Revision as of 00:24, 3 January 2011

Introduction

Hello all. My name is Matt and I live in England. Have been playing with LMCE for a number of years now. I would class myself as a user due to my complete lack of any development skills, so am always keen to help in any way I can. By profession I am a Mechanical Design Engineer in the space industry. In my spare time I enjoy metalwork, woodwork and various other little electronics/DIY projects. Any remaining free time is spent with my extremely patient and long-suffering girlfriend with whom I live.

Software

My current installation is based on the beta 23165 23388 snapshot.

Network

It is highly advisable that you adopt the recommended network setup and use 2 NICs in your core. This means that a) things are a lot more likely to work straight out of the box and b) when things DO go wrong, you are far more likely to receive support. In my experience it is definitely worth it.

My external network looks a little bit like this...

Virgin Media Cable Modem -> Netgear Cable Router -> NIC 1 (eth0) on Core

And my internal network...

NIC 2 (eth1) on Core -> Netgear 8-port Gigabit switch

Connected to this switch there are another two Netgear Gigabit switches (switches can be daisy-chained to give you more ports), and connected to these you'll find...

• All of the MDs
• "Normal" computers requiring internet access
• IP Cameras
• DECT phone (via ATA)
• Wireless Access Point (WAP)

In the WAP's admin page, make sure DHCP is enabled, and then set it up in the normal way. Your SSID should NOT be your name or give any clues as to where you live, use the strongest encryption you can (I use WPA2) and it makes a lot of sense to set up an access list (MAC filter). This allows you to specify exactly which MAC addresses are allowed to connect, making your Wireless Access Point very secure.

Note that if you have a spare wireless router laying around, it can be used as a WAP. Just connect it up to a switch via the port you would usually plug your Internet cable into.

Core/MDs

This section talks about the main bits of hardware in my home that make up the principal elements of any LMCE system.

Core (Cupboard)

Main hardware includes...

• Motherboard

MSI 870-C45 AMD 770 ATX Socket AM3 Realtek GbLAN controller

• Processor

AMD Athlon II X2 250 3.00GHz Socket AM3 2MB L2 Cache

• Memory

Kingston 2GB (2x1GB) DDR3 1333MHz i5 Memory Kit CL9 1.5V

• Power Supply

Corsair 400W CX with 12cm fan, 80Plus Certified Efficiency

• Graphics card

ATI Radeon X300SE 128MB PCIe

• Hard disks

OS - Seagate Barracuda ST380815AS 80GB SATA 8MB Cache

Storage - Western Digital WD20EARS 2TB SATAII 64MB Cache

• NIC

Realtek RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+

• TV cards

x2 Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-T-500

• DVD Drive

Samsung DVD ROM (IDE). Only used when I reinstall.

Additional hardware includes...

• Z-Wave controller

MCV Z-Stick. This is NOT the recommended interface.

• UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply)

APC Smart-UPS 1400. Powers the Core, modem, external router, one of the switches, cameras, telephone.

• UHF/VHF/FM signal amplifier

Generic mains-powered booster. 1 input, 2 outputs.

• Mouse/keyboard

Keysonic wireless mini-keyboard with integrated touchpad.

In addition to the standard DVD installation instructions, I carried out the following actions on my Core to make it work/get it the way I wanted it...

• Installed driver for ATI Radeon X300SE in "Hardware Drivers" in KDE desktop (prior to LMCE installation). Note that nVidia cards are recommended; I only used this card because a) I had one and b) I'm happy with UI1 on the core.
• Edited the /etc/apt/sources.list on the Core as explained here after the installation of Kubuntu, prior to updating/upgrading/installing.
• Following LMCE installation, swapped eth0 and eth1 by editing /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules (it is possible to swap the network interfaces via web admin, but I had to ensure that my non-gigabit RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ NIC was on eth0 for the external network).
• To get onboard NIC working, removed and blacklisted r8169 module and installed r8168 module from Realtek site as explained here.
• MythTV setup (accessed via "Computing" from the on-screen Orbiter). I found this page very useful in getting my MythTV set up.
• Set up secure outside access using HTTPS.

desktop backup script?

backup folder lock

To begin with I had some very annoying network problems. The onboard NIC (Realtek RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller) was conflicting with my second NIC (Realtek RTL-8169 Gigabit Ethernet controller). I could not get them to work together at the same time. I believe it was due to the PCI IDs overlapping. I think that the problem could have been resolved by building the driver from source with some modifications, but this is beyond my level of skill. I resolved the issue by installing the much older NIC listed above, which uses a completely different module to the onboard NIC. It also worked out of the box.

MD (Living Room)

Main hardware includes...

• Motherboard

ASUS AT3N7A-I NVIDIA ION with Intel Atom N330 Dual Core Processor, HDMI Out, 8 Channel Audio, Mini ITX. I replaced the CPU fan with a Scythe, not that the old fan was particularly noisy, but it was still an improvement.

• Memory

OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Platinum XTC Memory Kit CL4 2.1V

• Power Supply

FSP Group 1U ATX 180 W max. Replaced original fan with a Scythe also; completely unnecessary.

• DVD Drive

Samsung SN-T083C 8x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Slimline Slot-Loading Optical Drive

Also carried out the following...

• Disabled fan warnings in BIOS (replacement fan is only 2-wire).
• Manually increased alsa volume levels (they were very low) by typing "alsamixer" into a terminal. Make your changes and press "Esc".
• After the initial installation, switch off MD. Select "vdpau" in web admin under "Hardware Acceleration" in "Media Directors". Then click "Update" and "Rebuild Image". Switch MD back on. AVWizard should run again.
• Increased text size in KDE desktop via KDE Menu -> Applications -> System -> System Settings, then select "Appearance" under "Look & Feel"; adjust the font size in "Fonts".
• Increased text size in terminal (Ctrl & +).
• Installed libdvscss2 to allow DVDs to be played (sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2).
• Added button to KDE desktop that activates the orbiter; thank you posde for the tip.
• Installed a backported libxine to allow playback of MKV files; thank you to those who came up with this solution.

deinterlace settings in myth?

MD (Kitchen)

MD (Bedroom)

MD (Bathroom)

MD (Electronics Lab)

This MD is running on a virtual machine on my standard desktop computer, which is running a lean, mean Ubuntu 10.04 + Fluxbox installation., built up from a minimal command line install. It has a second VGA screen (my larger main screen is on DVI) which I have set up as a separate X head, and is dedicated to this MD. The MD runs UI1, and performs well enough for what I need. See here for details of the orbiter.

I created the virtual machine with the following parameters...

• blah

MD (Wood Workshop)

MD (Metal Workshop)

MD (Garage)

Orbiters

Every MD features an on-screen orbiter. In addition to the on-screen ones...

Mobile Orbiters

• Main mobile orbiter -
• Mobile Phone

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic running Web Orbiter 2.0 in standard Symbian browser with 480x320 resolution (iPhone). I find it handy to bookmark the orbiter page, and place a shortcut on the main screen for quick and easy access. I also use this device a lot for (secure) outside access over HTTPS.

• Ubuntu laptop

The lady's Ubuntu laptop which we generally use for surfing, work, etc wherever we happen to be. It is running Web Orbiter 2.0 in Google Chrome. We never use this in fullscreen mode (press F11 in your browser if you wish to do this) as we prefer to just have it on standby in a tab. Therefore the resolution of the Orbiter is set lower than the resolution of the laptop screen.

• Nintendo DSi

My mate's DSi, running Web Orbiter 2.0 with a resolution of 480x320 (iPhone) in the standard browser. This resolution allows for all text to be read relatively easily, but does mean a lot of scrolling about is required. I wouldn't use it personally. Might be worth playing with other resolutions/skins to make it more usable.

Wall Orbiters

• Nokia N800 in hallway
• Nokia N800 in kitchen

Other Orbiters

• Electronics Lab desktop

My main desktop, which has another Web Orbiter 2.0 set up on it in much the same way as the mobile Ubuntu laptop. It is for controlling the virtual MD on the desktop machine (I find the on-screen controls on the MD itself to be a bit "twitchy"). See MD (Electronics Lab) for more details.

• carPC

I am currently in the process of building a mini ITX carPC for my modded Mk1 MX-5 (called the Miata over the pond), running a lightweight Ubuntu + LXDE installation. The last component I need to get is the touchscreen, but the rest of it is very much finished, although I do intend on upgrading the speakers and adding an amplifier (a necessity due to the lack of head unit). The system is capable of utilising CDs/DVDs (audio, video, data), USB sticks/flash cards, and also features an aux-in for any personal music player that my passenger might have on their person. The system is also capable of FM radio, MP3 playback, video playback, digital TV, Internet browsing, SatNav, vehicle diagnostics.... and controlling LMCE (Web Orbiter 2.0 in Chrome). I thought this would be useful from the point of view of opening/closing the garage door, switching on/off the lights, checking the house on long journeys, etc.

Scenarios

custom scenarios

Lights

• Duwi dimmer switch (Living Room)

2 wire in my case (more common in Europe), check your current switch/dimmer first REMEMBER TO ISOLATE THE LIGHTS AT YOUR FUSE BOX - ALWAYS TEST THE LIVE (BROWN or RED) WIRE WITH A TESTER LIKE THIS FIRST!!! Bear in mind that you only count the wires connected to the switch itself; if like mine your earth is connected to the backbox, then this doesn't count as a wire. Very pleased with this device, superb build-quality, great tactile response, easy to set up. This is my second dimmer switch, after a very bad experience with the ACT HomePro ZDW232 http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=10783.0. In my opinion you should avoid these dimmers like the plague. They are the cheapest, but it shows. Spend a little bit more and get the Duwi, which is comparable in price. Anything else I have found has been prohibitively expensive.

Security

Very important. Having been the victims of a burglary, this is an area that perhaps you should consider concentrating on first. You just don't think it is going to happen to you... until it does. And it's a horrible feeling.

Cameras

• x3 Panasonic BL-C10
• x2 Foscam FI8905W (plugged into external router due to the unresolved issue described here)

All of my cameras make use of Power over Ethernet (PoE), despite not being models that support it! Nor do I have any switches/hubs that "spit out" PoE at the Core end. To see how it is achieved, take a look at "Tool Time" at the end of this page for a Howto video explaining the required steps (inspired by b4rney on the forums, thank you mate!). Powering devices in this way is very useful in that you only need to run a single ethernet cable for both data and power. Brilliant for cameras, especially outdoor ones.

Sensors

• Everspring SM103 door/window sensors (Z-Wave)

Currently giving me a lot of ballache, no idea what is wrong with them http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=10971.0

Smoke detector planned

Lighting

My lights are set up to come on at sunset. This is achieved in web admin via "Events handler"->"Respond to Events" by selecting "Sunset" under "New event". Enter a description also. Click "Add", and use the wizard of your choice to select the required device and command.

Telephone

Vonage, DECT phone, soon to be Sipgate

Tool Time

This is where I plan to place a few Howto videos for various DIY projects that can be carried out around the house, in order to achieve that seamless, perfectly integrated LMCE installation. The aim will be to stay away from technical jargon as much as possible, and use standard/simple tools and components that aren't going to break the bank.

• Howto: Construct a rear mounting MD casing for any TV screen with a VESA mount (with slot loading DVD drive).
• Howto: Mount a TV on the wall with MD hidden behind (with a slot loading DVD drive).
• Howto: Make a wall-mounted orbiter (inspired by Techstyle's framing idea). Surface mounted or recessed (flush fitting)?
• Howto: Install a new back box (e.g. for z-wave light switch) and make good the wall (having destroyed it in the process).
• Howto: Chase wall channels, embed cables and make good the wall.
• Howto: Build a single/double bed with integrated "stowable" flat screen TV and MD. LMCE-controlled motor perhaps.
• Howto: Build a waterproof bathroom MD/orbiter (combined touchscreen device?)
• Howto: Make your own ceiling/wall speakers using (decent!) multimedia speakers (if, like me, you are not a complete audiophile, this avoids having an external amp to hide away).
• Howto: Build your own charging cradle/stand for your mobile orbiter (avoid switching it off all the time).
• Howto: Make your own cat6 patch cables
• Howto: Make any device Power over Ethernet (PoE)