User:GnEeErKd

Core/MD Hybrid

• This is a one network card installation
• There is no capture card/MythTV in this setup
• There is no phone system control in this setup

Hardware

• 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
• lmce-activate-orbiter-plasmoid
• kubuntu-restricted-extras
• libdvdread3
• xbindkeys
• xautomation
• alsamixer
• VNC/Remote Desktop Viewer
• BlueProximity

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

• This is a one network card installation
• There is no capture card/MythTV in this setup
• There is no phone system control in this setup
• Single quotes (i.e. 'sudo apt-get install foo') represent commands to be typed into the terminal
• Web Admin can be accessed by going to http://localhost on the core or by going to http://<core-network-IP-address> from a computer on the network.

LMCE 0810 beta2 Installation

1. Follow the internet installation instructions located here
2. Upon reboot, temporarily hook the monitor to VGA to go through AVWizard
3. Choose DVI output, 1080p, 60 Hz, OpenGL with Alpha Blending, stereo sound, 100% volume, and hit I Agree
4. Upon finishing the AVWizard, there is a grey screen with large text displaying each package that is installed
5. This continues until it gets to the Orbiter Regeneration
6. After the orbiter regeneration, I receive the infamous grey screen with a cursor
7. Use Ctrl+Alt+F2 to get to tty2, and log in
8. Edit the /etc/network/interfaces file as seen in the configuration files section
9. After rebooting, the Setup Wizard starts up which steps through the rest of the install process
10. That's it, after some more big text, MCE starts up fine and begins displaying Flickr pictures on the screensaver

Auto-start KDE desktop behind MCE on boot

• By default, the KDE desktop environment only starts if you click "KDE desktop" on the OnScreen orbiter
• To get certain programs and services to run, it is easiest to have KDE startup behind the OnScreen orbiter on boot

1. Edit /etc/init.d/linuxmce to contain the line shown in the configuration files section

Activate Orbiter Plasmoid

• Once you go to KDE from the on screen orbiter, there's no good way to go back besides reloading the router or clicking on OrbiterGL on the taskbar which rarely works
• The plasmoid might work, see those instructions here
• This did not work for me, so I did this instead with much more reliable results:

1. Open terminal and type 'sudo kate ~/Desktop/Activate-Orbiter.sh'
2. In the window that appears, paste in the file from the configuration files section
3. Save and exit this window
4. Now run 'sudo chmod 755 ~/Desktop/Activate-Orbiter.sh'
5. Right click on an empty area on the Desktop plasmoid and click "Link to Application"
6. Replace "Link to Application" with "Activate Orbiter"
7. Click the ? icon to choose an icon
8. Go to the "Application" tab
9. In the "Command" box enter "~/Desktop/Activate-Orbiter.sh"
10. Click OK
11. Click on the newly created shortcut to bring up the OnScreen orbiter
12. Drag onto the desktop to make it act like a plasmoid

Disable Phone Systems

• Since this system doesn't do any phone system control, they can be disabled to save time and resources

1. Web Admin > Wizard > Devices > Core
2. Uncheck the "Telecom Handlers" box
3. Click Update
4. Web Admin > Wizard > Scenarios > Telecom Scenarios
5. Uncheck each scenario
6. From the OnScreen orbiter click Advanced > Advanced > Reload & regen all orbiters
7. Telecom scenarios should be gone
8. On reboot, core should not try to start the phone devices any more (except the orbiter embedded phone, which seems to regenerate itself if you delete it)

External Hard Drive

1. After plugging in the external hard drive, a message comes up asking what to do with it
2. After selecting "use without modifying" the drive is set up by MCE
3. Web Admin > Files & Media > Media Files Sync
4. Navigate to the hard drive and resynchronize 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)

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'

X10 interface and lighting setup

1. Plug in all the X10 modules and give them the unit codes described above
2. Plug in the CM11A controller and hook it to the serial port
3. Follow the directions here.
4. Reload the router and regenerate orbiter when it asks to
5. Tested each module with the Lights > Floorplan button in MCE

Set lighting scenarios

• By default, lmce gives you Sleep, Wakeup, and House to sleep mode as the Lighting Scenarios
• Scenarios can be added, deleted, and modified

1. Web Admin > Wizard > Scenarios > Lighting Scenarios
2. Click on the scenario to be edited or Add Scenario to make a new one
3. Choose "Advanced Wizard" from the drop down menu
4. Choose the items you wish to turn on/off/leave unchanged/set level
5. Set any media settings (volume level, pause, etc)
6. Set any security settings (security mode, etc)
7. Click Update
8. Once all scenarios are made and configured, go into the OnScreen orbiter and go to Advanced > Advanced > Reload & Regen All Orbiters
9. Once everything is regenerated and reloaded, the scenarios should now be available by clicking "Lights" on the OnScreen or other orbiter

Internet Radio Channels

Instructions grabbed here

• If you have a few favorite internet radio stations, you can set them as their own scenarios
• I will use http://di.fm, but other radio stations should work very similarly

1. Web Admin > Wizard > Scenarios > Media Scenarios
2. In the description box, type the name of the channel (Trance)
3. In the Entertain Area, select the Bedroom(Master)
4. Choose the Xine Player device
5. For type, select "LinuxMCE Audio file"
6. Click Add
7. Click Edit to the right of the new scenario
8. In a new window go to the radio station of choice and download the channel playlist (the playlist provides links to each mirror)
9. Go to that file on that computer and right click > open with
10. Choose a text editor
11. Copy the URL of one of the file names (http://scfire-ntc-aa07.stream.aol.com:80/stream/1003)
12. Paste that into the File Name field of your scenario
13. Click Save
14. From the OnScreen orbiter click Advanced > Advanced > Reload & Regen All Orbiters
15. Once that is finished, there should be a button for that station under "Media" on the orbiters

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

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

Enable remote desktop

1. Go to the KDE desktop on the Media Center
2. K Menu > Applications > Internet > Desktop Sharing
3. Click "Configure"
4. Click "Security"
5. Check the "Allow uninvited connections" box
6. Check the "Allow remote connections to control..." box
7. Uncheck the "Ask before..." box
8. Enter a password
9. Click Apply and OK
10. Use VNC or Remote Desktop Viewer from another computer to control it

Enable Network File Sharing

• This seems to be enabled by default in LMCE 0810 beta2 so just get on a network computer and connect to \\dcerouter and login
• External hard drive should be accessible directly or through /public/other/

Assign Functions to mouse buttons

Instructions grabbed here

1. BACKUP xorg.conf: 'sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup'
2. edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf mouse settings to look something like that in the configuration files section
3. 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)
4. 'sudo apt-get install -y xbindkeys xautomation
5. Create the file ~/.xbinkeysrc ('sudo kate ~/.xbindkeysrc')
6. Modify as seen in the configuration files section
7. Run 'xbindkeys -n -v' (not as daemon, verbose) to test the configuration
8. Once the configuration is how you want it, add xbindkeys to the startup of KDE by running 'sudo cp /usr/bin/xbindkeys /home/matt/.kde/Autostart/' in terminal
9. Upon restart, the configuration should automatically take effect
10. I often have to click the middle mouse button while in the OnScreen orbiter to get them to start responding, for some reason

Bluetooth Proximity Control

• Using the bluetooth signal from a phone or some other device that you routinely carry in your pocket, the computer can automatically detect when you enter and leave the room (or at least the general vicinity)
• This method isn't so good when multiple Media Directors are being used, because bluetooth can only connect and monitor signal strength between one pair at a time

1. Upon insertion of the bluetooth dongle, MCE should automatically recognize it and set bluetooth up for you
2. After this, it may ask to reload, regen, etc
3. If any bluetooth devices are in the area and visible, MCE will ask you if you want to use them, etc
4. My phone is not supported as a mobile orbiter, so I clicked "do not use"
5. Once all that is done and the dongle is setup, go to the KDE desktop
6. Web Admin > Wizard > Devices > Security
7. Click "Add Device"
8. Under Device Template, select "Generic Sensor" and click "Pick Device Template"
9. Select "Bedroom(Master)" from the drop down menu on the left
10. Click Update at the bottom
11. Make note of the device number at the top left corner
12. In terminal run 'sudo apt-get install blueproximity'
13. Run BlueProximity by going to K menu > Applications > Utilities > BlueProximity
14. Right click the BlueProximity icon (bluetooth icon with key) and click preferences
15. Put your bluetooth phone or device in discoverable/visible mode (See device's documentation)
16. Click on "Scan for Devices"
17. When it has finished scanning, click the desired device and then "Use Selected Device"
18. A pairing request should then appear on the phone, accept it and enter a passkey
19. Enter that same pass key on the computer when it asks
20. If your phone gives the option, choose "Always Connect" (This will automatically connect the phone and media center when they are in range of each other)
21. The sliders in the "Proximity Details" tab can be adjusted to the proper settings for being outside the room (Locking) and inside the room (Unlocking)...this takes some trial and error to get the right setting, but be patient and it will work
22. In the "Locking" tab, replace the "Locking command" with "/usr/pluto/bin/MessageSend localhost 62 -1000 2 9 25 0" replacing 62 with the device code of the generic sensor you created
23. Replace the "Unlocking command" with "/usr/pluto/bin/MessageSend localhost 62 -1000 2 9 25 1" again replacing 62 with the device code of the generic sensor
24. Erase the "Proximity Command"
25. The generic sensor will now be tripped when the phone is in range, and untripped when it is out of range
26. Web Admin > Events Handler > Respond to Events
27. Set the description to "Bluetooth enters room"
28. Choose "A sensor is Tripped" in the drop down menu
29. Click Add
30. Set what device to "= Generic Sensor"
31. Set trigger state to "tripped = 1"
32. Click update
33. Choose "Lighting Wizard" from the drop down and select the lights you would like to turn on/off/set level/leave unchanged when you enter the room
34. Repeat the last 8 steps, with the description "Bluetooth leaves room" and the trigger state "tripped = 0" for the lights you want to turn on/off, etc when you leave the room
35. After a reload router/orbiter regen...and possibly a full reboot...you should have proximity set up for you to leave the room and come back in
36. Fine tune the sliders in BlueProximity to avoid lights turning off unintentionally

Webcams and Skype

Instructions grabbed here, here, and here...and other various pages...there seem to be a couple methods to get this working...

• Get both of my webcams working, and the NX-6000 working with skype

1. 'lsusb' should show both cameras
2. 'ls /dev/video*' should show two video devices

Install the newest UVC drivers

1. 'mkdir ~/UVC'
2. 'cd ~/UVC'
3. 'wget http://linuxtv.org/hg/~pinchartl/uvcvideo/archive/tip.tar.bz2'
4. 'tar -xzvf tip.tar.gz'
5. 'cd uvcvideo...' there is a string of numbers after uvcvideo, use tab completion
6. 'make'
7. 'sudo make install'
8. 'sudo depmod -a'
9. 'sudo modprobe uvcvideo'

Test out the Webcam

1. 'sudo apt-get install luvcview'
2. 'lucview' or 'lucview -d /dev/video1'
3. If this gives a permission denied error, go to K menu > Applications > System > User manager
4. Click on the user that is logged in
5. Go to groups and check "video"
6. 'sudo reboot'
7. luvcview should work now without sudo
8. Skype should work too, right? no...

Do a bunch of stuff cause Skype is crazy

1. When running Skype, I started receiving the error "Another Skype instance may exist"...this can apparently be remedied by running 'sudo chown -R matt.matt ~/.Skype/' replacing matt.matt with your username.username
2. Now running 'skype' should work, but neither webcam works
3. Running 'bash -c 'LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype' ' should run skype and make the NX-6000 usable
4. This got me running into more problems with Skype Segfaulting and being obnoxious
5. I ended up going to add/remove applications, searching for "alsa", and installing the default sound card selector under "system" because sound wasnt working either
6. Once this is installed, I went to K Menu > Applications > settings and ran asoundconf-gtk
7. I then selected Intel as my sound card
8. Running 'bash -c 'LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype' ' NOW gave me working sound (and more selections in the sound settings) ANNND gave me a working NX-6000 webcam...

It's finally working, now to make it work EVERY time

1. 'sudo mv /usr/bin/skype /usr/bin/skype.real'
2. 'sudo kate /usr/bin/skype'
3. Insert the code in the configuration files section
4. Save
5. 'sudo chmod 755 /usr/bin/skype'
6. Hope to God and FSM that freaking magic happens when you run Skype again

Nope, broken again

1. Of course, the "Another Skype instance" error is back, so lets fix that again...
2. 'sudo chown -R matt.matt ~/.Skype/' replacing matt.matt with your username.username
3. More praying, crossing fingers, run skype again
4. Webcam still works (thank you, FSM) but now the audio is all gone again...
5. Back to K menu > applications > system > user manager
6. Click on your user, go to groups and add the Audio group
7. Restart the computer for the 100th time, pray to FSM, cross fingers, sacrifice a virgin, and sell your soul to the devil
8. Upon reboot and completion of the above stated tasks...try running skype again...
9. Holy crap, things seem to work, now that its 5 AM
10. Go to sleep

Configuration Files

/etc/init.d/linuxmce

• I don't know if the specific placement of this line really matters, but this worked for me

StartService "Setting SSH Keys" "/usr/pluto/bin/SSH_Keys.sh" "&"
StartService "Setting Coredump Location" "/usr/pluto/bin/corefile.sh"
StartService "Creating Firewire 2 Video4Linux Pipes" "/usr/pluto/bin/Firewire2Video4Linux.sh"
StartService "Configuring Pluto Storage Devices" "/usr/pluto/bin/StorageDevices_Setup.sh"
/etc/init.d/samba start
StartService "Detecting Timezone" "/usr/pluto/bin/Timezone_Detect.sh" "&"
StartService "Status Radar" "/usr/pluto/bin/StorageDevices_StatusRadar.sh"
StartService "Samba Radar" "/usr/pluto/bin/StorageDevices_SambaRadar.sh"
StartService "PVR-250 tuner restore" "/usr/pluto/bin/CaptureCards_BootConfig_PVR-250.sh"
StartService "KDE Desktop" "/usr/pluto/bin/Start_KDE.sh"
## Setup ALSA mixers
#amixer sset Capture 90%
#amixer sset 'Mic Boost (+20dB)' unmute
#alsactl store

/etc/network/interfaces

• (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

~/Desktop/Activate-Orbiter.sh

• Change "21" to the device number of your OnScreen orbiter
• This can be found by going to Web Admin > Show Devices Tree > Core > The core/hybrid, click on OnScreen Orbiter and look in the black box at the top left of the information displayed

#!/bin/bash
/usr/pluto/bin/MessageSend localhost 0 21 1 912 119 "0"

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

• Options may very depending on your setup and mouse, this is the config for my setup
• The protocol ExplorerPS/2 seems to have the best luck, but auto may work as well

...
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
   ...

~/.xbindkeysrc

• b:# is the mouse button, modify according to the functions you want
• use 'xev' to determine the mouse button numbers
• use 'xbindkeys -k' to determine keyboard button codes (they are case-sensitive)

"xte 'keydown F7' &"
  b:2
"xte 'keyup F7' &"
  b:2+release
"xte 'keydown Prior' &"
  b:4
"xte 'keyup Prior' &"
  b:4+release
"xte 'keydown Next' &"
  b:5
"xte 'keyup Next' &"
  b:5+release
"xte 'keydown F6' &"
  b:6
"xte 'keyup F6' &"
  b:6+release
"xte 'keydown F8' &"
  b:7
"xte 'keyup F8' &"
  b:7+release

/usr/bin/skype

#!/bin/sh
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype.real