[gurabli]

You got me here, I haven't done that, and I don't want to do that. I just wanted to illustrate that it is possible, or it should be, if we get lucky. If one goes with so much drives, probably building a separate has box is the solution, I completely agree. However, I'm running a home server with itx board and 4 hdd now, and it is still in my living room, in a Pioneer hifi stand, you can't even hear it is on. It comes down to choosing proper drives too, but still, you are right. I believe a 2 drive raid with another drive for system should do the trick for most of us, and that will be noiseless for sure.

[y2kbadbug]

After following the instructions is it safe to update to vivid?

[fritsch]

No idea - never tried it. Is there something in Vivid that makes it running better?

[laric]

I would think for a dedicated Kodi box there is nothing making it better in vivid. I guess those that wants to upgrade either just want to upgrade to be in front or is using the box for other X sessions

[jawilljr]

No idea - never tried it. Is there something in Vivid that makes it running better?

Vivid has kernel version 3.19.3. Which should help with Intel graphics. Don't know, haven't tried yet.

[fritsch]

I could think of:

+newer Mesa with bugfixes (10.5.x)
+ systemd (!) faster boot (needs adjustments to the upstart script)
+ kernel 3.19.x out of the box
- vaapi is still 1.5.0 and needs wsnipex ppa

As I am 120% busy with work - if someone could do those steps and would take over this howto - I would be thankful.

[y2kbadbug]

I will attempt it. Might have trouble figuring out how to convert the upstart script to systemd, but if I figure it out I'll post the results.

I just purchased a newer NUC, the 5th generation I5 with Intel HD 6000, so I need the better drivers also, that's why I want vivid.

[fritsch]

Don't forget to use the wsnipex vaapi ppa - without that a critical bug in VAAPI itself will make the machine crash on stop.

[robo989]

I recently treated myself to a new Broadwell i5 NUC...followed the how-to on page 1 and all working perfectly, except for one issue. every 1 in 7-8 resolution changes on start-stop of video I'm getting the "everything is a shade of pink" thing.

The issue doesn't go away by further changes to display mode and can only be rectified with a reboot.

Any ideas?
Thanks

[fritsch]

No logfiles, no ideas.

[fritsch]

Some changes, that are needed for Ubuntu 15.04, I did with daniel3 on irc yesterday:

Basic Software:

Code:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ssh python-software-properties software-properties-common udisks xorg alsa-utils mesa-utils git-core librtmp1 lirc libmad0 lm-sensors libmpeg2-4 avahi-daemon libnfs4 libva1 vainfo libva-intel-vaapi-driver linux-firmware dbus-x11
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Changes:
Removed consolekit, pm-utils, upower
Name changed: libnfs4 librtmp1
New: dbus-x11

Wsnipex vaapi ppa is still needed(!), cause Vivid only ships libva 1.5.0

Policykit change (/etc/polkit-1/localauthority/50-local.d/custom-actions.pkla):

Code:

[Actions for kodi user]
Identity=unix-user:kodi
Action=org.freedesktop.udisks.*;org.freedesktop.login1.*
ResultAny=yes
ResultInactive=yes
ResultActive=yes

[Untrusted Upgrade]
Identity=unix-user:kodi
Action=org.debian.apt.upgrade-packages;org.debian.apt.update-cache
ResultAny=yes
ResultInactive=yes
ResultActive=yes

Changes: only freedesktop.login1 and udisks permissions are left. If you upgrade, you need to remove consolekit, pm-utils, upower

Now, we need a simple systemd upstart script (this one actively waits on network connection, see: network-online.target remove that if you don't need to wait)
Put it to: /etc/systemd/system/kodi.service

Code:

[Unit]
Description = kodi-standalone using xinit
After = systemd-user-sessions.service network.target sound.target network-online.target

[Service]
User = kodi
Group = kodi
Type = simple
PAMName=login
ExecStart = /usr/bin/xinit /usr/bin/dbus-launch --exit-with-session /usr/bin/kodi-standalone -- :0 -nolisten tcp vt7
Restart = on-abort

[Install]
WantedBy = multi-user.target

Fake display-manager.service to not make plymouth or something else complain.

Code:

sudo ln -s /etc/systemd/system/kodi.service /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service

Something else: if you plan to install a 4.0 kernel - the network interface name changes again, back from e.g. p3p1 to eth0 - the boot will timeout after 2 minutes. You can have a look in /sys/class/net to find the new device name. This is no issue on Vivid as it ships 3.19.5

For standard users no kernel upgrade is needed anymore

Edit: Because of the /etc/security/limits.conf and cause of the fact systemd is modpam aware, no nice level needs to be specified.

[mattlach]

I am runnung asus chromebox on Celeron® 2955U
Installed Xbuntu 14.04 and xbmc on top of it (from fernetmenta ppa)
Follow guide from post #1

I end up with terrible tearing. Usually top of the screen.
Changing deinterlace settings change tearing but it is always present.

HDMI out to amp and then TV.

Here is a fix for tearing

Code:

sudo nano /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf


Section "Device"
   Identifier  "Intel Graphics"
   Driver      "intel"
   Option      "TearFree"    "true"
EndSection

More details here:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...pid1699218

No, No and no again. This will introduce Triple Buffering and we absolutely don't want that! Cause we are using swapBuffers to update the images on screen. Use the /etc/init/xbmc.conf I provide and you won't have a single bit of tearing. It's all a backing store issue.

As you are not running this howto anyways, fix your lightdm.conf

Fritsch,

If you don't mind, can you explain the negative side effects of Triple Buffering and swap buffer to those of us less familiar with the video rendering pipeline?

I did this as it is listed in the Chromebox entry in the Kodi Wiki as the solution if you have tearing issues. I never had tearing in Kodi, but when I launch Netflix using the NetfliXBMC plugin, I did see tearing. This entry fixed that tearing, but after reading this I am wondering if I may have messed something else up by enabling it, and if I should switch back...

Any additional information you can provide would be much appreciated!

[fritsch]

Background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_bu..._buffering

"Due to the software algorithm not having to poll the graphics hardware for monitor refresh events, the algorithm is free to run as fast as possible. This can mean that several drawings that are never displayed are written to the back buffers"

In short: We cannot trust the display clock anymore, as we don't know which frame currently was displayed (if at all).

[mattlach]

Background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_bu..._buffering

"Due to the software algorithm not having to poll the graphics hardware for monitor refresh events, the algorithm is free to run as fast as possible. This can mean that several drawings that are never displayed are written to the back buffers"

In short: We cannot trust the display clock anymore, as we don't know which frame currently was displayed (if at all).

Thank you very much, I won't enable that again. I guess I will just have to put up with Netflix tearing

I don't use it all that often anyways, I guess. (not even sure whey I keep my subscription)

[mattlach]

Can anyone with Asus Chromebox experience suggest which 3.18.4+ kernel to use with 14.04 Trusty?

I tried the mainline 3.19.5 kernel, and it was all stuttery and problematic.

After that I realized that 15.04 Vivid is out and it ships with 3.19 kernel. Certain things worked well, but moving to 15.04 had other problematic implications (suspend modes no longer working, and pulling in drivers with improper vaapi support.

So, I'm planning on going back to Trusty, but would appreciate any suggestions on a kernel that people have used successfully.

Thanks,
Matt