Unsupported Disked MD

2009-04-17T00:11:33Z

Mactalla: New page: '''NOTE: Disked MDs are unsupported in 710 and 810. If you pursue these instructions, keep your questions/comments here and don't ask the devs for help. They're plenty busy working to ge...

'''NOTE: Disked MDs are unsupported in 710 and 810. If you pursue these instructions, keep your questions/comments here and don't ask the devs for help. They're plenty busy working to get the other parts ready.'''

In the ideal situation, each MD should be diskless and boot over the network. This simplifies matters for configuration, upgrading, etc. Not to mention it's the supported method. There is one case in particular where this is not feasible. Namely when you want an MD in a room where you cannot run a cable and must connect wirelessly.

Bear in mind that this setup is
* slower
* error prone
* not upgraded automatically
* not supported

I created this setup using a 810 Alpha2 installation. It's likely very similar for 710, but that's not tested.

=Overview=
The way we set this up is to install a full-blown hybrid on the MD, disable the core services to trim it down to MD-only, then manually make the connections between the true core and the new MD. The final step configures wireless to connect on boot. If you're not connecting wirelessly, there's no point in doing this disked setup.

=Setup=
Follow [[LinuxMCE-0810_alpha2]] to install a hybrid on the new MD.

Edit /etc/inittab and make sure the only uncommented line (no '#' at the beginning) is id:5 We'll be using runlevel 5 for our setup.

Go to /etc/rc5.d and delete the following files (if they exist):
* S17mysql-ndb-mgm
* S18mysql-ndb
* S19autofs
* S19mysql
* S20nfs-common
* S20nfs-kernel-server
* S21asterisk
* S28NetworkManager (we'll be configuring the wireless manually)
* S99core
* S99kdm
* S99launch-manager

Edit /etc/init.d/launch-manager to contain the following:
#!/bin/bash
if [[ "$1" == start ]]; then
rm /usr/pluto/locks/pluto_spawned_local_devices.txt
/usr/pluto/bin/Start_X.sh
sleep 5
/usr/pluto/bin/lmce_launch_manager.sh &
fi
And create a link
sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/launch-manager /etc/rc5.d/S99zlaunch-manager

Now we create an MD on the core. Using the webadmin, add a new MD. Give it the MAC address of the wireless card (use ifconfig to find it). Note what device number it was assigned.

Edit the file /etc/pluto.conf on the disked MD and change the following lines:
DCERouter = <your core machine here>
MySqlHost = <your core machine here>
PK_Device = <the device number assigned to the MD you created on the web admin>
AutostartCore = 0
AutostartMedia = 1

Edit the file /etc/fstab on the disked MD and add the following lines:
<core machine>:/usr/pluto/orbiter /usr/pluto/orbiter nfs intr,udp,rsize=32768,wsize=32768,retrans=10,timeo=50 1 1
<core machine>:/home /home nfs intr,udp,rsize=32768,wsize=32768,retrans=10,timeo=50 1 1
<core machine>:/mnt/device/79 /mnt/device/79 nfs intr,udp,rsize=32768,wsize=32768,retrans=10,timeo=50 1 1

The last line is if your core machine mounts some media at /mnt/device/## in the case above it's a RAID array containing my media, so I need access to it on the MD. You can find out if you need this by running
ls -l /home/public/data/videos
on the core (or MD after you've mounted /home) and check for a link to /mnt/device/##

Now we configure the wireless.
Use ifconfig to find the interface name for your wireless card (common ones are eth1, wlan0, ra0).
Edit /etc/network/interfaces and add the following:
auto <wireless interface>
iface <wireless interface> inet dhcp
wpa-driver wext
wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

Finally we'll create the /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf file
network={
ssid="<Your access point ssid>"
psk="<Your encryption key>"
}

Reboot and cross your fingers!

=Problems?=
It's quite possible I forgot something. Post here and we'll try to sort it out.

Nintendo WiiMote

2009-04-14T21:48:00Z

Mactalla: Alternate wminputd to avoid frame drops in video

{| align="right"
| __TOC__
|}
[[Category: Hardware]]
[[Category: Input]]
[[Category:Infrared]]
[[category: tutorials]]

[[Image:Wiimote.jpg|right|thumb|The Nintendo Wiimote]]

This device is not out of the box supported by LinuxMCE, but it is known to work [https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CWiiD] [http://forum.linuxmce.com/index.php?topic=1246.0] [http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=2411.msg11435].

== Wiimote setup ==

I will try to explain what i have done to make the wiimote work with linuxmce.

The wiimote is a cheap gyration device which could work for linuxmce instead of the chief remote from fiire which i find too expensive!!

= Setup =

Login ([[Logging_In]]) as root to the media director which has a bluetooth stick with ssh.
Install the cwiid driver as follows
apt-get install libcwiid0
apt-get install wminput

Make sure the uinput kernel module is loaded at boot-time:
echo "uinput" >>/etc/modules
Load it manually in the mean time:
modprobe uinput

create the daemon
cat >/usr/sbin/wminputd <<"EOF"
#!/bin/bash
#read the config file
. /etc/wminputd.conf
export DISPLAY=:0

while true
do
#check if the Orbiter/OrbiterGL is already running!
if [ "$(pidof OrbiterGL)$(pidof Orbiter)" ]
then

#check if the wiimote is already connected
if [ -z "$(hcitool con|grep $WIIMOTE_BDADDR)" ]
then
PID=$(pidof wminput)
if [ "$PID" ]
then
kill -9 $PID
fi
#mouse acceleration, adjust to your liking
#see also: "man xset" and/or "xset -h"
# xset m 1/2 3
wminput -c ir_ptr $WIIMOTE_BDADDR &
fi

fi

sleep 5

done

EOF

Make it executable
chmod 755 /usr/sbin/wminputd

*Create the config file ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vi vi commands])
vi /etc/wminputd.conf

#this is the config file for the wminputd
#enter the wiimote mac address, you can find it with
#hcitool scan and then press the red button
#besides the battery's off the wiimote
#Then place the show'n mac address as follows
WIIMOTE_BDADDR="00:AA:00:BB:AA:FF"

you can find your address with hcitool scan

*Edit the file /etc/cwiid/wminput/buttons

vi /etc/cwiid/wminput/buttons
And make it suitable to your needs
below is mine
#buttons

Wiimote.A = BTN_LEFT
Wiimote.B = BTN_RIGHT
Wiimote.Up = KEY_UP
Wiimote.Down = KEY_DOWN
Wiimote.Left = KEY_LEFT
Wiimote.Right = KEY_RIGHT
Wiimote.Minus = KEY_F7
Wiimote.Plus = KEY_F8
Wiimote.Home = KEY_F3
Wiimote.1 = KEY_F1
Wiimote.2 = KEY_F6

* create the init file
vi /etc/init.d/wminputd

#!/bin/sh
# Start/stop the wminputd daemon.
#
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides: wminputd
# Required-Start: $syslog $time
# Required-Stop: $syslog $time
# Default-Start: 2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop: 0 1 6
# Short-Description: mousemodule
# Description: wminputd
#
#
#
### END INIT INFO

test -f /usr/sbin/wminputd || exit 0
. /lib/lsb/init-functions

case "$1" in
start) log_daemon_msg "Starting wii-remote mousemodule" "wminputd"
start-stop-daemon -b --start --quiet --pidfile /var/run/wminputd.pid --name wminputd --startas /usr/sbin/wminputd -- $LSBNAMES
log_end_msg $?
;;
stop) log_daemon_msg "Stopping wii-mote mousemodule" "wminputd"
start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --pidfile /var/run/wminputd.pid --name wminputd
log_end_msg $?
;;
restart) log_daemon_msg "Restarting wii-mote mousemdule" "wminputd"
start-stop-daemon --stop --retry 5 --quiet --pidfile /var/run/wminputd.pid --name wminputd
start-stop-daemon -b --start --quiet --pidfile /var/run/wminputd.pid --name wminputd --startas /usr/sbin/wminputd -- $LSBNAMES
log_end_msg $?
;;
*) log_action_msg "Usage: /etc/init.d/wminputd {start|stop|restart}"
exit 2
;;
esac
exit 0

Make it executable
chmod 755 /etc/init.d/wminputd

run the script and push the red button beside the battery and your wiimote is ready to go

enable the script so that it will start at boot time
update-rc.d wminputd defaults
now start the script and see if it works
/etc/init.d/wminputd start

= Troubleshooting =

*Q: When i reload the router then the wiimote will be slow
*A: Just push the red button besides the wiimote so it will connect again

*Q: Using a sensor bar (ir_ptr), and the cursor is limited to the bottom left corner of the screen
*A: Make the following changes to the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file on the Media Director and then restarting the Media Director:

Add this section:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Wiimote"
Driver "evdev"
Option "Name" "Nintendo Wiimote"
EndSection

Add this line to the ServerLayout section:

InputDevice "Wiimote" "AlwaysCore"

This was taken from the ubuntu forums: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CWiiD

= Added 3-30-2008 =
I tried this and it works beautifully!

A couple of other notes...

Its a pain to get to the little red button by the battery. Instead, you can press and hold the '1' and '2' buttons at the same time for the same effect.
The power button will not start the system, but once the system is started (with either the Red button or the button 1+2 being held down together), holding the power button for a couple of seconds will turn the wiimote off and break the connection.

== Troubles Experienced ==
*I have a Targus bluetooth doggle. The system recognizes the adapter, but it would not allow the Wiimote to connect. What I need to do to get it to work is get to a command prompt and execute '''hciconfig hci0 down; hciconfig hci0 up; hciconfig hci0 piscan'''. Then I am able to press the 1 & 2 buttons then it works. An additional change that I need to make was in /usr/sbin/wminputd. Had the change the line ''wminput -c ir_ptr $WIIMOTE_BDADDR &'' to ''wminput $WIIMOTE_BDADDR &''. Otherwise I could not move the cursor, but the buttons works. Then I also mapped the buttons to how I wanted them. If I come up with a fix/workaround for executing the hciconfig commands I will update this. Thanks!
*On my system, each call to wminput would cause a frame drop which meant that watching a video with no wiimote connected would have dropped frames every ~8sec. The following wminputd avoids the problem, though it won't stop with /etc/init.d/wminputd stop. As I want it to run indefinitely, that point is moot.
#!/bin/bash
#read the config file
. /etc/wminputd.conf
export DISPLAY=:0
while [ -z "$(pidof OrbiterGL)$(pidof Orbiter)" ]
do
sleep 5
done
wminput -r -w -c ir_ptr

LinuxMCE - User contributions [en]

Unsupported Disked MD

Nintendo WiiMote