standardised Orbiter User Interface (UI).

For an Orbiter device to connect, it must either have a connection to a Media Director through an input port, or it must wirelessly connect directly to the home automation/multimedia LAN through a wireless access point (or wireless router with the DHCP turned off). The Wireless Access Point/Router must obviously be connected to the Core server.

While you can administer the LinuxMCE system through a Media Director (which has its own on-screen Orbiter User Interface), you can also control the system from many other Orbiter devices as well.

==Types of Orbiters==
See [http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Category:Orbiters the orbiter hardware list] for a list of devices that have been used as Orbiters.

Many Orbiters have relatively slow processors (like PDA's and mobile phones) and may be running on slow Wi-Fi connections. Therefore, Orbiters do not retrieve the large, full-size graphics that are available directly to Media Directors. This would require scaling them, redrawing the text, and re-rendering the graphics on the fly for each Orbiter, a processor-intensive operation.

Instead, all the graphics on the Orbiters are pre-scaled and pre-rendered by a software module on the Core called "[[Orbiter Generator|OrbiterGen]]". If you add new scenarios or devices or change floorplans or skins, you won't see them immediately on the Orbiter. The [[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Advanced-->[[Orbiter Generator|Regenerate this Orbiter]] option is run and a wait of about 60 seconds is required while OrbiterGen renders new graphics, following which the Orbiter will be reloaded.

===Web Orbiter===

A [[Web Orbiter]] refers to any laptop (or other PC) on the LinuxMCE system which uses a standard web browser interface to display the Orbiter User Interface. The laptop or PC becomes a virtual remote control when used in this way.

====Media Director Orbiter====
[[Image:Main-menu.jpg|200px|thumb|Web Orbiter / Main Orbiter Screen (UI1)]]
All Media Directors run an on-screen Orbiter, like the one to the right. The on-screen Orbiter is controlled by the keyboard/mouse attached to the Media Director, or by a connected infrared, USB, or Bluetooth remote control. The Orbiter software can be run runs in Linux, Windows and Windows CE, and can also be run on webpads and PDAs.

In the lower right corner of the main Orbiter screen are the [[Who Am I, Where Am I|'who']] and [[Who Am I, Where Am I|'where']] buttons. This indicates the current user of the Orbiter and which room he or she currently is in (or wishes to control).

You can manually select your desired user and location. Your "location" need not be your actual physical location. For example, even if you were using the on-screen Orbiter for the Media Director in the Living Room, you could change your "location" to the Bedroom. You could then control devices as if you were in the Bedroom. Normally you wouldn't change the location for a Media Director's on-screen Orbiter (since that device stays in a fixed location), but you might change locations frequently if you were to use a wireless web pad or PDA.
[[Image:Litscen.jpg|200px|thumb|Lighting Scenario Page LinuxMCE Admin Website]]
The icons on the left all lead to [[maps]], or floorplans, of your house. These show the lighting, media, climate, telecom and security [[scenario]] categories for each room. Next to each floorplan icon is listed the scenarios for that category and room. (You create the scenarios for each room in the scenarios section of the [[LinuxMCE Admin Website]].) For example, in the Living Room you could create a lighting scenario called 'entertaining guests' that would set the light levels, play some background music, unlock the door, etc.

===Mobile Orbiters===

The mobile orbiter works pretty much like a regular orbiter. The difference is that you don't usually need to worry about the "who" and "where" buttons. The "who" is determined when you chose to install the software. The family member who installs it is assumed to always be the user. The "where" is automatic - whenever you come within range of a Media Director that can recognize the mobile orbiter, it will automatically select itself as the correct location. (Nevertheless, you are still able to manually select a different location, if you want to control a location other than the one you are in).

Since a mobile phone's display is smaller, only selected scenarios can be shown. You must choose the scenario category from the main menu, such as "lighting", and then choose the specific scenario from the sub menu that appears. You can toggle the option for 'follow-me' mode, indicated with a red F. If you hold down the 2 button, a red F will appear for media. As you move around the house, your media will follow you. All 5 categories have follow-me.

Unless you have turned off the "Auto Detect new Bluetooth Phones" option on the Media Director, compatible Bluetooth Mobile phones will automatically be detected whenever they are within range of a Media Director. Be sure you have added the family member to whom the phone belongs on the [[LinuxMCE Admin Website]] first.

A message will appear on all Orbiters (you may need to turn on the TV to see the Media Director's on-screen Orbiter) asking if there is a new mobile phone, and if so, to whom it belongs. If you choose to install the software, the phone will beep. Just hit 'yes' to accept the software, and accept the default prompts.

=====Telephone-based Orbiter devices=====
Several mobile phones can be made to work as mobile orbiters.

*[[Cisco 7970]]

*Symbian Bluetooth phone
:*On the phone go to Menu-->Tools-->Manager.
:*Hit the left button, choose settings, and set "Software installation" to 'on'.
:*Set the "online certificate check" to 'off'.
:*On the phone: Menu-->Connect-->Bluetooth-->turn Bluetooth on-->make your phone visible (public).
:*Go near a Media Director with a Bluetooth dongle. Within 30 seconds or so you will see a message on any nearby Orbiter that a new phone is detected. Select the phone's owner. The software will be sent automatically to the phone as a message in the phone's inbox. Accept the default installation options. The phone will update its own software.
:* If the software gets deleted and you want the Media Director to resend it:
::*Turn the phone off.
::*Go to LinuxMCE Admin Website-->Advanced-->Devices-->"Reconfigure Device".
::*Turn the phone back on. The software should be resent.

===Windows Laptops or Windows CE Webpads and PDAs===
[[Image:Downloadfiles.JPG|frame|right|100px|Download Page for Admin Site]]

*A laptop or a device with a web browser can function as a [[Web Orbiter|Web Orbiter]].
*Other devices can also be set up to work as an Orbiter on a Windows system by following the setup instructions [[Control LinuxMCE using a Windows device as an Orbiter|here]].

==Orbiter Setup==

===Setting up an Orbiter from the [[LinuxMCE_Admin_Website|LinuxMCE administration screen]]===
Here you add all the Orbiters you want to use in your house, no matter what type. This includes the Mobile Orbiters (e.g. mobile phones), the regular Orbiters (e.g. wireless webpads and tablet PCs), Orbiters you want to run on a normal PC, as well as the on-screen Orbiter displays (every Media Director displays an Orbiter on screen). All Orbiters connected to the system will appear on this page.

*Room: this is the room where the orbiter is normally kept. For mobile orbiters this selection isn't important since you carry them everywhere. For regular orbiters, the room is choosen by manual selection.

*Leave Monitor on for OSD: OSD (On-screen display) refers to an Orbiter that runs on a Media Director and is controlled by the keyboard/mouse, or by an infrared, USB, or Bluetooth remote control connected to the Media Director. When this option is checked, the TV will not shut off when media is finished playing, so that the Orbiter can then be displayed. The TV turns off only when the screen saver starts, or when you select Power-->Turn off display.

:If you always control the Media Director using an Orbiter such as a web pad or mobile phone, leave this option unchecked. In this configuration, the TV will come on only when you're playing media or watching TV, and will turn off when you're done.

*This device uses a Wi-Fi connection: This option is useful for webpads and PDAs with a Wi-Fi signal. Since Wi-Fi is somewhat unreliable, the Core and Orbiter will constantly 'ping' each other to make sure the connection is strong enough. The Orbiter software will exit whenever the Orbiter goes out of range.

*No Effects: Many screens have special effects, such as animated buttons, fades, and so on. If the Orbiter has a slow processor, this may slow down response time. This option will disable any special effects on the Orbiter so it will run as fast as possible.

*Language: All the text on the screen will appear in the selected language (as much as possible).

:NOTE: You can create your own menus and translate screens into other languages using [[Designer]].

*Size: Choose the screen size you want. If this is an on-screen Orbiter on a Media Director), this will also set the Media Director's screen resolution.

*Skin: There are several skins (motifs) from which to choose: 'Wood', 'Marble', etc.
*User: This is the person who normally uses this Orbiter.
*Quick Regen: To make the orbiters respond quickly, all images are pre-rendered. The User interface is "built" by the [[Orbiter Generator]] program. This option triggers the Orbiter Generator to re-generate the user interface for this orbiter. It will only regenerate screens that appear to have changed.
*Full Regen: This will cause Orbiter Generator to re-generate every screen on the Orbiter.
*Reduce image size by %: This will cause Orbiter Generator to add some padding to the screens. This is useful if the screen margins are being displayed outside of the TV screen.
:Developer info: although it may sound intuitive that the corresponding DeviceData is also called "Reduce image size by %", it is in fact called "Spacing". The PK_DeviceData for it is 150. The text "Reduce image size by %" comes from the DeviceTemplate_DeviceData table and it's the meaning of the device data in that specific device context
Offset: This causes the Orbiter to do backflips while reciting a poem backwards. (Just kidding. If you know what it does, please edit this section.)

==Change the look and feel of the Orbiter==

On the Wizard-->Devices-->Orbiters page you can change the look and feel of the Orbiters in several ways.

*[[Create my own skins or GUI for LinuxMCE|Create your own skin or user interface]]

*If you want to try version 2 of the User Interface, see the [[Enabling UIv2]] page.

==Using the Mobile Orbiter==
===Every Orbiter has a 'Rooms' button on the main menu===
Using LinuxMCE basically consists of selecting scenarios that you have previously created in the LinuxMCE Admin Website. For example, you may select the 'Good Morning' Lighting Scenario. If you want to watch TV, you will select the 'TV' scenario for that room. Since the scenarios are grouped by room, the Orbiter needs to know what room you are in. The on-screen Orbiter that runs on a Media Director will always default to the room in which it is located. You can manually specify the default room for other Orbiters, like webpads, on the Orbiters page in the LinuxMCE Admin Website. By default, mobile phone Orbiters 'follow you': whenever you enter a room with a Media Director that has a Bluetooth dongle, your phone will detect it and will switch to that room, showing you that room's scenarios. However, no matter what type of Orbiter you use, there will always be a 'rooms' button on the main menu showing the room, which can always be changed.

===Every Orbiter has a 'User' button on the main menu, except mobile phones===
With a mobile phone Orbiter, you don't need to tell LinuxMCE who is using the Orbiter. The owner of the mobile phone is initially specified on the LinuxMCE Admin Website's Orbiter page and does not change. But with other Orbiters, which may be shared by the whole family, there will be a 'user' button that lets you select who is currently using the Orbiter. This won't affect the [[scenarios]] -- those are the same for everyone. But it does affect some other things. For example, when browsing media, only the current user's private media is shown. Also, other things like speed dials, phone books, and so on, can be affected.

===Selecting a scenario from the phone's main menu===
On the mobile phones, the screen is quite small, so rather than showing you all the scenarios for a room, the phone normally just shows the categories of scenarios: 'Lighting', 'Media', 'Climate', 'Security', 'Telecom', 'Other'. Select a category, then select the scenario underneath it. The 'c' button always takes you back to the main menu. The red 'off' button stops whatever media is playing. And the 'menu' button hides Orbiter so you can use the phone as a normal phone again. To show the Orbiter again, hold the menu button until a strip of currently running programs appears, and chose 'LinuxMCE MO'. If the Orbiter isn't running, press the menu button, and choose 'LinuxMCE MO' from the menu. When you do, the Orbiter won't appear instantly--it will only appear when a Media Director is in proximity and is able to connect to the phone and talk to the LinuxMCE MO software. This can take around 15 seconds. While using the Orbiter, all the other keys have different functions depending on what you're doing. A brief legend is usually shown on the screen, and you can hold down the 'c' button for help.

===Selecting a scenario from another Orbiter's main menu with touch or mouse===
From the LinuxMCE Admin Website-->Wizard-->Devices-->Orbiters page, you can select a 'Skin'. This is the aesthetics (or motif): Wood, Marble, Modern, Classic, etc. You can also select the 'Main Menu', which determines how the user interface behaves.

If you change the 'Main Menu' interface, your Orbiter may look different from other Orbiters, and it may not display all the scenarios on the screen at the same time. In this case you may first have to choose a category, like you do with the mobile phones.

===Selecting a scenario with a keyboard's arrow keys, or an infrared remote===
When you use an on-screen Orbiter on a Media Director, you can either use the number keys or the up/down/left/right/enter keys on the keyboard (or an infrared remote control) to select a scenario.

===Quick tip===
No matter what the user interface looks like, and no matter whether you use the phone, keyboard, or infrared remote, the categories are always numbered as follows:
*1=Lighting
*2=Media
*3=Climate
*4=Telecom
*5=Security
*6=Misc

Within each category, the scenarios are numbered the same, and in the same order, for all Orbiters. For example, the 2nd media scenario is nearly always TV. Whether from a mobile phone, or using an infrared remote or keyboard for an on-screen Orbiter, 22 turns on the TV (2 for Media, 2 for TV). Also, when creating lighting scenarios, LinuxMCE encourages you to make the first lighting scenario the 'default on' and the second the 'default off'. In any room you can normally can hit 11 on any remote to turn the lights on, and 12 to turn them off. If you are consistent in setting up all rooms like this, you will find that you remember the number shortcuts quickly.

==System concepts for Orbiter Implementation==

Here's a simplified [[UML]] for Orbiter (pocketfrog implementation).

[[Integrating custom controls in Orbiter]]

[[Orbiter refactoring - the new design]]

Devel notes:

* [[SDL's TextWrapper and TextSplitter]]
* [[OpenGL implementation]]
* [[Building Orbiter for the Nokia 770]]
* [[Building Orbiter for the Nokia 800]]
* [[Computing screen]]
* [[FileSave screen]]
* [[Child devices]]

Orbiters

2008-08-17T03:16:44Z

Jrglasgow: /* Setting up an Orbiter from the LinuxMCE administration screen */

{| align="right"
| __TOC__
|}
[[Category: Orbiters]]
[[Category: Admin Website]]
[[Image:Orbiters.jpg|thumb|250px|Orbiters Page Admin Website]]An '''Orbiter''' is a high-tech remote control that you use to control your LinuxMCE system.

It can be a laptop, a Blackberry, a handheld remote control (such as a Windows MCE remote control, a Fiire Chief, or a Bluetooth remote control), or even a universal infrared remote control (connected by USB-UIRT). The functions of the Orbiter remote control are displayed on the local video monitor in a standardised Orbiter User Interface (UI).

For an Orbiter device to connect, it must either have a connection to a Media Director through an input port, or it must wirelessly connect directly to the home automation/multimedia LAN through a wireless access point (or wireless router with the DHCP turned off). The Wireless Access Point/Router must obviously be connected to the Core server.

While you can administer the LinuxMCE system through a Media Director (which has its own on-screen Orbiter User Interface), you can also control the system from many other Orbiter devices as well.

==Types of Orbiters==
See [http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Category:Orbiters the orbiter hardware list] for a list of devices that have been used as Orbiters.

Many Orbiters have relatively slow processors (like PDA's and mobile phones) and may be running on slow Wi-Fi connections. Therefore, Orbiters do not retrieve the large, full-size graphics that are available directly to Media Directors. This would require scaling them, redrawing the text, and re-rendering the graphics on the fly for each Orbiter, a processor-intensive operation.

Instead, all the graphics on the Orbiters are pre-scaled and pre-rendered by a software module on the Core called "[[Orbiter Generator|OrbiterGen]]". If you add new scenarios or devices or change floorplans or skins, you won't see them immediately on the Orbiter. The [[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Advanced-->[[Orbiter Generator|Regenerate this Orbiter]] option is run and a wait of about 60 seconds is required while OrbiterGen renders new graphics, following which the Orbiter will be reloaded.

===Web Orbiter===

A [[Web Orbiter]] refers to any laptop (or other PC) on the LinuxMCE system which uses a standard web browser interface to display the Orbiter User Interface. The laptop or PC becomes a virtual remote control when used in this way.

====Media Director Orbiter====
[[Image:Main-menu.jpg|200px|thumb|Web Orbiter / Main Orbiter Screen (UI1)]]
All Media Directors run an on-screen Orbiter, like the one to the right. The on-screen Orbiter is controlled by the keyboard/mouse attached to the Media Director, or by a connected infrared, USB, or Bluetooth remote control. The Orbiter software can be run runs in Linux, Windows and Windows CE, and can also be run on webpads and PDAs.

In the lower right corner of the main Orbiter screen are the [[Who Am I, Where Am I|'who']] and [[Who Am I, Where Am I|'where']] buttons. This indicates the current user of the Orbiter and which room he or she currently is in (or wishes to control).

You can manually select your desired user and location. Your "location" need not be your actual physical location. For example, even if you were using the on-screen Orbiter for the Media Director in the Living Room, you could change your "location" to the Bedroom. You could then control devices as if you were in the Bedroom. Normally you wouldn't change the location for a Media Director's on-screen Orbiter (since that device stays in a fixed location), but you might change locations frequently if you were to use a wireless web pad or PDA.
[[Image:Litscen.jpg|200px|thumb|Lighting Scenario Page LinuxMCE Admin Website]]
The icons on the left all lead to [[maps]], or floorplans, of your house. These show the lighting, media, climate, telecom and security [[scenario]] categories for each room. Next to each floorplan icon is listed the scenarios for that category and room. (You create the scenarios for each room in the scenarios section of the [[LinuxMCE Admin Website]].) For example, in the Living Room you could create a lighting scenario called 'entertaining guests' that would set the light levels, play some background music, unlock the door, etc.

===Mobile Orbiters===

The mobile orbiter works pretty much like a regular orbiter. The difference is that you don't usually need to worry about the "who" and "where" buttons. The "who" is determined when you chose to install the software. The family member who installs it is assumed to always be the user. The "where" is automatic - whenever you come within range of a Media Director that can recognize the mobile orbiter, it will automatically select itself as the correct location. (Nevertheless, you are still able to manually select a different location, if you want to control a location other than the one you are in).

Since a mobile phone's display is smaller, only selected scenarios can be shown. You must choose the scenario category from the main menu, such as "lighting", and then choose the specific scenario from the sub menu that appears. You can toggle the option for 'follow-me' mode, indicated with a red F. If you hold down the 2 button, a red F will appear for media. As you move around the house, your media will follow you. All 5 categories have follow-me.

Unless you have turned off the "Auto Detect new Bluetooth Phones" option on the Media Director, compatible Bluetooth Mobile phones will automatically be detected whenever they are within range of a Media Director. Be sure you have added the family member to whom the phone belongs on the [[LinuxMCE Admin Website]] first.

A message will appear on all Orbiters (you may need to turn on the TV to see the Media Director's on-screen Orbiter) asking if there is a new mobile phone, and if so, to whom it belongs. If you choose to install the software, the phone will beep. Just hit 'yes' to accept the software, and accept the default prompts.

=====Telephone-based Orbiter devices=====
Several mobile phones can be made to work as mobile orbiters.

*[[Cisco 7970]]

*Symbian Bluetooth phone
:*On the phone go to Menu-->Tools-->Manager.
:*Hit the left button, choose settings, and set "Software installation" to 'on'.
:*Set the "online certificate check" to 'off'.
:*On the phone: Menu-->Connect-->Bluetooth-->turn Bluetooth on-->make your phone visible (public).
:*Go near a Media Director with a Bluetooth dongle. Within 30 seconds or so you will see a message on any nearby Orbiter that a new phone is detected. Select the phone's owner. The software will be sent automatically to the phone as a message in the phone's inbox. Accept the default installation options. The phone will update its own software.
:* If the software gets deleted and you want the Media Director to resend it:
::*Turn the phone off.
::*Go to LinuxMCE Admin Website-->Advanced-->Devices-->"Reconfigure Device".
::*Turn the phone back on. The software should be resent.

===Windows Laptops or Windows CE Webpads and PDAs===
[[Image:Downloadfiles.JPG|frame|right|100px|Download Page for Admin Site]]

*A laptop or a device with a web browser can function as a [[Web Orbiter|Web Orbiter]].
*Other devices can also be set up to work as an Orbiter on a Windows system by following the setup instructions [[Control LinuxMCE using a Windows device as an Orbiter|here]].

==Orbiter Setup==

===Setting up an Orbiter from the [[LinuxMCE_Admin_Website|LinuxMCE administration screen]]===
Here you add all the Orbiters you want to use in your house, no matter what type. This includes the Mobile Orbiters (e.g. mobile phones), the regular Orbiters (e.g. wireless webpads and tablet PCs), Orbiters you want to run on a normal PC, as well as the on-screen Orbiter displays (every Media Director displays an Orbiter on screen). All Orbiters connected to the system will appear on this page.

*Room: this is the room where the orbiter is normally kept. For mobile orbiters this selection isn't important since you carry them everywhere. For regular orbiters, the room is choosen by manual selection.

*Leave Monitor on for OSD: OSD (On-screen display) refers to an Orbiter that runs on a Media Director and is controlled by the keyboard/mouse, or by an infrared, USB, or Bluetooth remote control connected to the Media Director. When this option is checked, the TV will not shut off when media is finished playing, so that the Orbiter can then be displayed. The TV turns off only when the screen saver starts, or when you select Power-->Turn off display.

:If you always control the Media Director using an Orbiter such as a web pad or mobile phone, leave this option unchecked. In this configuration, the TV will come on only when you're playing media or watching TV, and will turn off when you're done.

*This device uses a Wi-Fi connection: This option is useful for webpads and PDAs with a Wi-Fi signal. Since Wi-Fi is somewhat unreliable, the Core and Orbiter will constantly 'ping' each other to make sure the connection is strong enough. The Orbiter software will exit whenever the Orbiter goes out of range.

*No Effects: Many screens have special effects, such as animated buttons, fades, and so on. If the Orbiter has a slow processor, this may slow down response time. This option will disable any special effects on the Orbiter so it will run as fast as possible.

*Language: All the text on the screen will appear in the selected language (as much as possible).

:NOTE: You can create your own menus and translate screens into other languages using [[Designer]].

*Size: Choose the screen size you want. If this is an on-screen Orbiter on a Media Director), this will also set the Media Director's screen resolution.

*Skin: There are several skins (motifs) from which to choose: 'Wood', 'Marble', etc.
*User: This is the person who normally uses this Orbiter.
*Quick Regen: To make the orbiters respond quickly, all images are pre-rendered. The User interface is "built" by the [[Orbiter Generator]] program. This option triggers the Orbiter Generator to re-generate the user interface for this orbiter. It will only regenerate screens that appear to have changed.
*Full Regen: This will cause Orbiter Generator to re-generate every screen on the Orbiter.
*Reduce image size by %: This will cause Orbiter Generator to add some padding to the screens. This is useful if the screen margins are being displayed outside of the TV screen.
:Developer info: although it may sound intuitive that the corresponding DeviceData is also called "Reduce image size by %", it is in fact called "Spacing". The PK_DeviceData for it is 150. The text "Reduce image size by %" comes from the DeviceTemplate_DeviceData table and it's the meaning of the device data in that specific device context
Offset: This causes the Orbiter to do backflips while reciting a poem backwards. (Just kidding. If you know what it does, please edit this section.)

==Change the look and feel of the Orbiter==

On the Wizard-->Devices-->Orbiters page you can change the look and feel of the Orbiters in several ways.

*[[Create my own skins or GUI for LinuxMCE|Create your own skin or user interface]]

*If you want to try version 2 of the User Interface, see the [[Enabling UIv2]] page.

==Using the Mobile Orbiter==
===Every Orbiter has a 'Rooms' button on the main menu===
Using LinuxMCE basically consists of selecting scenarios that you have previously created in the LinuxMCE Admin Website. For example, you may select the 'Good Morning' Lighting Scenario. If you want to watch TV, you will select the 'TV' scenario for that room. Since the scenarios are grouped by room, the Orbiter needs to know what room you are in. The on-screen Orbiter that runs on a Media Director will always default to the room in which it is located. You can manually specify the default room for other Orbiters, like webpads, on the Orbiters page in the LinuxMCE Admin Website. By default, mobile phone Orbiters 'follow you': whenever you enter a room with a Media Director that has a Bluetooth dongle, your phone will detect it and will switch to that room, showing you that room's scenarios. However, no matter what type of Orbiter you use, there will always be a 'rooms' button on the main menu showing the room, which can always be changed.

===Every Orbiter has a 'User' button on the main menu, except mobile phones===
With a mobile phone Orbiter, you don't need to tell LinuxMCE who is using the Orbiter. The owner of the mobile phone is initially specified on the LinuxMCE Admin Website's Orbiter page and does not change. But with other Orbiters, which may be shared by the whole family, there will be a 'user' button that lets you select who is currently using the Orbiter. This won't affect the [[scenarios]] -- those are the same for everyone. But it does affect some other things. For example, when browsing media, only the current user's private media is shown. Also, other things like speed dials, phone books, and so on, can be affected.

===Selecting a scenario from the phone's main menu===
On the mobile phones, the screen is quite small, so rather than showing you all the scenarios for a room, the phone normally just shows the categories of scenarios: 'Lighting', 'Media', 'Climate', 'Security', 'Telecom', 'Other'. Select a category, then select the scenario underneath it. The 'c' button always takes you back to the main menu. The red 'off' button stops whatever media is playing. And the 'menu' button hides Orbiter so you can use the phone as a normal phone again. To show the Orbiter again, hold the menu button until a strip of currently running programs appears, and chose 'LinuxMCE MO'. If the Orbiter isn't running, press the menu button, and choose 'LinuxMCE MO' from the menu. When you do, the Orbiter won't appear instantly--it will only appear when a Media Director is in proximity and is able to connect to the phone and talk to the LinuxMCE MO software. This can take around 15 seconds. While using the Orbiter, all the other keys have different functions depending on what you're doing. A brief legend is usually shown on the screen, and you can hold down the 'c' button for help.

===Selecting a scenario from another Orbiter's main menu with touch or mouse===
From the LinuxMCE Admin Website-->Wizard-->Devices-->Orbiters page, you can select a 'Skin'. This is the aesthetics (or motif): Wood, Marble, Modern, Classic, etc. You can also select the 'Main Menu', which determines how the user interface behaves.

If you change the 'Main Menu' interface, your Orbiter may look different from other Orbiters, and it may not display all the scenarios on the screen at the same time. In this case you may first have to choose a category, like you do with the mobile phones.

===Selecting a scenario with a keyboard's arrow keys, or an infrared remote===
When you use an on-screen Orbiter on a Media Director, you can either use the number keys or the up/down/left/right/enter keys on the keyboard (or an infrared remote control) to select a scenario.

===Quick tip===
No matter what the user interface looks like, and no matter whether you use the phone, keyboard, or infrared remote, the categories are always numbered as follows:
*1=Lighting
*2=Media
*3=Climate
*4=Telecom
*5=Security
*6=Misc

Within each category, the scenarios are numbered the same, and in the same order, for all Orbiters. For example, the 2nd media scenario is nearly always TV. Whether from a mobile phone, or using an infrared remote or keyboard for an on-screen Orbiter, 22 turns on the TV (2 for Media, 2 for TV). Also, when creating lighting scenarios, LinuxMCE encourages you to make the first lighting scenario the 'default on' and the second the 'default off'. In any room you can normally can hit 11 on any remote to turn the lights on, and 12 to turn them off. If you are consistent in setting up all rooms like this, you will find that you remember the number shortcuts quickly.

==System concepts for Orbiter Implementation==

Here's a simplified [[UML]] for Orbiter (pocketfrog implementation).

[[Integrating custom controls in Orbiter]]

[[Orbiter refactoring - the new design]]

Devel notes:

* [[SDL's TextWrapper and TextSplitter]]
* [[OpenGL implementation]]
* [[Building Orbiter for the Nokia 770]]
* [[Building Orbiter for the Nokia 800]]
* [[Computing screen]]
* [[FileSave screen]]
* [[Child devices]]

Usage Intro

2007-04-15T07:21:59Z

Jrglasgow: /* Managing your media */

LinuxMCE's main concepts are Devices, Events, and Activities (aka Scenarios, Command Groups, etc). An Orbiter refers to the user interface, be it on a media station, web pad, mobile phone, etc.

== Devices ==

A device is some piece of hardware or software, like the Xine Media Player, the light switch in the bedroom, or your mobile phone. All devices do 3 things: 1) Retrieve configuration data 2) Respond to commands, like turn on, turn off, fast forward, etc., 3) Fire events, like 'motion detected', 'playback started', etc. These are abbreviated "DCE" (Data, Commands, Events).

== Activities ==

Activities, scenarios and command groups are interchangeable and all mean the same thing. This is really just a group of commands that get sent to a device. In LinuxMCE, your main menu consists of a several activities, grouped by room, and categorized as Lighting, Media, Climate, Telecom and Security. All the activities do the same thing: send commands to devices. The categories lighting, media, climate, telecom and security are arbitrary and just for convenience so it's easier to find the activity you want. Whenever you tell LinuxMCE to do something, it's always by choosing an activity from the main menu on an Orbiter. LinuxMCE creates lots of default, common activities for you automatically. For example, in any room where you have both a TV and some lights, LinuxMCE automatically creates an activity called 'Showtime' that dims the lights to 10%. In any room where you have a PVR or other TV-enabled device, it creates a scenario called 'TV' in the 'Media' category that starts the TV system. It also creates a command in the 'Media' category called 'Video' that sends a command to the Orbiter GUI telling it to display all your video content. Activities are automatically created under Telecom to make phone calls, and under Security to view cameras and arm your alarm.

These are just default activities. You can have a fully-functional system and do almost everything using only the default activities. If you want to change or remove some default activities, or add your own, do it using the admin web page, under Wizard, Scenarios. Note that when creating an activity, or scenario, the web page will give you a wizard that's most appropriate based on the category you picked. So if you're adding an activity in the lighting category, the wizard will show you all your lights and let you pick which ones to turn and off. If you're creating an activity in the security category, it will show you what cameras you have, and selecting that activity on the orbiter causes it to show the camera.

Remember the categories, and the wizard, are just for convenience. Any activity can send any command to any device. So, when you're adding an activity in the lighting category, although by default the admin site will only show you lights, if you click the 'Advanced Wizard' option you'll see that as part of that activity you could send any command to any device. You could make a phone call, for example, using an activity in the lighting category.

The grouping by room is also for convenience, and doesn't restrict the activity to only controlling devices in that room. So if your kitchen is near the garage and you want an activity 'turn off the garage light', you can put that activity in the room 'kitchen', and not in the room 'garage' if it's something you would normally want to do while you're in the kitchen. It doesn't matter that the light you're controlling is in the garage. You tell each Orbiter which room it's in, and it will always show you the activities for that room. The orbiters, or user interfaces, that appear on the tv and which you control with a remote control, will be by default in the same room as the media station is. You probably won't ever change this because that media station is generally in a fixed place. Something like a webpad, however, may be carried throughout the house. So, whenever you enter a room, note the 'Room' at the bottom of the screen and confirm it really is the room you're in. Otherwise you will see the activities from another room. And this may be confusing. Both the Living Room and Bedroom may have an activity 'TV'. You have a web pad that is in the Bedroom, and carry it to the Living Room, and forget to tell the web pad it's now in the Living Room, and notice that at the bottom of the screen it still says 'Bedroom'. So you hit the 'TV' button expecting the Living Room TV to come on, when in fact you're still controlling the bedroom.

Once you get used to this concept, however, you'll find it's very convenient. Because every orbiter, be it the one on the TV, the web pad, the pda, the mobile phone, etc., can be set to be in any room and choose activities from that room. And every orbiter has the exact same activities for each room. You do not create activities for one orbiter and not another. The activities are grouped by room--not Orbiter. So whether you pick up your mobile phone, your web pad, or your remote control, when you're in the Living Room, you will have the same list of options for the Living Room.

To prevent some family members from using some activities, use the admin web panel to lock down which rooms an Orbiter can switch to. Maybe the Orbiter that is on the desktop phone in little Suzy's bedroom will be locked to only be able to switch to her room and to the living room. That means she can execute the activities in her room, like 'go to sleep' which may turn off her lights, and in the living room, but her Orbiter won't let her switch to the Master Bedroom and choose the activities in that room. You can also say that a pin code is required to switch an orbiter into a certain room, so the whole family can share a web pad as an orbiter, and the kids can use it in the living room to watch tv, but they cannot switch it the master bedroom and run the activities in that room without entering a pin code.

== Events ==

Remember devices send off events, like 'Playback started', 'Motion Sensor tripped', and so on. The normal way in LinuxMCE to do something is, as mentioned, to create an activity that you select from an Orbiter. But if you want something to happen automatically without the user doing something, you can create Event Handlers. For example, you can create an event handler that listens for the 'Motion Sensor tripped' event from a motion detector and in response turns on some lights. Or an event handler that listens for the 'Sunrise' event which the event plugin sends every time the sun comes up, and make it do certain things in response too.

Just like LinuxMCE creates some default activities for you, it also creates some default event handlers. For example, in any room where you have a TV and lights, it not only creates a Showtime activity, it also creates an event handler that listens for the 'Watching Media' event from any media player in that room, and executes the Showtime scenario automatically. This means that whenever you start a movie, the Showtime activity is executed, which be default dims the lights. There are also some default event handlers to intercept events like 'Security Breach' and 'Fire Alarm' from your home's security system and respond with default behavior.

== Controlling an Orbiter ==

To control the system, you use any orbiter, which is just LinuxMCE's term for a remote control. All Orbiter's have the same basic function: to display all the activities in whatever room you're in and let you pick the one you want. The different Orbiter's may display this slightly differently depending on their screen size, but the function and the list of activities is always the same. The normal UI1 interface which you'll use on webpads and pda's, displays all the activities in a room in horizontal rows. Just pick the one you want and it's executed. If there are more than will fit on a row, you'll have a more button. If you're not already at the main menu, there is generally a home button that takes you there. On small displays, like mobile phones and desktop phones, there's not enough room to show the activities themselves, so the top level menu typically just shows you the categories: Lights, Media, Climate, Security and Telecom. You pick a category to see the activities in that category.

UI2 is the preferred user interface for the media stations. If you're using a traditional i/r remote, you'll find it's not much different than any other media center pc. The menu button brings up the main menu, and you use the left/right/up/down/enter buttons to navigate it, and the fast forward/rewind/skip +/skip - for media playback.

However UI2 also supports a quite unique control architecture that lets you do everything with only 3 programmable buttons plus an ok and cancel, provided you have a pointing device, like a mouse or a gyro air mouse. The 3 buttons are: MEDIA, MENU, AMBIANCE. On a mouse with 3 programmable soft buttons, like the gyration, these are the 3 buttons, from left to right. If you're using a traditional 3 button mouse, use the F6, F7 and F8 on the keyboard for media, menu and ambiance instead. In both cases, the left mouse button is ok, the right mouse button is cancel/go back. And in all cases, the behavior is "absolute" when you press and hold the menu/menu/ambiance button and "relative" when you tap and release, where "absolute" is generally the faster way of doing things. In the case of the middle button, F7, "absolute" means it's just 1 click and you don't have to press OK. So if you press and hold the menu button (ie f7), don't let go, and move your mouse pointer to the option you want, then let go, that option is selected. So it's all done in one continuous motion with 1 click. If you tap and release the menu button, then you can highlight the menu option you want and press ok (ie the left mouse button).

The categories appear along the bottom of the screen, and the activities in that category popup vertically, like a pull-down menu in a pc, except upside down. If the main menu isn't already visible, bring it up by pressing the 'start' button on a Windows I/R remote, or the menu button as explained in the 3 button concept. To get rid of whatever menu is on the screen, click the back button on the i/r remote, or the cancel button (ie right mouse button) in the button concept, or press ESC on a keyboard. In UI2 there is always media full screen, and this media is gallery art from the internet if you're not playing your own media. So if you see scrolling pictures on the media station, press the menu/middle/F7 button to bring up the menu, and right click/esc to get rid of it or any other menu that's on top of your media. The same is true if your own media is playing.

If you're using UI2's 3 button navigation model, all the normal media control options on the traditional remote are replaced with one button: media (ie the left soft button or F6). Press this and then move the pointer up and down for your skip functions (ie ch+, ch-, skip fwd, skip back), and move the pointer left and right for speed control (ie rewind, fast forward). The further you move, the faster the media playback changes. If you keep the button held down (the left soft button or F6), then your movement is absolute, not relative, and instead of the traditional jog shuttle-type control, moving to the right goes to the end of your media, and moving left to the beginning. Once you get used to it, you will find that navigating media is orders of magnitude faster and easier with this model than with a traditional remote, and you can find any spot in a 2 hour movie in only a couple seconds with a click of 1 button, compared to hitting a slew of media control buttons over and over again for several minutes using a traditional remote.

Also, in UI2 you can press the ambiance button (ie right soft button or F8), you move up/down to adjust lights, and left/right to adjust volume. Like with the media playback, if you keep the F8/right soft button down while you move left and right, your volume control is in absolute mode, not relative, so moving hard right is full blast, hard left is mute. This requires you have a tv or receiver that is serial controlled, however, so LMCE can directly and instantly set the volume position in sync with your hand movements. Few tv's and receiver's have hit feature, unfortunately.

There are other media control functions besides just the most commonly used fast fwd/rewind/skip up/skip down, like 'subtitles' when watching a dvd, 'guide' when watching tv, and 'random' when listening to an audio cd. In the UI2 3 button model, all these functions appear on the main menu on the left most pad which is entitled 'now playing' and changes based on what type of media you're currently using. So pres the menu button (ie middle/f7) to select these options.

This 3 button model is a new concept and very different from traditional navigation. Since you've been doing it the 'normal' way all your life, it will take a bit of getting used to. But once you adjust to it, most people say they are much, much faster with this than a normal remote.

== Regen Orbiters & Reload Router ==

While using LMCE you'll see sometimes a message asking if you want to reload the router, or if you want to regenerate the Orbiter's UI's.

Reload Router: All the devices in LMCE get their configuration information from the router, which is the central piece of software on the core. All the devices also request from the router a list of all other devices in the home when they startup so they can react accordingly. For example, an IP camera device will turn on lights in the room when you're viewing the camera. Thus, the IP camera needs to know what lights are in the room. Typically a device requests this information only once when it's starting up to be most efficient. Therefore, while you add new plug and play devices, those new devices will generally work immediately, but the functionality may not be there fully until the router does a reload and tells all the other devices to also reload and re-request this data so they can work with this new device. This process is known as a 'reload'. It only takes about 10 seconds. Every time you add or remove devices, or change some device's configuration, you may be asked if you want to do a reload. If you're still going to be adding more devices or making more changes, just say no. There's no hurry, you can do the reload when you're done. Also, if you're in the middle of watching a movie or tv, you can postpone the reload since, when the media players will generally stop playing media during a reload. Note that your phone calls aren't affected, and any tv shows being recorded by MythTV in the background are also unaffected.

Regen the orbiter: LMCE's Orbiter's, or user interfaces, are all "pre-rendered" in order to be more efficient. In other words, the source images are all very high resolution, and need to be resized for whatever resolution your screen is running. Also, as you add new activities, those will result in new buttons for the main menu, and sometimes new screens, or perhaps changes to the text on existing buttons. So when you add new activities, you won't immediately see them on an orbiter until you do a regen. If you're still going to be adding more activities, just say 'no', and do a regen when you're all done. If you added new activities and want to test them quickly without waiting for a regen of all the orbiters, which takes about 2 to 5 minutes per, then just regen the one orbiter you're using for your tests, and regen the others only after you're sure everything is done. Once you do a regen of all orbiters, they will all have the same list of activities.

This regen process is a bit annoying but necessary for a lot of low-power devices like the desktop phones which just don't have the processing power to do scaling and rendering on the fly, and need all the images pre-rendered and with the text pre-embedded in the images. However, since the media stations have a lot more processing power and can render their ui's on the fly, it's in the works to make the orbiter's on the media stations render their ui's on the fly so you don't need to do a regen every time you add/remove activities.

== Managing your media ==

LinuxMCE is always scanning for network shares on NAS devices and other PC's, including Windows, and will ask you "if you want to use it" every time it finds one. It's also scanning for internal hard drives (ide, scsi, sata) as well as usb drives on the core and media stations, and will also prompt if it finds one. Whenever you say "Yes" you want to use it, it is shared by all the media stations in the home, scanned for media (audio, video and photos), and that media is stored in a central database on the core. This means when you plug in a usb drive on a media station in the living room and say 'yes' to use it, that media will always be on the media station in the other rooms too. At the moment there is no way to have 'local only' media; all media stations use the same media catalog. This is a limitation that will be addressed in the near future so you can attach say a USB drive in master bedroom and know the drive won't be shared.

I'll refer to these storage devices, NAS, usb drives, extra hdd's in either the core or a media station, as "Extra Drives". Whenever an extra drive is added, you can see it in the device tree in the admin panel. Choose Advanced, Configuration, Devices. Under 'Core' you'll see a device for any extra hdd's in the core, as well as any NAS devices, and under each media station you'll see any extra hdd's in those media stations. By clicking on the device you can change the device's properties, such as change the username/password used to mount a NAS and so on. NAS devices and other pc's with file shares will show as a device under the core, and each file share on those device is a child of that device.

Internally LinuxMCE creates a top level folder for 'public' media, which means it's for everyone in the home, and a 'private' media folder for each family member. Within each of those folders are sub-folders for 'audio', 'video', 'pictures', 'data' and 'other. And within each of those will also be sub-folders for all the extra storage devices in the home (NAS, USB, extra internal drives, etc). When you attach an extra storage device, if you say to use the default directory structure, the same directory structure will be created on it, and you will see a sub-folder for each of those. You can also say 'just make it public' or 'make it private' when a new storage device is detected. Here's an example. Let's say you have 2 users: John and Mary. And you connect 3 storage devices: 1) a NAS for which you choose 'use default directory structure' and which is called 'Generic Network Storage [50]' (more on the names in a moment), 2) a USB drive for which you choose 'make it all public' and which is called 'USB Drive [51]' , and 3) a sata drive for which you choose 'make it private for john' and which is called 'General Internal HDD [52].

Now let's say you're running Windows and go to network neighborhood, and find the core. Here's the directory tree you will see:

public
video
Generic Network Storage [50]
audio
Generic Network Storage [50]
pictures
Generic Network Storage [50]
data
Generic Network Storage [50]
other
USB Drive [51]
john
video
Generic Network Storage [50]
audio
Generic Network Storage [50]
pictures
Generic Network Storage [50]
data
Generic Network Storage [50]
other
General Internal HDD [52]
mary
video
Generic Network Storage [50]
audio
Generic Network Storage [50]
pictures
Generic Network Storage [50]
data
Generic Network Storage [50]
other

Whether you put your media under video, audio, pictures, data or other is immaterial. It will be scanned the same regardless and is just for your convenience. Note that the entire contents of "General Internal HDD [52]" will be found in the folder john/other/General Internal HDD [52], and the entire contents of USB Drive [51] will be found in the folder public/other/USB Drive [51]. When John browses the contents in network neighborhood he will be asked for his username and password and can access all the content in the public and john folders, including the General Internal HDD [52]. When Mary browses the content with her username and password she will see the public and mary folders, and thus not see anything on General Internal HDD [52] since that was private for John.

In the case of John's private media, you won't see it in the LinuxMCE media browser unless you click 'Sources', 'John', because it's private for John. However you will always see the contents of General Internal HDD [52] unless you unselect 'Sources', 'Public' from the media browser. Generic Network Storage [50] is different, however, because you said to use the default directory structure. This means that LinuxMCE will create directories on Generic Network Storage [50] for public video, public audio, john's video, mary's audio, etc, and the media file browser will only show whatever media you is in those directories, and the same is true with the windows network neighborhood browser. If Generic Network Storage [50] had some existing media on it in the top folder, you won't see it anywhere.

For this reason, it is generally recommended that when you add a new, empty extra storage device, you say to use the default directory structure. That way when you do ripping in LinuxMCE to that extra device, you can choose to make the media public or private and LinuxMCE will automatically put it in the right folder: audio, video, etc. This is because LinuxMCE created separate folders for the public content and each family member's private content and assigned the appropriate access rights to them.

However if you connect an extra storage device that already has existing media on it, and that media isn't already organized in LinuxMCE's default directory structure, it's easiest to just choose 'make it all public' or 'make it all private'. If you choose 'use the default directory structure', you will need to manually move whatever files you want to access into LinuxMCE into one of the directories LinuxMCE created for you.

When you rip files you also have the option of copying them to the core. Say you rip a cd and make it public, it will be seen in public/audio. If you go into network neighborhood and add a folder under public/audio, you will be adding a folder on the core. If you add a folder under public/audio/Generic Network Storage [50], you are adding it to Generic Network Storage [50].

This concept behind drive/network drive management is not the same as how Linux or Windows handles it. For example, if you use Windows, each network device shows up separately; they are never grouped together like LinuxMCE does it. However, there is an advantage to the way LinuxMCE handles it in that it's much simpler to add devices if you're a total novice and don't understand networking, or if you're using an infrared remote control and just want a way to do this by clicking a simple 'yes' or 'no' and not having to type. And also all your media content is cataloged and presented the same no matter what room you're in. As a comparison, under Windows, if you connect a USB drive to a Windows PC in the bedroom, you won't see that content in the living room unless you open file explorer, create a new network share for it, go into the living room, and create a new mapped network drive. You can't really do that with an infrared remote, or without some knowledge of networking concepts. And you won't see that media in any other room in the house unless you also create mapped network shares there too. On the other hand, with LinuxMCE, when you connect the usb drive, you can just say 'make it all public' and you'll have the media everywhere without typing. And with LinuxMCE rather than managing multiple network shares and mapped drives, you just go to network neighborhood, chose the LinuxMCE core, and under 'public' you will see all the public everywhere in the home without having to even be aware of what storage devices that media is on. When you remove a usb drive from a media station, that media instantly disappears from the file browser catalog in every room in the home. And if you reattach it, it re-appeears.

You can also store media on the Core, and LinuxMCE has built in RAID 5 (see Advanced, RAID in the admin site) so it can act as a NAS itself. These RAID devices are treated the same way.

Now regarding changing the name of an extra device, go into the admin panel and choose 'Advanced', 'Configuration', 'Devices' and under the Core you will see all hdd's in the core plus any nas devices, and under each media station you will see any hdd's in that media station. These are given default names. You can change the description, which will also change the folder. In the above example, changing "USB Drive [51]" to "Tokyo" means the directory public/other/USB Drive [51] would change to public/other/Tokyo.

In the admin panel you can also go to Files & Media, Media Files Sync to see all the files in the system by folder, and to change cover art and attributes. Note that if a file is shown with the check box, that means the file exists both on the disk and in LinuxMCE's master catalog. If it has another icon, that means the process which LinuxMCE uses to catalog the media hasn't finished with that media yet, so just be patient and it should appear with a check mark soon depending on how much new media was recently added and is queued for cataloging. Under Files & Media there is also a cover art scan utility that will find cover arts as well as attributes (actor, genre, etc.) for both cd's and dvd's from amazon.

Now for the Linux guys who want to get under the hood, here's it works. UpdateMedia is a daemon that constantly scans for media files in the /home/public and each /home/user_xxx folder which is created for each family member, and any media is added to the pluto_media database, File table, and attributes and cover art go into the Attribute and Picture tables. Under /home/public and /home/users_xxx is a data subfolder which contains the actual video, audio, pictures folders. The /home/user_xxx directories themselves will contain system files for each user, like email boxes, and the main login for that user. That's why there's a 'data' subfolder.

All extra devices are mounted as: /mnt/device/xxx where xxx is the device number (see the admin site). The mount point is the same if it's a local drive or not. For example, a usb drive #50 in a media station may be mounted as a local device as /mnt/device/50, and as a samba mount as /mnt/device/50 on all the other media stations. So all media stations and the core have the same /mnt/device/ mounts. Within the /home/public/data and /home/user_xxx/data are symlincs to the directories in /mnt/device/xxx. Since the core and all media stations mount the same /home directory, and have all the same /mnt/device mounts, they will all have the same files the same way. So, if the UpdateMedia daemon picks up the file: /home/public/data/audio/Generic Internal Drive [50]/The Beatles/Let it be.mp3, that file will exist on every media station too.

Usage Intro

2007-04-15T07:16:08Z

Jrglasgow: /* Controlling an Orbiter */

LinuxMCE's main concepts are Devices, Events, and Activities (aka Scenarios, Command Groups, etc). An Orbiter refers to the user interface, be it on a media station, web pad, mobile phone, etc.

== Devices ==

A device is some piece of hardware or software, like the Xine Media Player, the light switch in the bedroom, or your mobile phone. All devices do 3 things: 1) Retrieve configuration data 2) Respond to commands, like turn on, turn off, fast forward, etc., 3) Fire events, like 'motion detected', 'playback started', etc. These are abbreviated "DCE" (Data, Commands, Events).

== Activities ==

Activities, scenarios and command groups are interchangeable and all mean the same thing. This is really just a group of commands that get sent to a device. In LinuxMCE, your main menu consists of a several activities, grouped by room, and categorized as Lighting, Media, Climate, Telecom and Security. All the activities do the same thing: send commands to devices. The categories lighting, media, climate, telecom and security are arbitrary and just for convenience so it's easier to find the activity you want. Whenever you tell LinuxMCE to do something, it's always by choosing an activity from the main menu on an Orbiter. LinuxMCE creates lots of default, common activities for you automatically. For example, in any room where you have both a TV and some lights, LinuxMCE automatically creates an activity called 'Showtime' that dims the lights to 10%. In any room where you have a PVR or other TV-enabled device, it creates a scenario called 'TV' in the 'Media' category that starts the TV system. It also creates a command in the 'Media' category called 'Video' that sends a command to the Orbiter GUI telling it to display all your video content. Activities are automatically created under Telecom to make phone calls, and under Security to view cameras and arm your alarm.

These are just default activities. You can have a fully-functional system and do almost everything using only the default activities. If you want to change or remove some default activities, or add your own, do it using the admin web page, under Wizard, Scenarios. Note that when creating an activity, or scenario, the web page will give you a wizard that's most appropriate based on the category you picked. So if you're adding an activity in the lighting category, the wizard will show you all your lights and let you pick which ones to turn and off. If you're creating an activity in the security category, it will show you what cameras you have, and selecting that activity on the orbiter causes it to show the camera.

Remember the categories, and the wizard, are just for convenience. Any activity can send any command to any device. So, when you're adding an activity in the lighting category, although by default the admin site will only show you lights, if you click the 'Advanced Wizard' option you'll see that as part of that activity you could send any command to any device. You could make a phone call, for example, using an activity in the lighting category.

The grouping by room is also for convenience, and doesn't restrict the activity to only controlling devices in that room. So if your kitchen is near the garage and you want an activity 'turn off the garage light', you can put that activity in the room 'kitchen', and not in the room 'garage' if it's something you would normally want to do while you're in the kitchen. It doesn't matter that the light you're controlling is in the garage. You tell each Orbiter which room it's in, and it will always show you the activities for that room. The orbiters, or user interfaces, that appear on the tv and which you control with a remote control, will be by default in the same room as the media station is. You probably won't ever change this because that media station is generally in a fixed place. Something like a webpad, however, may be carried throughout the house. So, whenever you enter a room, note the 'Room' at the bottom of the screen and confirm it really is the room you're in. Otherwise you will see the activities from another room. And this may be confusing. Both the Living Room and Bedroom may have an activity 'TV'. You have a web pad that is in the Bedroom, and carry it to the Living Room, and forget to tell the web pad it's now in the Living Room, and notice that at the bottom of the screen it still says 'Bedroom'. So you hit the 'TV' button expecting the Living Room TV to come on, when in fact you're still controlling the bedroom.

Once you get used to this concept, however, you'll find it's very convenient. Because every orbiter, be it the one on the TV, the web pad, the pda, the mobile phone, etc., can be set to be in any room and choose activities from that room. And every orbiter has the exact same activities for each room. You do not create activities for one orbiter and not another. The activities are grouped by room--not Orbiter. So whether you pick up your mobile phone, your web pad, or your remote control, when you're in the Living Room, you will have the same list of options for the Living Room.

To prevent some family members from using some activities, use the admin web panel to lock down which rooms an Orbiter can switch to. Maybe the Orbiter that is on the desktop phone in little Suzy's bedroom will be locked to only be able to switch to her room and to the living room. That means she can execute the activities in her room, like 'go to sleep' which may turn off her lights, and in the living room, but her Orbiter won't let her switch to the Master Bedroom and choose the activities in that room. You can also say that a pin code is required to switch an orbiter into a certain room, so the whole family can share a web pad as an orbiter, and the kids can use it in the living room to watch tv, but they cannot switch it the master bedroom and run the activities in that room without entering a pin code.

== Events ==

Remember devices send off events, like 'Playback started', 'Motion Sensor tripped', and so on. The normal way in LinuxMCE to do something is, as mentioned, to create an activity that you select from an Orbiter. But if you want something to happen automatically without the user doing something, you can create Event Handlers. For example, you can create an event handler that listens for the 'Motion Sensor tripped' event from a motion detector and in response turns on some lights. Or an event handler that listens for the 'Sunrise' event which the event plugin sends every time the sun comes up, and make it do certain things in response too.

Just like LinuxMCE creates some default activities for you, it also creates some default event handlers. For example, in any room where you have a TV and lights, it not only creates a Showtime activity, it also creates an event handler that listens for the 'Watching Media' event from any media player in that room, and executes the Showtime scenario automatically. This means that whenever you start a movie, the Showtime activity is executed, which be default dims the lights. There are also some default event handlers to intercept events like 'Security Breach' and 'Fire Alarm' from your home's security system and respond with default behavior.

== Controlling an Orbiter ==

To control the system, you use any orbiter, which is just LinuxMCE's term for a remote control. All Orbiter's have the same basic function: to display all the activities in whatever room you're in and let you pick the one you want. The different Orbiter's may display this slightly differently depending on their screen size, but the function and the list of activities is always the same. The normal UI1 interface which you'll use on webpads and pda's, displays all the activities in a room in horizontal rows. Just pick the one you want and it's executed. If there are more than will fit on a row, you'll have a more button. If you're not already at the main menu, there is generally a home button that takes you there. On small displays, like mobile phones and desktop phones, there's not enough room to show the activities themselves, so the top level menu typically just shows you the categories: Lights, Media, Climate, Security and Telecom. You pick a category to see the activities in that category.

UI2 is the preferred user interface for the media stations. If you're using a traditional i/r remote, you'll find it's not much different than any other media center pc. The menu button brings up the main menu, and you use the left/right/up/down/enter buttons to navigate it, and the fast forward/rewind/skip +/skip - for media playback.

However UI2 also supports a quite unique control architecture that lets you do everything with only 3 programmable buttons plus an ok and cancel, provided you have a pointing device, like a mouse or a gyro air mouse. The 3 buttons are: MEDIA, MENU, AMBIANCE. On a mouse with 3 programmable soft buttons, like the gyration, these are the 3 buttons, from left to right. If you're using a traditional 3 button mouse, use the F6, F7 and F8 on the keyboard for media, menu and ambiance instead. In both cases, the left mouse button is ok, the right mouse button is cancel/go back. And in all cases, the behavior is "absolute" when you press and hold the menu/menu/ambiance button and "relative" when you tap and release, where "absolute" is generally the faster way of doing things. In the case of the middle button, F7, "absolute" means it's just 1 click and you don't have to press OK. So if you press and hold the menu button (ie f7), don't let go, and move your mouse pointer to the option you want, then let go, that option is selected. So it's all done in one continuous motion with 1 click. If you tap and release the menu button, then you can highlight the menu option you want and press ok (ie the left mouse button).

The categories appear along the bottom of the screen, and the activities in that category popup vertically, like a pull-down menu in a pc, except upside down. If the main menu isn't already visible, bring it up by pressing the 'start' button on a Windows I/R remote, or the menu button as explained in the 3 button concept. To get rid of whatever menu is on the screen, click the back button on the i/r remote, or the cancel button (ie right mouse button) in the button concept, or press ESC on a keyboard. In UI2 there is always media full screen, and this media is gallery art from the internet if you're not playing your own media. So if you see scrolling pictures on the media station, press the menu/middle/F7 button to bring up the menu, and right click/esc to get rid of it or any other menu that's on top of your media. The same is true if your own media is playing.

If you're using UI2's 3 button navigation model, all the normal media control options on the traditional remote are replaced with one button: media (ie the left soft button or F6). Press this and then move the pointer up and down for your skip functions (ie ch+, ch-, skip fwd, skip back), and move the pointer left and right for speed control (ie rewind, fast forward). The further you move, the faster the media playback changes. If you keep the button held down (the left soft button or F6), then your movement is absolute, not relative, and instead of the traditional jog shuttle-type control, moving to the right goes to the end of your media, and moving left to the beginning. Once you get used to it, you will find that navigating media is orders of magnitude faster and easier with this model than with a traditional remote, and you can find any spot in a 2 hour movie in only a couple seconds with a click of 1 button, compared to hitting a slew of media control buttons over and over again for several minutes using a traditional remote.

Also, in UI2 you can press the ambiance button (ie right soft button or F8), you move up/down to adjust lights, and left/right to adjust volume. Like with the media playback, if you keep the F8/right soft button down while you move left and right, your volume control is in absolute mode, not relative, so moving hard right is full blast, hard left is mute. This requires you have a tv or receiver that is serial controlled, however, so LMCE can directly and instantly set the volume position in sync with your hand movements. Few tv's and receiver's have hit feature, unfortunately.

There are other media control functions besides just the most commonly used fast fwd/rewind/skip up/skip down, like 'subtitles' when watching a dvd, 'guide' when watching tv, and 'random' when listening to an audio cd. In the UI2 3 button model, all these functions appear on the main menu on the left most pad which is entitled 'now playing' and changes based on what type of media you're currently using. So pres the menu button (ie middle/f7) to select these options.

This 3 button model is a new concept and very different from traditional navigation. Since you've been doing it the 'normal' way all your life, it will take a bit of getting used to. But once you adjust to it, most people say they are much, much faster with this than a normal remote.

== Regen Orbiters & Reload Router ==

While using LMCE you'll see sometimes a message asking if you want to reload the router, or if you want to regenerate the Orbiter's UI's.

Reload Router: All the devices in LMCE get their configuration information from the router, which is the central piece of software on the core. All the devices also request from the router a list of all other devices in the home when they startup so they can react accordingly. For example, an IP camera device will turn on lights in the room when you're viewing the camera. Thus, the IP camera needs to know what lights are in the room. Typically a device requests this information only once when it's starting up to be most efficient. Therefore, while you add new plug and play devices, those new devices will generally work immediately, but the functionality may not be there fully until the router does a reload and tells all the other devices to also reload and re-request this data so they can work with this new device. This process is known as a 'reload'. It only takes about 10 seconds. Every time you add or remove devices, or change some device's configuration, you may be asked if you want to do a reload. If you're still going to be adding more devices or making more changes, just say no. There's no hurry, you can do the reload when you're done. Also, if you're in the middle of watching a movie or tv, you can postpone the reload since, when the media players will generally stop playing media during a reload. Note that your phone calls aren't affected, and any tv shows being recorded by MythTV in the background are also unaffected.

Regen the orbiter: LMCE's Orbiter's, or user interfaces, are all "pre-rendered" in order to be more efficient. In other words, the source images are all very high resolution, and need to be resized for whatever resolution your screen is running. Also, as you add new activities, those will result in new buttons for the main menu, and sometimes new screens, or perhaps changes to the text on existing buttons. So when you add new activities, you won't immediately see them on an orbiter until you do a regen. If you're still going to be adding more activities, just say 'no', and do a regen when you're all done. If you added new activities and want to test them quickly without waiting for a regen of all the orbiters, which takes about 2 to 5 minutes per, then just regen the one orbiter you're using for your tests, and regen the others only after you're sure everything is done. Once you do a regen of all orbiters, they will all have the same list of activities.

This regen process is a bit annoying but necessary for a lot of low-power devices like the desktop phones which just don't have the processing power to do scaling and rendering on the fly, and need all the images pre-rendered and with the text pre-embedded in the images. However, since the media stations have a lot more processing power and can render their ui's on the fly, it's in the works to make the orbiter's on the media stations render their ui's on the fly so you don't need to do a regen every time you add/remove activities.

== Managing your media ==

LinuxMCE is always scanning for network shares on NAS devices and other PC's, including Windows, and will ask you "if you want to use it" every time it finds one. It's also scanning for internal hard drives (ide, scsi, sata) as well as usb drives on the core and media stations, and will also prompt if it finds one. Whenever you say "Yes" you want to use it, it is shared by all the media stations in the home, scanned for media (audio, video and photos), and that media is stored in a central database on the core. This means when you plug in a usb drive on a media station in the living room and say 'yes' to use it, that media will always be on the media station in the other rooms too. At the moment there is no way to have 'local only' media; all media stations use the same media catalog. This is a limitation that will be addressed in the near future so you can attach say a USB drive in master bedroom and know the drive won't be shared.

I'll refer to these storage devices, NAS, usb drives, extra hdd's in either the core or a media station, as "Extra Drives". Whenever an extra drive is added, you can see it in the device tree in the admin panel. Choose Advanced, Configuration, Devices. Under 'Core' you'll see a device for any extra hdd's in the core, as well as any NAS devices, and under each media station you'll see any extra hdd's in those media stations. By clicking on the device you can change the device's properties, such as change the username/password used to mount a NAS and so on. NAS devices and other pc's with file shares will show as a device under the core, and each file share on those device is a child of that device.

Internally LinuxMCE creates a top level folder for 'public' media, which means it's for everyone in the home, and a 'private' media folder for each family member. Within each of those folders are sub-folders for 'audio', 'video', 'pictures', 'data' and 'other. And within each of those will also be sub-folders for all the extra storage devices in the home (NAS, USB, extra internal drives, etc). When you attach an extra storage device, if you say to use the default directory structure, the same directory structure will be created on it, and you will see a sub-folder for each of those. You can also say 'just make it public' or 'make it private' when a new storage device is detected. Here's an example. Let's say you have 2 users: John and Mary. And you connect 3 storage devices: 1) a NAS for which you choose 'use default directory structure' and which is called 'Generic Network Storage [50]' (more on the names in a moment), 2) a USB drive for which you choose 'make it all public' and which is called 'USB Drive [51]' , and 3) a sata drive for which you choose 'make it private or john' and which is called 'General Internal HDD [52].

Now let's say you're running Windows and go to network neighborhood, and find the core. Here's the directory tree you will see:

public
video
Generic Network Storage [50]
audio
Generic Network Storage [50]
pictures
Generic Network Storage [50]
data
Generic Network Storage [50]
other
USB Drive [51]
john
video
Generic Network Storage [50]
audio
Generic Network Storage [50]
pictures
Generic Network Storage [50]
data
Generic Network Storage [50]
other
General Internal HDD [52]
mary
video
Generic Network Storage [50]
audio
Generic Network Storage [50]
pictures
Generic Network Storage [50]
data
Generic Network Storage [50]
other

Whether you put your media under video, audio, pictures, data or other is immaterial. It will be scanned the same regardless and is just for your convenience. Note that the entire contents of "General Internal HDD [52]" will be found in the folder john/other/General Internal HDD [52], and the entire contents of USB Drive [51] will be found in the folder public/other/USB Drive [51]. When John browses the contents in network neighborhood he will be asked for his username and password and can access all the content in the public and john folders, including the General Internal HDD [52]. When Mary browses the content with her username and password she will see the public and mary folders, and thus not see anything on General Internal HDD [52] since that was private for John.

In the case of John's private media, you won't see it in the LinuxMCE media browser unless you click 'Sources', 'John', because it's private for John. However you will always see the contents of General Internal HDD [52] unless you unselect 'Sources', 'Public' from the media browser. Generic Network Storage [50] is different, however, because you said to use the default directory structure. This means that LinuxMCE will create directories on Generic Network Storage [50] for public video, public audio, john's video, mary's audio, etc, and the media file browser will only show whatever media you is in those directories, and the same is true with the windows network neighborhood browser. If Generic Network Storage [50] had some existing media on it in the top folder, you won't see it anywhere.

For this reason, it is generally recommended that when you add a new, empty extra storage device, you say to use the default directory structure. That way when you do ripping in LinuxMCE to that extra device, you can choose to make the media public or private and LinuxMCE will automatically put it in the right folder: audio, video, etc. This is because LinuxMCE created separate folders for the public content and each family member's private content and assigned the appropriate access rights to them.

However if you connect an extra storage device that already has existing media on it, and that media isn't already organized in LinuxMCE's default directory structure, it's easiest to just choose 'make it all public' or 'make it all private'. If you choose 'use the default directory structure', you will need to manually move whatever files you want to access into LinuxMCE into one of the directories LinuxMCE created for you.

When you rip files you also have the option of copying them to the core. Say you rip a cd and make it public, it will be seen in public/audio. If you go into network neighborhood and add a folder under public/audio, you will be adding a folder on the core. If you add a folder under public/audio/Generic Network Storage [50], you are adding it to Generic Network Storage [50].

This concept behind drive/network drive management is not the same as how Linux or Windows handles it. For example, if you use Windows, each network device shows up separately; they are never grouped together like LinuxMCE does it. However, there is an advantage to the way LinuxMCE handles it in that it's much simpler to add devices if you're a total novice and don't understand networking, or if you're using an infrared remote control and just want a way to do this by clicking a simple 'yes' or 'no' and not having to type. And also all your media content is cataloged and presented the same no matter what room you're in. As a comparison, under Windows, if you connect a USB drive to a Windows PC in the bedroom, you won't see that content in the living room unless you open file explorer, create a new network share for it, go into the living room, and create a new mapped network drive. You can't really do that with an infrared remote, or without some knowledge of networking concepts. And you won't see that media in any other room in the house unless you also create mapped network shares there too. On the other hand, with LinuxMCE, when you connect the usb drive, you can just say 'make it all public' and you'll have the media everywhere without typing. And with LinuxMCE rather than managing multiple network shares and mapped drives, you just go to network neighborhood, chose the LinuxMCE core, and under 'public' you will see all the public everywhere in the home without having to even be aware of what storage devices that media is on. When you remove a usb drive from a media station, that media instantly disappears from the file browser catalog in every room in the home. And if you reattach it, it re-appeears.

You can also store media on the Core, and LinuxMCE has built in RAID 5 (see Advanced, RAID in the admin site) so it can act as a NAS itself. These RAID devices are treated the same way.

Now regarding changing the name of an extra device, go into the admin panel and choose 'Advanced', 'Configuration', 'Devices' and under the Core you will see all hdd's in the core plus any nas devices, and under each media station you will see any hdd's in that media station. These are given default names. You can change the description, which will also change the folder. In the above example, changing "USB Drive [51]" to "Tokyo" means the directory public/other/USB Drive [51] would change to public/other/Tokyo.

In the admin panel you can also go to Files & Media, Media Files Sync to see all the files in the system by folder, and to change cover art and attributes. Note that if a file is shown with the check box, that means the file exists both on the disk and in LinuxMCE's master catalog. If it has another icon, that means the process which LinuxMCE uses to catalog the media hasn't finished with that media yet, so just be patient and it should appear with a check mark soon depending on how much new media was recently added and is queued for cataloging. Under Files & Media there is also a cover art scan utility that will find cover arts as well as attributes (actor, genre, etc.) for both cd's and dvd's from amazon.

Now for the Linux guys who want to get under the hood, here's it works. UpdateMedia is a daemon that constantly scans for media files in the /home/public and each /home/user_xxx folder which is created for each family member, and any media is added to the pluto_media database, File table, and attributes and cover art go into the Attribute and Picture tables. Under /home/public and /home/users_xxx is a data subfolder which contains the actual video, audio, pictures folders. The /home/user_xxx directories themselves will contain system files for each user, like email boxes, and the main login for that user. That's why there's a 'data' subfolder.

All extra devices are mounted as: /mnt/device/xxx where xxx is the device number (see the admin site). The mount point is the same if it's a local drive or not. For example, a usb drive #50 in a media station may be mounted as a local device as /mnt/device/50, and as a samba mount as /mnt/device/50 on all the other media stations. So all media stations and the core have the same /mnt/device/ mounts. Within the /home/public/data and /home/user_xxx/data are symlincs to the directories in /mnt/device/xxx. Since the core and all media stations mount the same /home directory, and have all the same /mnt/device mounts, they will all have the same files the same way. So, if the UpdateMedia daemon picks up the file: /home/public/data/audio/Generic Internal Drive [50]/The Beatles/Let it be.mp3, that file will exist on every media station too.