Sam.Nazarko Wrote:@ james - sorry forgot partition was ext3, see http://www.howtoforge.com/linux_resizing_ext3_partitions

pin87a Wrote:To minimize heat when the ATV is not in use you should probably set the screensaver to 'black.' Otherwise XBMC is rendering the UI 24/7 which will result in increased heat.

With the screensaver on 'black' CPU usage drops to almost nothing and the ATV should run almost as cool as it does under Frontrow when not in use.

Sam.Nazarko Wrote:@legato23 - unfortunately, no not all USBs are the same. I won't resize it because then there is an issue of where to draw the line (I resize it to 3GB and someone will want 2GB and so on)

Sam.Nazarko Wrote:@legato23 - You could probably write the disk image virtually to a folder (loopback mounting) and resize the partitions slightly so you can restore it.

defiler Wrote:Yeah - done this already. As Sam says, the CPU autothrottle is already wound back to 600MHz, which is the minimum. I've been trying to enforce a manual throttle as well (ramp up the T-state), but when I try to echo > /proc/acpi/processor/CPU0/throttling, it gives me "Permission denied", even on sudo.

I can turn on laptop_mode, but that doesn't give fine control and even if I re-edit the config file it takes several seconds to reload and change state. Kind of hoping someone can point me at commands which will tweak this directly. If so, I can sling together a perl script to see if it's feasible to alter the state based on the load on the computer. Hey, I can hope, right?

Of course, being a P3 it may work out that it takes so many cycles to change state that it causes playback problems (although I've checked and it *does* autothrottle between 600 and 1000MHz, and doesn't seem to be struggling). I may be spoiled by the Phenom's quick clock changes etc. That said, the 9950BE I used to have drew about 80W at idle!

Davilla suggested previously that it *may* be possible to run cooler on Linux than the normal ATV OS, because the power functions were all hidden/removed on the ATV. Nope, he didn't make any promises, which is only fair. And it may be that the ATV has shortcomings in that whole area and it just can't be done.

Personally, I'd rather that wee box wasn't pulling 23W all day even when it's doing nothing. The ATV OS has the standby function which makes a clear difference to the power drawn. If XBMC (or Ubuntu) can be persuaded to go that low when it's left idle then I'll be a happy camper.

Don't get me wrong. XBMC is (and always has been) excellent. XBMC for ATV is also excellent, but seems to suffer from being crammed into 256MB of RAM along with all the Frontrow stuff. XBMC for Linux running on the ATV gives fantastic playback. I don't want to belittle the efforts of anyone involved. Just looking for a way to lower the power draw. My current solution is an X10 AM-12 module in the wall socket so I can turn it off there

defiler Wrote:Yeah - done this already. As Sam says, the CPU autothrottle is already wound back to 600MHz, which is the minimum. I've been trying to enforce a manual throttle as well (ramp up the T-state), but when I try to echo > /proc/acpi/processor/CPU0/throttling, it gives me "Permission denied", even on sudo.

legato23 Wrote:Sam, I got your point, and respect it. But I read more and more posts about the image not fitting on all kinds of usb sticks brand and models.
It seems the usb stick you're using has just a little more capacity than the common (cheap?) ones. Not resizing the image for just one person, I can understand, but in this case the majority is suffering from the same issue.

oezkan12 Wrote:i have an working mythtv backend (mythbuntu 8.04) tested with an other laptop successfully.there i can watch live tv and change between the channels ( from an live cd frontend ).
sql username, password is accepted here

now i tried to watch live tv with :

myth://mythtv:jY9DkLwi@mythtv

where i put mythtv in the hosts table (/etc/hosts) with his ip.
i also put it in the advancedsettings.xml .
Both without success.

I even can not see the recorded films.
folder is empty.
when i click at a channel it start s to open and stops few seconds later .

can anyone help?


here my xbmc.log:

http://pastebin.com/L4eKb3V8

legato23 Wrote:Sam, I got your point, and respect it. But I read
It seems the usb stick you're using has just a little more capacity than the common (cheap?) ones. Not resizing the image for just one person, I can understand, but in this case the majority is suffering from the same issue.

legato23 Wrote:Sam, I got your point, and respect it. But I read more and more posts about the image not fitting on all kinds of usb sticks brand and models.
It seems the usb stick you're using has just a little more capacity than the common (cheap?) ones. Not resizing the image for just one person, I can understand, but in this case the majority is suffering from the same issue.

Sam.Nazarko Wrote:You say the standby makes a difference to the power draw. Does it? I think it's consuming 22~23W no matter what it's doing. Remember aTV cannot be switched off, and standby just cuts the display output off, it can still be synced to. You might be trying to get too much from aTV in regards to power and heat management.