Revision as of 06:03, 8 January 2010

Core/MD Hybrid

Hardware

(This is a one network card installation)

• Asus T3-P5945GCX Barebones with 3.00GHz Pentium 4
• Nvidia GeForce 6600 256 MB PCI-E 16x Video Card (DVI Output)
• 2 GB Generic RAM
• 80 GB Seagate ST380215A Hard Drive (for the OS and temporary media storage)
• 1 TB Western Digital 10EAVS External Hard drive (for media storage)
• DVDRAM GSA-4167B

Peripherals and Accessories

• 24 inch Sceptre LCD Monitor (DVI)
• 5.1 Channel Creative Sound System
• Gigaware microphone
• Generic USB 5 Button Wireless Optical Mouse with Scroll Wheel
• Generic Wireless PS/2 keyboard
• Ezonics EZCam USB Webcam
• Microsoft NX-6000 Webcam
• Generic 7-port USB Hub
• USB Bluetooth Dongle with CSR chipset
• HP Deskjet 2545 USB Printer

Software

• LinuxMCE 0810 beta2

X10 Devices

Controlling

• Controller: CM11A
• Remote: KR22A

Controlled

• LM465 is dimmable
• AM466 is not dimmable
• RR501 is not dimmable and is a remote control receiver (Can only be unit code 1 or 9)

 Device Code | Module | Description
      B1     | RR501  | Sound System Power
      B2     | LM465  | Floor Light
      B3     | LM465  | Light Tree
      B4     | LM465  | Desk Light
      B5     | AM466  | Monitor Power
      B6     | AM466  | Rope Lights & Strobe Light
      B7     | AM466  | Fan
      B8 ------------------------------------------
      B9     | RR501  | Black Lights

The Installation

LMCE 0810 beta2 Installation

1. Followed the internet installation instructions located here
2. Upon reboot, I temporarily hooked the monitor to VGA to go through AVWizard
3. Chose DVI output, 1080p, 60 Hz, OpenGL with Alpha Blending, stereo sound, 100% volume, and hit I Agree
4. Upon finishing the AVWizard, there was a grey screen with large text displaying each package that was installed
5. This continued until it got to the Orbiter Regeneration
6. After the orbiter regeneration, I had the infamous grey screen with a cursor
7. I used Ctrl+Alt+F2 to get to get to tty2, and logged in
8. I edited the /etc/network/interfaces file as such (the eth0 configuration should be set according to the network the media center is connected to):

    auto lo
    iface lo inet loopback
    auto eth0
    iface eth0 inet static
       address 192.168.200.42
       netmask 255.255.255.0
       gateway 192.168.200.1
    auto eth0:1
    iface eth0:1 inet static
       address 192.168.80.1
       netmask 255.255.255.0

1. After rebooting, I was greeted with the Setup Wizard which stepped me through the rest of the install process
2. That's it, after some more big text, MCE started up fine and I was greeted with some Flikr pictures

External Hard Drive

1. After plugging in the external hard drive, I was asked if I wanted to use it.
2. After selecting "use without modifying" the drive was set up by MCE
3. I then went into the web admin > Files & Media > Media Files Sync
4. Navigated to the hard drive and resynchronized my Movies folder and Music Folder

Configure 5.1 Channel Sound

selecting stereo in the AVWizard does not enable multi-channel analog audio...this is how to fix it

1. Web Admin > Wizard > Devices> Media Directors
2. At the bottom of the media director device settings, change the "Audio Settings" Drop-Down menu to "Multi-channel analog"
3. Open terminal and run 'sudo alsamixer'
4. In alsamixer, use the arrow keys and 'M' to unmute and adjust the volume of surround, center, and LFE (side if you have 7.1)

Auto-start KDE desktop behind MCE on boot

• Edit /etc/init.d/linuxmce to contain

StartService "KDE Desktop" "/usr/pluto/bin/Start_KDE.sh"

after it starts the other services (I don't know if it matters where this line goes in this script)

X10 interface and lighting setup

1. Plugged in all of my X10 modules and gave them the unit codes described above
2. Plugged in the CM11A controller and hooked it to the only serial port
3. Followed the directions here.
4. Reloaded the router and regenerated orbiter if it asked to
5. Tested each module with the Lights > Floorplan button in MCE

Get DVDs to play

Instructions grabbed here

1. Open Terminal
2. 'sudo apt-get install -y kubuntu-restricted-extras libdvdread3'
3. 'sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/install-css.sh'

Disable the Firewall

Since this is a single-nic installation, I don't find the firewall very necessary, and it makes other features easier to get working if it is disabled

1. Web Admin > Advanced > Network > Firewall Rules
2. Check the "Firewall Disabled" box
3. Click OK on on the warning dialog

Access Features outside of the Network

1. Create an account at DynDNS.org
2. Register a host name for your Media Center using the free DNS service
3. Web Admin > Advanced > Network > Dynamic DNS Settings
4. Enter the information you just registered with DynDNS.org
5. Check the "obtain IP address from the web" box
6. Click Save
7. Web Admin > Wizard > Security > Outside Access
8. Check "Allow outside access on port: " and specify port 8080
9. Click "Update"
10. If the Media Center is behind a router, port 8080 will need to be forwarded to the Media Center's IP or name

• • This process is slightly different for each router but in my case, the router configuration was located at http://192.168.200.1
  • Most home routers will have the IP 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1

1. On a computer with internet access, you should be able to go to http://<your-dyndns-hostname>:8080 and bring up the Web Admin

• • Sometimes attempting to use http://<your-dyndns-hostname>:8080 while on the same local network won't work, so have a friend test it out or try it on a web-enabled cell phone
  • If that isn't working, maybe MCE needs a router reload or a computer restart

Enable the Web Orbiter

With a laptop, wifi, and a cell phone with web browsing, why not? Instructions grabbed here

1. Web admin > Show Devices Tree > Core
2. Create Child Device at the top
3. Pick Device Template
4. Device Category: Peripherals
5. Template ID: 1748 (Generic Web Device)
6. Pick device template
7. Wait until orbiter generation is finished (progress can be seen at Wizard > Devices > Orbiters)
8. Quick Reload Router
9. My proxy orbiter had problems starting up, so I rebooted the whole machine to get it all working nicely
10. Access the web orbiter by going to http://<core_ip>/lmce-admin/weborbiter.php or clicking the link on the login page of the web admin on any computer on the network
11. Orbiter settings and preferences can be set at Wizard > Devices> Orbiters and then regenerated accordingly
12. Assuming previous steps to "Access Features outside of the Network" were followed, web orbiter can be accessed by any computer on the internet by going to http://<your-dyndns-hostname>:8080 and clicking on the link on the login page or by going to http://<your-dyndns-hostname>:8080/lmce-admin/weborbiter.php directly

Assign Functions to mouse buttons

Instructions grabbed here and here

• BACKUP xorg.conf: 'sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup'
• edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf mouse settings to look something like this (specifically the protocol, ZAxisMapping, Buttons, and ButtonMapping)

   /etc/X11/xorg.conf
   ...
   Section "InputDevice"
       # generated from default
       Identifier     "Mouse0"
       Driver         "mouse"
       Option         "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
       Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
       Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
       Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
       Option         "Buttons" "7"
       Option         "ButtonMapping" "1 2 3 6 7"
   EndSection
   ...

1. run 'xev' in terminal and single click each mouse button in the box that appears, paying attention to the output in the terminal to make sure each button number is correct (if it doesn't you have some trouble shooting to do here)
2. 'sudo apt-get install -y xbindkeys xautomation